Have you considered January 31 as your fiscal year-end? You may want to in order to avoid some major selling pitfalls? If you are like most companies, you may be using the end of the calendar for the end of your fiscal year. While fourth quarter selling happens at the same time every year, it is still met with equal amounts of panic and perspiration. One of the reasons why the end-of-year selling can be so stressful is based on when it occurs. For most of our lives, we have functioned in everyday life using December 31st as the end of the year. Naturally, we have created our businesses to end at the same time. This causes 4 pitfall areas for organizations. Change your fiscal end-of-the-year from December to January. Here are the reasons why…

One of the most significant pitfalls that your company may find itself in is thinking you have plenty of time to engage customers. If your organization is like many other businesses, you have a unique sales pattern. You may face your busy time between Thanksgiving and the New Year. Regardless of your busiest time, you will see highs and lows throughout the year. When you have a clear season when business is at a peak, you should consider moving your fiscal year to line up with your sales cycle. When you face your busiest season in the last three months of the calendar year, you want to capitalize on that as much as possible. Moving your fiscal year to the end of January allows you to do that. It allows you to capture all of the sales through the very end of December.

Often there are sales still trickling in early January from late shoppers or those that have been bogged down in December. You can capture all of the sales you receive in December as part of your fiscal year end total. This allows you to limit the negative impact of ending your fiscal year. Another critical point to remember is that your customers feel the same time crunch as you around the end of the calendar year holidays. As a result, they begin to determine what is essential, and projects that do not fall in the critical category get moved to the new year. If you find yourself with customers that operate that way, changing your fiscal year to the end of January allows you to capture those customers.

When it comes to sales, we always want to focus on the sure thing. This pitfall involves shifting all of your attention to the lowest hanging fruit and putting pressure on the smallest amount of customers possible. This puts your organization in a desperate situation and mindset. This is especially true when you have the same end of year as your customers. If your customers are doing the same thing and looking for the easiest sales win, you may not be at the top of their list, especially if you want them to make a purchase. Instead of looking at your pipeline and hoping for the best, consider changing your end-of-year.

The way to avoid focusing on the sure thing is to call your customers and set appointments with them. The holidays are a notoriously busy time of year. If you are attempting to cram a large number of appointments in before December 31st, you are most likely setting yourself up for failure. Instead, push back your fiscal year end date and buy yourself a little more time. Then, you can fit a good amount of appointments into 30 days.

The holidays are a wonderful time of year. They are great to spend with family and friends. Most of us want to relax and enjoy those moments. However, when your end of the year comes on December 31st, you may not have any time to enjoy the holidays because you will be working to meet your goals. Instead of worrying about letting those sales opportunities pass you by, change your fiscal year, so it ends on January 31st. This allows you to enjoy the holidays and even have a little downtime to come back refreshed and ready to knock your goals out of the park before the end of January. Consider why you end your sales year in December. Most likely, you do not have a good reason. It is probably what you have always done. Challenge yourself to try something different and see how it works for your organization.

If your organization is like others, you are most likely exhausted at the end of the year. Attempting to get as many sales as possible in the middle of the holiday rush while you are trying to buy presents and enjoy time with your family will steal all of your energy. It also impacts your ability to plan ahead for the next year. You may be halfway through the first quarter before you create your sales plan for that calendar year. You can get off that train if you move your fiscal year end day to January. It allows you to slow down the pace a little at the end of the year and give your company some breathing room to plan for next year.

Changing the end of your fiscal year to January positively impacts your growth story and valuation. Understanding these pitfalls and how moving your fiscal end date to January makes excellent business sense while avoiding these common errors. For all these reasons, CloudStreet recommends moving your fiscal year to the end of January. But, you may also be wondering, ok, so now what?

To begin to make these changes within your organization, you can rely on Salesforce to help. Salesforce is used by numerous companies worldwide and is the leader in customer relationship management. They have an entirely cloud-based system, standalone sales applications, and superior customer service. In addition, they know the value of having the fiscal year end in January because they do it themselves. CloudStreet offers various services to help your business build a solid foundation for success. CloudStreet has all the tools and resources you need to help you set your end-of-year goals and achieve them.