Pipeline Generation In The Summer: How To Get Out Of A Sales Slump

Anyone in sales knows how tough the summer can be. While people are away on vacation, sales cycles slow down, and pipeline generation takes a hit. In fact, nearly 40% of B2B sales teams experience a significant drop in engagement during the summer months.?

Of course, B2B companies can find themselves in a sales slump, regardless of the season. This is especially true for SaaS companies which have been dealing with a market downturn, tighter budgets, and significantly longer sales cycles in recent years.

But like they say, ‘forewarned’ is ‘forearmed.’ To prepare for this reality, smart companies can implement creative sales incentives and maintain consistent follow-ups to ensure leads are nurtured, even when key decision-makers are away.

Here are some of our go-to's.

Note: This article is abridged from Beat Any Sales Slump: Smart Incentive Strategies for SaaS Teams.

Survive longer sales cycles

The bad news: you can expect longer sales cycles in the summer.

The good news: knowing this, you can plan for slow sales and implement smart strategies to maintain momentum. A little more work up front can help you avoid losing valuable opportunities down the line.

Specifically, here are some effective ways to keep your prospects interested and moving forward:

• Engagement rewards: Offer smaller digital rewards at various stages of the sales process to keep clients engaged.
• Pre-sale engagement: Incentivize participation in product demos or discovery calls. This can help maintain momentum even if decision-makers are away.
• Quick decision incentives: Provide gift cards to clients who make quicker decisions. This can help shorten the sales cycle and secure deals faster.
• Exclusive webinars: Host webinars featuring industry experts and offer exclusive content. This non-monetary reward can provide value and keep the conversation going.
• Customer journey mapping: Enhance the sales process by mapping the customer journey and addressing friction points. This improves the overall experience and can speed up decision-making.

Pipeline generation

Building and maintaining a strong pipeline is crucial, especially during slower periods. Of course, shortening your sales cycle won't do much good if you don't have any leads in your pipeline to begin with.

Consistently engaging prospects with targeted incentives can keep your pipeline robust and dynamic.?

Here’s some simple ways to ensure steady pipeline momentum:

• Limited-time offers: Launch summer-specific campaigns offering digital incentives for demos booked within a short timeframe. This can drive immediate engagement and fill your pipeline quickly.
• Flash promotions: Run flash promotions where prospects receive a gift card for signing up for a demo within, say, the next 48 hours. This adds urgency and can boost demo bookings.
• Summer sweepstakes: Create a fun summer sweepstakes where all demo participants are entered to win digital gift cards. Promote this as a limited-time opportunity to generate excitement (pro-tip: gas and grocery cards are particularly popular)
• Themed incentives: Offer gift cards tied to summer activities or popular brands to attract potential clients to book demos.
• Exclusive email offers: Send targeted emails to high-potential leads with special gift card incentives for booking a demo during the summer. Personalizing these offers can increase their effectiveness.
• Referral push: Encourage your existing customers to refer new prospects by offering incentives for any demo booked through their referral. This can expand your reach and bring in new leads.

For more tips on surviving a summer sales slowdown, including tips to reduce churn and help sales teams with quota attainment, see here.