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I’m going to tell you two words that are killing sales professionals and we need to stop using them right now. I’ll then provide two sales tips that you can use to take their place.

The Killer Words
The two words that are sabotaging our sales efforts are “the economy.” I hear those two words strung together dozens of times each day and it’s starting to make me sick.

“My commission check is going to be smaller because of the economy.”
“The economy is causing my customers not to return my calls.”
“With the economy the way it is, I’m not going to waste my time prospecting.”

“As sales professionals, we will always have to manage ourselves in either growing or shrinking economies.”

Have you noticed there are legions of articles, podcasts and a sales blog around every corner telling you how to sell in our current economic climate? Everyone seems to have a mystical and complicated answer. I’ll give you two simple sales tips that cover everything you need to know about selling in the economy. This is more straightforward than you have been led to believe.

Two Sales Tips for The Economy
1. Every time a professional sports team is in trouble and recruits a new coach, what is the first thing the new coach always wants to focus on? Basics. “This team needs to get back to basics because that’s 95% of the game.”

We must do the same. Focus on the sales basics that we know and that also appear in this sales blog. Planning, prospecting, follow-up, cross-selling, up-selling, networking, relationships, information gathering. These are pillars of sales and they are more important today than they were yesterday. We all know that working hard is a basic too.

2.There is an expression airplane pilots use that applies to sales professionals. “When one of the engines quits, don’t forget to keep flying.” That’s powerful. If a pilot fixates on the mechanical problems he or she is having with a plane, they could easily get so distracted that they fly the plane right into the ground. If the pilot keeps his or her hands on the controls, the chance for a successful outcome is greatly improved.

This principle applies to us. When our selling environment changes we must keep selling. Allowing ourselves to be completely sidetracked by the economy can unconsciously cause us to pilot our sales career into the side of a mountain.

Sales Blog Epilogue
Economies are just like climates. They are always changing and are unpredictable. As sales professionals, we will always have to manage ourselves in either growing or shrinking economies. Stay with the sales basics you know and remain focused on selling.  Keep flying.

Further reading:

• Direct Sales Tips: What the media does to ruin your sales career.
• How Drano Can Help Us Deal with the Economy

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Tags: career

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