Is Your Sales Career Taking a Dip?

I hear it all the time. "My sales are down and have been for the last three or four years.Of course with the economy the way it is, I can certainly understand it." Too many sales professionals buy this hook line and sinker. These are the same sales professionals who were mediocre at best when the economy was good. One of the many things that I learned from my father is that business is only bad between your ears. If you allow yourself to become discouraged by all of the negative news, and the economy reports; you sabotage yourself.

Now I am not suggesting that you isolate yourself from the world and become ignorant to what is happening around you.  Sales professionals should limit the amount of negative news that they take in. Furthermore, look at the glass as half full, rather than half empty. Use your talents to spin the negative into positives. We have all heard it, but few of us think about it in the midst of a pity party. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

When you get a NO, from a customer; Get excited! Yes you read that correctly, get excited. As a rule of thumb you will get ten NO's to one YES. Every NO puts you one step closer to the customer who says YES.  However one of your goals should be to change that ratio, resulting in more customers saying yes.

 When your sales are not as they should be, use the time between customers effectively. You can do this by networking, prospecting, following up with potential customers, and cold calling. As a professional you are probably already practicing these techniques. At the same time these are things that we should be doing even when business is better. If not then get busy. It is during these times when customers are a little tighter with their finances. Therefore you have to make the most out of every opportunity you have.

When a customer says no, don't take it personally. Don't beat yourself up over it. Learn from it. There are just a small handful of reasons why customers say no. They either do not need your product or services; they cannot afford it, have no desire, or feel that the cost exceeds the value. This is the number one reason your customer will say no. Few people wonder around the store aimlessly looking at things they, cannot find a need for, or have no desire to own. More often than not, customers will say no because of the lack of information they have about the product or services you are providing. They do not see where the benefits of ownership meets, the amount of money, you are asking them to give you in return.

There is a bright side to all of this. Most of us already know this. So if what I am going to say shocks anyone. Let us just say that they have other issues. Your customer's car, boat, refrigerator, microwave, computer, or any other important machines or devices; your customer owns; are totally unaware of the economy and its current status. They have no idea that now is not a good time to breakdown, leaving their owner in an even bigger jam. Depending on the severity of the breakdown and the cost of the repair; a large majority of people will look for a way to afford replacing it rather than investing another nickel to fix it.  In their mind they will justify making a payment and not having to worry about breakdowns for a while.

If you want to pull your sales career out of the rut it is in. Then you need to surround yourself with the successful sales people in your company. Quit hanging out with the doom and gloom club. Keep positive, keep focused, set weekly and monthly goals. You are a winner, now act like one!