8 Tips for Cold Calling Success During the Holiday Season

Jeff Osness

April 25, 2024

11 min

Table of Contents

Summary:

Utilize the holiday spending mindset for upsells and cross-sells to boost revenue.
Take advantage of fewer gatekeepers during holidays to reach decision-makers directly.
Inject holiday cheer into your voice to warm up conversations without specifying holidays.
Make cold calls earlier in the day when people are more focused and responsive.
Leverage the end-of-fiscal-year dynamics to encourage prompt purchasing decisions.
Offer year-end promotions to incentivize quick decisions before the new year.
Appeal to prospects' aspirations for the new year to motivate immediate action.
Highlight your referral program, offering cash or gift card incentives during the holiday season.

The holidays are a busy time for everyone, which can make it difficult on someone who sells over the phone for a living. Despite all of the chaos that surrounds the holidays, there are still plenty of reasons the end of the year can be a great time to make calls, and close deals.

Here are 8 tips for cold calling success during the holiday season.

1. Embrace The Upsell

The holidays are a time when people are used to spending money, and you can use that to your advantage. When you get an interested consumer on the phone, be prepared to weave upsells and cross-sells into your pitch to increase revenue.

2. Get Right Past The Gatekeeper

The holidays are a time of the year when people love to use up their vacation time and get away from the office for a week or two. That means that it's also a time of year when gatekeepers are away from their phones, leaving many decision-makers available to speak. There aren't too many times during the year when gatekeepers consistently leave their posts, so you should use that time to your advantage.

3. Remember It's The Holidays

Not everyone celebrates the same holidays but between Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Thanksgiving, New Years, and more it's a joyful season for everyone.

When you make end-of-year calls, strive to put that holiday cheer into your voice, and to use the holidays to warm up conversations. You may want to avoid mentioning a specific holiday to prevent alienating your audience, but your voice should reflect the spirit of the season and is a great way to start conversations in a positive light.

4. Make Calls Earlier in the Day

During the holidays, the days are shorter and people tend to let their minds drift away from work when it starts to get dark outside. You should plan on doing the bulk of your calling earlier in the day. If you can do the majority of your cold calling in the morning, then that leaves the afternoon for follow-up calls that you can close quickly.

5. Use the Fiscal Year to Your Advantage

The holidays generally represent a closing of the fiscal year for most of your customers. This is the time of year when companies look for expense write-offs and use leftover money in their budgets to get things they want and need. When you are making your calls, you can use this to your advantage to encourage decisions to be made.

6. Tether Promotions to the End of the Year

Some potential customers "check out" prior to the end of the year, preferring to leave decisions for the start of the next year. A great way to reverse that temptation is to tether promotions to the end of the year. When prospects realize that they can pay less - or get more - simply by closing a deal now, many of them will jump right in and do it.

7. Embrace the Power of Next Year

A new year is a time of hope, positivity, opportunity and aspiration. It's why we make new year's resolutions - so that next year can start off on the right foot!

Of course, the best time to leverage the motivation of next year is this year.

Your product is a solution to a problem your prospect is facing, a challenge they are struggling to overcome, or a goal they have not yet achieved. Appeal to their desire to get next year started on the right foot, rather than waiting until it's already underway.

8. Remind Customers Of Your Referral Program

People are always happy to make extra money, or pocket Amazon and other gift cards over the holidays. That makes it the perfect time to remind customers you're talking to of your referral program, and/or to provide additional incentive for referrals they send your way now.

Wrapping Up Tips For Holiday Cold Calling Success

Despite what many salespeople think, the end of year can actually be a busy selling season. Sure, more people are away, but there are still plenty of opportunities to latch on to and techniques to employ. To summarize, here are 8 tips for a successful holiday cold calls: