December is a strange month for sales leaders.
You’ve got deals in flight, people in and out of office, clients half-engaged, and reps caught between holiday parties and closing pressures. Motivation fluctuates. Energy dips. And most sales managers default to the usual year-end routine: push harder, cheer louder, hope for the best.
But let’s be honest. It’s not energy your team is lacking. It’s clarity.
The Cost of Fuzzy Thinking
When things slow down, salespeople don’t usually become lazy, they become confused. They lose sight of what’s real in the pipeline, who’s actually going to buy, and what conversations have substance versus smoke.
Unclear expectations lead to vague next steps. And vague next steps kill deals.
The root issue is simple: when reps don’t know what a “next step” really means, they start tracking wishful thinking as progress. Hope is not a strategy, but in December, it often becomes the default.
The Up-Front Contract: Your Antidote to Ambiguity
This is where sales leaders can re-anchor their teams using one of the most underleveraged tools in the Sandler toolbox: the Up-Front Contract.
It’s not just a structure for setting meeting agendas. It’s a thinking tool.
The Up-Front Contract forces clarity, on both sides. It requires the rep to articulate:
Why this conversation is happening
What both parties expect to get out of it
What will happen at the end
If your reps can’t walk into or out of a call with that level of clarity, they’re flying blind. A vague “let’s circle back in January” is not a next step; it’s a stall. You’ve got to train your team to call that out, not take it at face value.
Use this tool to bring reality into focus. Every deal in the pipeline should have a clear, mutual agreement about what’s happening next, when, and why it matters to the buyer.
Debrief Every Deal Like You Mean It
After the call, the Call Debrief becomes your second clarity checkpoint. This isn’t an admin step; it’s a coaching moment.
Here’s how to use it:
Ask: What new information did we learn?
Ask: What’s the buyer committed to do next, and when?
Ask: Are there red flags or anything that feels off?
If the answers are vague, the deal is at risk. Don't settle for “They loved our solution” or “They’re circling back after the holidays.” Push for specifics.
This kind of debriefing isn’t just about data. It trains judgment. It sharpens instincts. Over time, your team learns to hear what’s not being said. And that’s where clarity lives.
Your Role as the Sales Leader
Your job this month isn’t to pump up morale with last-minute incentives or motivational speeches. It’s to slow things down just enough to ask better questions:
Which deals are real?
What are the specific actions we expect from the buyer?
Where is the commitment, and where are we being strung along?
And most importantly:
What assumptions are we making that need to be tested?
Clarity doesn’t come from talking faster. It comes from thinking better.
December exposes the cracks in a sales team’s thinking. The ones that enter Q1 strong aren’t the ones who sprint the hardest at the end—they’re the ones who finish clear-headed and honest about where they stand.
This isn’t about energy. It’s about discipline. It’s about clarity.
So before you rally the troops for one last push, take a beat. Use the Up-Front Contract to anchor real expectations. Use debriefs to surface truth. And coach your team to stop guessing and start knowing.
If you’re ready to help your team get clear on what’s real, what’s not, and what to do next; let’s talk.
