Marketers: Are You Preparing to Take the Summer Off?

Posted by Dan McDade

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on Apr 28, 2017 12:06:55 PM

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An embolism is a blockage caused by one or more bubbles of air in the circulatory system. These bubbles can travel to your brain, heart, or lungs and cause a heart attack, stroke, or respiratory failure.

Stopping or slowing down lead generation, qualification and nurturing programs creates what I call a “bubble-in-the-funnel.” It may not kill you, like an air embolism could, but it can be dangerous to the health of your company.

Over the past couple of weeks, I met with several marketers who are already talking about ramping down for the summer. They say: “we can’t start a program now because it will roll out in June, July and August – a slow time to find opportunities for sales.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Shutting down now in anticipation of the “slow summer months” introduces a bubble-in-the-funnel that will take months to recover from. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy that creates bad fall and winter results.

The thought process might seem logical but it isn’t. Let’s say, worst case, that targeted executives take two full weeks off in the summer (most don’t). That is approximately 15% (2 weeks out of 13) of your market out on vacation at any given point in time. So, 85% of the market is on the job, doing business as usual. Even executives taking over-lapping vacations leave a large majority of your targets available all summer long.  

Talk to the 85% of executives who are working and don’t worry about the 15% that might be at the beach. You can call the 15% when they return to work. Sure, give them a few days to catch-up, but rather than waste the summer months, just work around your targets’ summer schedules. Let your competitors take the summer off while you help your prospects fix problems that are not going to wait until September.

I invite you to share your seasonal experiences generating leads and targeting qualified prospects.


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Topics: Lead Generation, B2B Sales, Increase Sales, Sales Leads


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