Sales Effectiveness in a Slow Economy

POST AN ARTICLE

Featured Sales Blogs

In Partnership Wth:

DiversityJobs.com

JustJobs.com

MAIN MENU

Sales Effectiveness in a Slow Economy

Written by Danita Bye

More Gravy
Recession Proofing Your Sales Force

Many of my clients tell me that their sales team are made up of a bunch of service people or farmers. The challenge in difficult times are that new customers are risk averse to trying new suppliers and that the cost of getting new business may come at the expense of profitability. The most economical way to grow your business is through existing customers.

I’ve seen it time and again, both in my own businesses and in my consulting work: When you focus your marketing and sales efforts on a limited but carefully considered market, your return on investment (ROI) goes up, advertising becomes more effective, and you gain the clout and referrals that come along with being regarded as a specialist.

Tune your sales engine for peak performance.

In manufacturing, nothing is made until a sale is made. If a manufacturing business were an automobile, the sales and marketing departments would be the engine; the driving force that moves the entire organization forward. So take care when you’re considering cuts in those departments. Cut too deeply and you may not have enough horsepower left to take you through this recession.

In times as tough as these, cuts are unavoidable, and it seems reasonable to make those cuts across the board. But tough times are when you need the motive power of your sales and marketing departments most. These days, instead of stalling your entire business by dropping the revs on your sales engine, it’s best to tune it with an increased focus on target markets and a redoubled emphasis on coaching your team in the characteristics needed to beat a bad economy.

Increase Sales Revenue With a Targeted Marketing Strategy

Focus the resources you already have on a well-defined target market; marketing and sales are finite resources. Go after every market opportunity that presents itself and you’ll find yourself spread so thin and your marketing so diluted that you’ll actually hurt your bottom line.

I’ve seen it time and again, both in my own businesses and in my consulting work: When you focus your marketing and sales efforts on a limited but carefully considered market, your return on investment (ROI) goes up, advertising becomes more effective, and you gain the clout and referrals that come along with being regarded as a specialist.

Coach Your Salespeople to Maximize Performance

In the same way that not every manufacturer is suited to every market, not every salesperson possesses the personal characteristics and skills needed to sell effectively in an economy like this one. That’s why so many salespeople who burned up the sales track just a few years ago are stalled out and directionless today. And it’s also why coaching your salespeople in the following areas is more necessary now than ever:

Desire – Salespeople with this quality don’t “have to”; they “want to.” Because they’re motivated by money, prestige, and an overwhelming urge to be the best, they do what’s necessary to reach their own goals —goals which are often loftier than yours.

Commitment – There’s an old saying: “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” Desire, while necessary, is not sufficient. To succeed, salespeople must be committed to doing what others won’t. They must be willing to risk security for reward. They have to push hard enough that they risk hearing “no.”

Accountability – I call this quality a “responsibility reflex,” an automatic willingness to be held accountable for failure and expect recognition for success. In contrast to salespeople who blame outside factors in a knee-jerk fashion, salespeople with the responsibility reflex refuse to rationalize or externalize. They accept challenges and relish being held accountable for—and rewarded for—their efforts.

Comfortable talking about money – When it comes right down to it, money’s what business is about, right? To sell in this economy, a salesperson has to be comfortable with that and be able to bring up the subject in a forthright, confident and timely fashion. The successful salesperson knows the value of what they sell and won’t beat around the bush when it comes to talking dollars and cents. They’ve come to terms with the fact that their value to their own company lies in the revenue they create.

Little need for approval – I’ve yet to come across anyone who didn't appreciate a pat on the back from time to time, but the best salespeople don’t let a need for approval get in the way of making the sale. They’ll ask the tough questions and won’t accept waffling answers. They will ask for the business and risk getting shot down. They won’t stand for put offs, stall outs and unclosed sales.

When the economy is sputtering, tuning your sales engine for peak performance takes precedence over cuts. By narrowing your market focus and training your sales team in the qualities needed to succeed when the road is rocky, you’ll be giving yourself the green light for better sales now and record-beating performance when the market accelerates again.

Danita Bye
		About the author:
		Danita Bye, speaker, sales turnaround specialist, sales acceleration guru and author, believes "Timing doesn’t have as much to do with business success as learning to deliver and committing to results at all times – regardless of competitive landscape or economic conditions." Behind her Fortune 100 experience, discipline, expansive entrepreneurial spirit and drive, she delivers uncommonly profitable results - like 8% new business growth during a recession and 40% higher margins. Bull or bear, bust or boom, recession or recovery, Danita gets results for her clients. But more importantly, she teaches them to get results for themselves – without compromise, without excuses, without fail. .