Who Do You Call When Your Sales Forecast is Busted?

When your short-term sales forecast indicates that you’ll come up short this period (month), what do you direct your salespeople to do in order to fill the gap?

Do you have them:

• Intensify Their Cold Calling? – That’s appropriate if you’re in a very short sales cycle, otherwise it only helps your situation long-term.
• Call Existing Customers/Clients? – If you are in a business where you can easily up-sell, cross-sell, add-on or renew, this is a nice short-term solution.
• Call Former Customers/Clients? – Once again, if you’re in a short sales cycle, this is a very good option, othewise, it’s a smart long-term solution.
• Network for Referrals and Introductions? – This is a smart on-going activity but can’t be relied on for anything short term because your salespeople have no control over whether anyone will provide referrals or introductions, whether those referrals and introductions materialize and convert, and how long they might take.
• Inbound Marketing?  The current in thing to do is much like networking in that you have no control over the who, how many, or when that these leads represent.  It’s a smart activity to integrate into your ongoing lead generation program but can’t be relied upon for short term business.
• Send out emails?  Come on!  Emails are fine for marketing, updates, confirmations, short queries and delivering a single message to many people.  Emails are not for selling!
• Revisit Nos? Timing is everything…perhaps last time wasn’t the right time but maybe today is…
• Host an Event? Once again – good ongoing, long-term strategy that won’t fill your immediate gap.
• Participate in a Trade Show? – See above.
• Screw it?  This is our old Red Sox motto – Wait Until Next Year…
• To Hell with it?  This is when you pick up the bag and fill the gap yourself…

Are there more options?

Were you consciously aware of all these options?

Which ones do you pursue?

Are there options that work better in your business?

Are there options that have worked better for you?