'Tis the season to close a deal

Just in case you forgot, it's the end of the year and, although Christmas is over, now is the best time to make some great sales.

Now is the time to pick up the phone and call customers, get out and visit clients, take time to send emails. That's because December is a time when many customers are exceptionally eager to buy — and I'm talking about business customers, not consumers. There are sales you can only land right now.

If your customers are large corporations, government agencies, educational institutions or non-profit organizations, many have budgets they need to use before the end of the year. Moreover, if they don't spend all their allocated dollars this year, their budget next year may actually be cut.

Here are some ways to get those year-end budget dollars spent with you:

Make a list. Identify which of your past customers are most likely to have budgets or co-op dollars they must use by the end of the year. Focus your efforts on those customers.
Visit customers in person. Personal relationships build business relationships, and the holidays give you a perfect excuse to see important customers face-to-face. You want to stop by to bring them a present. It doesn't have to be an expensive gift — a box of candy or basket of fruit will do — but this gives you the opportunity to make or reinforce a personal connection. Oh, and while you're there, ask whether they have any budget dollars they need to spend before year's end; you can help them out

Telephone. You've also got a reason to pick up the phone and call clients: to wish them a happy New Year. After chatting with them about what they did or what they will be doing next week, bring the conversation around to what they need to buy before December 31.

Send emails. The easiest way to reach a large number of customers is to send emails. As an added incentive, offer special end-of-year discounts. In my company, we have institutional customers who have told us they look forward to our end-of-year discount so they can use up their budget.

Offer to get an invoice to them before the end of the year. You may not be able to actually deliver the product or service to your customer before the end of the year. That usually doesn't matter, just as long as they receive a bill in December.