If you have managed to maintain your sales volume and customer base during the past 14 months, I say well done! If business has been down or you feel like you have taken a beating during a weak economy, make sure you have not weakened your approach to opportunities.
Here are a few reminders to keep you selling from a strength position.
Remember Who You Are - You are not your sales. You are the person who helps customers make quality decisions and push through their uncertainty to act. You can be confident in that fact day in and day out.
Qualify Strong - Don't let yourself fall into the trap of "trying" to win every opportunity that crosses your path. You might need to say "no" to more opportunities today to allow you time to find the customers who prefer to buy from companies like yours. This will also allow you to have more time to do a better job at selling than your competition.
Add and Re-sell Your Value - Add unexpected value to your current customers and make sure they understand that it is why they choose to do business with you. Also, ask them why they continue to do business with you and your company. This will help both you and your customer recommit to what is important to them.
It can be very easy to fall back to order taking and slave selling (doing whatever they ask, good or bad), in hopes of winning a deal. Don't do it. Challenge poor buying practices. Remember, you want to practice consultative selling. Be the consultant your customers rely on.
Are you building a sales career or living or dying by your next deal? Tiger Woods is working toward a career objective, and as we saw Sunday at the PGA Tournament, things don't always go as planned. In sales we don't close every deal but we do have a response to every outcome.
Your response to your wins and losses will either bring you closer to your career objectives or further away.Your response can be considered part of the career sales process.
Tiger understands winning 19 major PGA tournaments is a career objective. Some years he will win 1-4 and others years none at all. No matter what the result, each year he works to get better. He responds by finding ways to improve and avoids wallowing in his losses or basking in his wins.
During these last 12 months I have not witnessed record selling numbers by my clients, but I have witnessed quality individuals focused on getting better. These sales professionals are building a career, and when the market changes they will be positioned to set records.
Don't let yourself complain when things aren't going your way. Assess how you might do things better, different or more creatively then pick up a club and take your next shot. Sometimes, a change isn't necessary, just simply keep showing up and doing what you need to do, the results will come.