Making Sales in Tough Times
by Tom Hopkins
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The single best thing anyone can do in the current economic climate is to take a lesson from the Energizer Bunny and just keep going. That may not sound like the most profound advice. However, it's what is needed in all areas of our economy. Granted, it may not be as easy as it was a year or so ago when things were booming along, but business is business and it only grows when we do what we're hired to do.
Stalling or taking time to worry because things aren't as good as they were does little for you, your company or our economy. Take stock of what your current situation is, consider what the appropriate positive response needs to be, make your plan to accomplish it and TAKE ACTION!
The best way to sum up a strategy for succeeding in uncertain economic times is a very old saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." When business as a whole slows down, it's nothing more than a slump. Many business people say there's little they can do to change the market and they have to just ride it out. That may be true in some cases, but there's always something you can do to make the situation better even if it's just in your little corner of the world.
Let me ask you this, where would we be if we all thought there was nothing we could do about the health of our planet? Simple awareness, and creation of the desire in millions of people to see improvement in the way we care for our planet, is showing positive signs. The gloom and doom projections for the destruction of the earth, as we know it, are being altered by you and your neighbor recycling aluminum cans, glass bottles and paper products. If you can make a difference in something as major as saving the planet, there is definitely something you can do about the effects of a business slowdown.
The key to finding success within crisis lies in how well you handle what is happening. Succeeding or failing depends on your attitude-and this is never more true than in challenging times. In the good times, we don't pay much attention to our attitudes because everything is bright and cheery. However, whether we realize it or not, challenges are constant in our lives. So, if you are to truly succeed you must keep your attitude positive even in times of crisis. In fact, most of the time we are either moving into, in or moving out of a crisis period. It's the standard cycle of life and business.
In business, the economic climate is always changing. For much of the time, the changes that take place are caused by outside factors that we're powerless to control such as the general downturn in the market or the impact of the terrorist events of September 11, 2001. However, we can control how we react to situations.
It all begins with our attitudes. If all you do is worry about the effects of what is happening today and don't begin to focus on where you'll be three to six months from now when things start turning around, you might just not be around by then.
Hone Your Skills
The challenge with many companies and salespeople is that they tend to let themselves get inefficient in good times. They see all the great business they're doing today and fail to continue to take care of yesterday's business or prepare for tomorrow's business. They get a little loose with their expectations for efficiency and economy. They make keeping on top of the latest industry news of trends a low priority.
Then, when things get tough, it's hard for them to buckle down and become more effective. They're working from behind-playing catch up. They've lost some of their competitive edge. By competitive edge, I don't mean with the competition. I mean the competitive edge within the company-to make each department the most efficient and productive it can be tomorrow versus where it is today. I'll bet if you ask any person in your company for one idea that would save the company money or make the company run more smoothly, they would have a good idea.
We did this in our company in the business slump of the early 1980's. The cost cutting measures my team came up with were simple, yet powerfully effective and saved us a lot of money. We didn't have to make any changes in the quality of our training products or marketing efforts and our business grew through those times.
When you recognize you, personally, are in a slump, sit down and analyze what you're doing different today from when you were at your peak of performance. Good salespeople, like good businesses, keep records for every day of business and know what worked best and when. They don't just run out and randomly try new things to turn business around. They rely on their knowledge and expertise to give them a solid footing from which to test new ideas. Go back to the basics of what you were doing when the tide was high and business was booming.
This may sound self-serving, but many of our clients re-dedicate their efforts to training their people when economic times are tough. Having better-trained salespeople than the competition has is a sure way to gain the competitive edge, especially if sales opportunities are more scarce. It's like the old story of the two men competing to chop down two huge trees. One man goes at the tree like a tornado, stopping only for short breathers. The other man, however, chops away steadily, taking longer breaks to sharpen his axe. You can guess how the story turns out. The man with the sharper axe wins.
Many fortunes have been made during lean economic times of the past. Read up on some of the success stories of the past and learn from their examples. Be ready to share their ideas with your clients-truly serving their needs beyond just offering your product or service. If you serve a certain type of industry, look for business growth ideas from clients that you can share with other clients. I don't mean passing along marketing secrets, but ways the companies can economize or otherwise benefit from the experience of others.
Control Your Overhead, Maintain Your Image
One of the most important elements in surviving a business slump is having your overhead under control. However, be careful not to be so thrifty that others get the impression that you're not doing well.
First and foremost, don't cut costs in highly visible areas if possible. If you're having a tough time, no one should be able to tell by looking at you. Continue with a high level of grooming. Take care of your briefcase and sales tools. Keep your car clean and neat. You may have to wash it yourself or hire the neighbor's kid to do it instead of having it detailed, but that's okay as long as it looks good. The point is to keep things looking good and eventually they will be good again.
In good times or bad, selling is still a numbers game. The salespeople who have the highest visibility make the most sales. If your sales ratios have dropped, you just need to see more people. Concentrate your efforts on finding new business especially from valued clients that do stay with you. If they're happy with your service, they should be happy to refer you to others.
Connect with Others
Another key point to remember is that if you are facing tough times, chances are many of your regular customers are feeling the pinch as well. They may consider making changes in the amount of business they do with you or changing to lower quality materials or less service. Now is not the time to let that happen. No one can afford a negative hit to their image-especially when business is slow.
If potential clients have more fear, you need to be more reassuring and more persuasive. You'll have to work harder to convince them that it's your job to help them-to serve their needs and help their businesses grow. In fact, you may have to build their confidence in their own decision-making abilities before you can ever get them to the point of agreeing to a purchase. In my new book, Sell It Today, Sell It Now, we teach a system for building trust, developing the need, demonstrating how you can help, then creating a sense of urgency. We show you how to gradually increase potential clients' sales acceptance to the point where they see it's more valuable to them to own your product or service than it is to hang on to their money.
Money fears are some of the most deep-rooted ones for many people. Money represents security. You need to demonstrate security in resolving your clients' needs with your product even if it's just knowing that their challenges are being handled by a competent company.
Your best accounts should be contacted weekly during tough times. Let them know you care. Seek out positive news to share with them on each call. Let them feel you are in it with them and that they are important to you. Sticking by them in tough times builds loyalty. Then, when the economy swings back around, as it always does, who are they going to remember? You, my friend.
Timing is Everything
The key element in dealing with all challenges, whether you see them as problems or opportunities, is timing.
Those who will succeed have a characteristic way of reacting to great challenges, which may present themselves as opportunities, problems or dangers. The succeeders set everything else aside when they believe that the right time to cope with a major challenge has arrived. Then, they put all their energy into dealing with that challenge. They face it squarely and get creative with their solutions.
Then, there are those who do the opposite. They ignore the challenge as long and as thoroughly as they can. Instead of facing the difficulty squarely, they moan and groan and waste time trying to get help where none will be forthcoming. Rather than taking action, they worry. When they finally decide which move to make, they often find the opportunity has already passed them by.
Remember, a drop of negativity is like a pebble falling into a still pool. Its impact reverberates in all directions, spreading all the way to the outward edge of the pool. Then, it comes back. All too often we forget that positive thoughts or actions work the same way. By spreading positive thoughts and performing positive acts with the people around you, they will in turn share that positive thought or attitude with those they meet. Just like the pebble, the "positivity" spreads out until you, as an individual, have made a powerful, affect on something that you once thought was a problem too large for one person to make a dent in.
And best of all, the rewards of your actions will come back to you multiplied.
Fred Harteis is a prime example of an energizer bunny
