My ultimate Q1 closing guide

In today’s issue, I’ll share my ultimate guide to closing your Q1 strong. I’m writing this newsletter on the 19th of March 2025. There are 9 business days remaining in Q1. If you’re like most remote salespeople I know, you’re far away from reaching your Q1 targets, and you’re getting desperate to close the deals in your pipeline before Monday 31st of March.

The good news is that you need to ask 3 simple questions to find out if your deal will close in Q1. The bad news is that you’re most likely not going to close these deals if you don’t have an answer to these questions already.

Let’s dive in:

The problem with most deals in your pipeline

If most of the deals you were working on in Q1 are still open, you’re in bad position. The chances of them closing next week are slim.

Why am I saying that?

Because most salespeople are afraid of disqualifying deals that have no chance to close this quarter. I’ve done it many times myself, and it’s always been a big contributor to missing my sales targets. Instead of asking tough questions that will most likely put the deal status on “Closed Lost”, salespeople prefer waiting and hoping for their prospects to magically send them a signed contract.

Here are 3 simple questions to find out if your deals have a chance to close.

Step 1: Ask what’s causing them to have conversations with you

This is one of the first questions you need to ask in your next conversation with your prospect. Instead of asking them why they are here, ask them “What’s causing you to have a conversation with me?”

This will help prospects open up and share the real reasons they are in the meeting with you. Some may just be curious (don’t waste your time with them), some may have a specific initiative and deadline they are working on (dig deeper).

Step 2: Ask what outcomes they want from your conversations

Second question will help you understand your prospect’s initiatives. By focusing on asking what outcomes they expect, you get them to share the agenda and goals they have for the conversation.

This will help you dig deeper, and disqualify prospects who may not have a compelling event. For example, if they answer that they are just checking or making a benchmark, you’ll know you can disqualify them and end the conversation as soon as possible.

Step 3: Ask when they can make a decision

Final question, and my favorite of all three. By asking prospects when they can make a decision, you do two things:

• you test the energy of your deal
• you understand their buying process

Most prospects won’t be able to give you a straight answer. This indicates they’ll have to involve other people in the buying process, and you can ask them additional questions about the steps required to close the deal. If that’s the case, you need to lay down a clear plan to get a conversation with their boss before the end of Q1, otherwise you won’t close the deal.

And these are 3 simple questions I recommend asking to understand if your deals have a chance to close in Q1. I’d love to give you a secret play, but there isn’t. If your deals aren’t qualified, and you’ve been working on them for a long time, prospects won’t turn into customers on your timeline, but on theirs.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Thibaut Souyris