Get Unstuck: Seven Ways to Get Your Sales Going Again When You’re In a Slump
Every sales professional, sooner or later, experiences a slump. They just can’t seem to find new customers, close a deal, or just don’t feel like making a call. Read on to discover seven simple ways to get back on track when you feel stuck.
1. Acknowledge You’re Stuck
The first step is to admit to yourself that you are stuck. If you are going to head in a new direction, you’ve got to know where you’re starting from. And if this sounds like the first step in twelve-step program, you’re right. You can’t help yourself get unstuck until you face the fact that it’s time to do something different.
Okay, so you’re stuck. No big deal. Let’s get unstuck.
2. Stop Making Excuses
Stop blaming others for your sales failures. If you blame your customers, your product, your sales team, the economy, you’re giving away your sales power. As a sales professional, your job is to find people who need and want what you’re selling, help them understand the value of your offering, and then execute the transaction.
Stop your whining. Refocus on your sales objective and get going.
3. Don’t Believe Everything You Hear
If customers are knocking your product, you’re talking to people who don’t value what you’re selling, so don’t believe them. Instead find someone who finds you valuable. If you hear that the economy is down, don’t believe that it will impact your sales because someone is still making a killing. If your sales peers are complaining about the unfair comp plan or high quota, don’t listen to them because someone is going to make president’s club. It might as well be you.
It’s easy to buy into other’s excuses. Refocus on your sales objective and get going.
4. Amp Up Your Attitude
No savvy customer will ever buy from a sad sales person. You’ve got to feel confident and enthusiastic about what you’re selling because if you’re not excited about it, your customer won’t be impressed.
Close your eyes. (Not right now, but after you finish reading this!) Think about your last big sale. Relive the story from the first contact with your customer, through all of the steps of the sale, to the point of your satisfied customer thanking you and your celebration of your success. Savor the feeling, knowing that you will do this again. Remember what you did and refresh your mind about how good you are. You might want to call that customer to just check in and see how they’re doing.
Now that you’re amped up, get going.
5. Call Your Cheerleader
Who do you call when you need a pick-me-up? Give ’em a call, not to tell them your problems, but to feel good about yourself again. If they’re really good, they’ll be sympathetic but won’t let you wallow in self pity. Instead, they’ll remind you of your greatness, your ability, and your past success. Don’t have a cheerleader? Call your Mom.
Now that you’re feeling better, get going.
6. Do Something, Anything
Sometimes when you’re stuck, you just need to take some action. Pick up the phone and just dial starting from the beginning of your customer list. You don’t need to have any objective other then talking to 10 people in the next two hours. You might be surprised at what shows up and you’ll always feel better because you’re doing something.
Now that you’re feeling better, refocus on your sales objectives and get going.
7. Sharpen Your Skills
Grab a sales book, open it at random, and start leafing through the book. Odds are you’ll find an idea that could help you see things a new way and get you out of your slump.
A great way to stay on track is to always be improving your skills. One method is to always be working your way through materials about sales, negotiating, creating relationships, and other skills that contribute to your sale success.
To get you started, join me for a complimentary on-line event about how to create your word-of-mouth amplification system, which gets your customers talking about you, on Thursday, April 28, 2016 at 3:00 PM PDT, 6:00 PM EDT. Click here to sign up now, as only 100 spaces are available.
Now, go talk with a customer!
Mark S A Smith
P.S. I’ve created an on-line training session that goes much deeper into creating value by automating the customer acquisition process without cold calling. Sign up here to take the class as my guest.
If you’d like 15 minutes to talk about how to build your customer acquisition system, go to MarksSchedule.com to set up time to meet.