How to Hit Your 2024 Revenue Goals and Set Yourself Up for 2025 Success: Expert Pipeline Strategies

Welcome back to C-Suite Sidekick, your go-to mini pod for executive insights and actionable strategies. I'm your host, Summer Poletti, and today, we're diving into a vital year-end practice that could make or break your 2024 revenue goals. Whether you're in financial services or SaaS, the fourth quarter is crunch time for reviewing and optimizing your sales pipeline. With limited working days left before year-end holidays, it's crucial to identify opportunities and accelerate strategies to close deals before December 31st. In this episode, we’ll walk through the essential questions and tactical steps you need to take to ensure a strong finish this year while setting up for a successful start to 2025. So grab a pen, hit that subscribe button, and let's get laser-focused on closing out the year on a high note!

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• Visit Rise of Us for more information about Summer's services
• Connect with Summer on LinkedIn

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro to mini pod
• 0:39 Why Pipeline Review is Important
• 2:07 Question #1
• 3:10 Question #2
• 4:14 Question #3
• 4:47 Identifying High Impact Deals
• 5:42 Tip number 1
• 6:03 Tip number 2
• 7:07 Tip number 3
• 7:38 Wrap It Up
• 8:26 Building Next Year's Pipeline

Transcript

0:00

Hello, and welcome to another episode of C-suite sidekick. I'm your host summer poletti. This mini pod is a bonus revisiting a blog topic from the beginning of the summer. It was important then just as it is now, as we get closer to the end of the year. Reviewing your sales pipeline. Whether you're in financial services or SaaS now is the time to take a deep dive into your pipeline. Identify opportunities and accelerate your strategy for four quarter. We're not just talking about reviewing your deals. We're talking about optimizing your approach to bring in the revenue that will set you up for success this year and generate momentum heading into the new year. Let's start with the basics. pipeline review is always important, but it takes on new urgency. In fourth quarter. There are 76 working days between September 12th and the end of the year. And that's assuming that you take no extra days off around Thanksgiving, Christmas or new years. You're probably looking at 73 days or really less. And of course your clients, prospects and partners are in the same boat. Everyone will be working around holidays. Holiday parties and PTO to finish budgets and other crucial projects before the end of the year. This is the time of year when you need to be laser-focused on which deals can close before December 31st and which ones might need to be pushed into the new year. For financial services and SaaS companies where decision-making cycles can be long and almost every prospect has a January one live date in mind. This becomes even more crucial. The end of the year, we'll be here before, you know it, if you slip or delay, you risk the dreaded, we have to bump this out email and you know, as well as I do that in SaaS, that means a. Full quarter, at least. And in financial services that could mean a whole year. So we're going to pre identify which deals are likely to bump out and stay laser focused on the ones that can close this year. And don't worry. We are not throwing anything out. We will talk about re-engaging deprioritized deals later. So let's get started. Here are the key questions you need to ask yourself as you perform your pipeline review. One is the deal properly qualified? Qualification is the foundation of a healthy pipeline. Ask yourself. Do I know the decision makers and decision influencers? Have I uncovered their key business issues and the impact to the individual and or the organization? In financial services that might mean understanding their portfolio needs or tax planning, deadlines. Their client needs. In SaaS, it could mean identifying the operational inefficiencies or the ROI that your solution will resolve. If you haven't identified these things. You may be chasing a deal. That's not ready to close yet. And here's a bonus. Do you have the next followup scheduled on both your calendar and theirs? That last little bit is key. If it's not on their calendar, you run the risk of them deprioritizing or losing sight of your deal. Number two. Is the buyers timing aligned with year end. Timing is everything in fourth quarter. Does the buyer need your solution in place by January 1st? Or is that just a placeholder or is that more what you have in mind? If you're selling in SaaS, make sure your prospects understand the implementation timeline. Especially with holidays, cutting down, available working days. And also figure out if. January one is a date they're using because that's a convenient date to use or is there some reason. Why they need the solution in place by January 1st, did their contract for their previous supplier run out at the end of the year. And they're replacing it with you. Or are you an ad-on and January one just sounds like a great day to go live and it's not really critical on their side. And then for financial services. Is it necessary or do they just want to start at the beginning of a year? Because it's a clean slate. You never know. Number three. Are there any gaps in information? One of the biggest reasons that deals stall is incomplete information. Have you gotten clarity on the prospect's budget? Do you know all of the stakeholders involved if you're missing these pieces now is the time to revisit your discovery phase and fill in those gaps. And if you need help on. Reaching back out and going back through discovery without feeling awkward. You let me know. I'm a specialist in that area. Once you've gone through your pipeline. The next step is identifying high impact deals. The ones likely to close before the end of the year and make a real difference to your bottom line, especially if you're behind on your target so far. For financial services, this might mean focusing on high net worth clients or institutional deals that have a clear deadline. For SaaS, it could be enterprise level clients who have the budget and urgency to act now. But here's the key. Don't just focus on the size of the deal. Focus on the likelihood that it will close before year end. It is much better to close five smaller deals or to shoot for five smaller deals and close four of them than to chase one big whale with the risk that it won't close by the end of the year. Now let's talk about how to accelerate those deals that are close, but not quite there yet. There are a few strategies you can use. Number one. Leverage urgency highlight the consequences of inaction. Remember those. Business challenges and the impact to the organization. You're going to want to lean on that and make sure they still care about that. Or the. Goals they had in mind for implementing your new SaaS solution. Number two offer year-end incentives. Now I'm somebody who likes an add on more than a discount. But if you don't have any ad-ons I suppose a discount is fine. If you have deals that are on the fence, a limited time incentive such as an add on or a discount. Can help push it over the finish line. Make sure that these offers are meaningful to your target client. And that your target client is definitely close to closing. You don't really want to give away free stuff just for the sake of giving away, free stuff. And then you have to let them know that this add on or this extras. Incentive is tied to signing before December 31st. These can be highly effective. If you choose a valuable add on that. Would bring value to your client. And also you strategically. Choose clients that are likely to close and you're just pushing them over the edge. Number three re-engage with decision-makers at this stage, you can't afford to be speaking to the wrong people. If you're not engaged with decision makers. Now is the time to go back and ensure that you're speaking with the person who can say yes before the year ends. Now, this can be a touchy conversation. If you want help with this. Because we don't want to offend the person you have been talking to. Reach out and let's have a quick chat about it. Let's prepare to finish out this year and build momentum into the next year. Even with the best strategies in place for fourth quarter. It can come with its own set of challenges. Holiday's budget freezes. Decision-maker absences. They can all slow things down. Everybody's having a good time in December, right? So it's important to manage expectations with your team and also your clients. But don't lose sight of the big picture. The deals you closed this year are important, but so are the ones that will carry you into first quarter of next year. Use this time to set the groundwork for next year. For financial services that could mean starting conversations with clients. In the new year, maybe somebody whose priorities are not as urgent and you can have a discussion with them at the end of January or something like that. That's fine. Cause you're building out next year's pipeline. And if they weren't likely to close this year anyway, why waste your valuable time? For SaaS, it could be discussing product, roadmaps, or new features that we'll launch in first quarter of next year, just to keep them? interested. Remember a strong year end close. Isn't just about closing what's in your pipeline. It's about building momentum that will carry you into the new year. Putting prospects. into next quarter. Isn't a bad thing. You need to have a pipeline for next quarter. There is nothing worse than closing everything in your pipeline and starting from scratch. So this is pipeline management. Figure out what can close now and concentrate on it and figure out what you need to be working on next quarter. Perfect time of year for that. So as a wrap-up remember that. reviewing your pipeline in fourth quarter is about more than just evaluating deals. It's about being strategic and intentional with your time and resources. Making sure you're focusing on the right deals at the right time. Accelerating the ones that can close and preparing herself for the year ahead. If you need help, fine tuning your pipeline strategy, where you want more tips on closing the deals before the end of the year. Or if you need help doing rediscovery, feel free to reach out. You can find me on LinkedIn I'm summer. Polenti rhymes with spaghetti, or you can visit the rise of us.com. Thank you for listening and here's to closing out our year strong.