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5 Sales Training Tips For Selling In A Recession

Article Summary: There's going to be a recession! Baton down the hatches, bad times are coming! For many salespeople and business owners this may well be true. But does it have to be? In this article, leading sales expert and motivational speaker Gavin Ingham outlines how you can make more sales and grow your business in any market.

There's going to be a recession. That's what people say. That's what's in the media. It's going to happen. Businesses will struggle. Are they right? Are they wrong? Does it matter?

If there is a serious recession, learning how to keep on selling in a recession will be vital. Sales training might well be the key.

I have worked with many clients who have weathered recessions, grown their businesses through recessions and even set up and started successful businesses in recessions. Now is not the time to be panicking. Now is the time to be checking your sales activities, sharpening your sales training activities and applying solid sales principles.

1. Believe you can and stay positive!

One of the problems with all of this talk about recession is that once people believe there is going to be a recession they start to feel negative about their prospects. The nature of belief is such that people only tend to see what they believe rather than believing what they see. Once you believe that there is going to be a recession you tend to only notice articles, comments and statistics that support your beliefs.

What's more, your negative beliefs quickly affect your outlook and the way that you feel about your business prospects. Think about it for a second... If you thought 2008 was going to be a great year for business, your best year yet; how would you feel? Conversely, if you thought 2008 was going to see a major recession and that it was going to hit you and your business hard; how would you feel?

Mighty different huh? And remember, nothing's changed here... only your belief. Having a positive and supportive belief structure is essential if you want to succeed in any market but it is vitally essential if you want to keep on selling in a tough one.

Having a winning belief system does not mean that you need to be deluded however! In the middle of the darkest recession you don't want to have your eyes shut! But you do need to realise that in a recession people want to work with the best suppliers.

Suppliers that they can rely on. Suppliers that support them. Suppliers who are going to be around tomorrow. And if your competitors struggle, that means more sales and more business for you.

2. Get proactive

If this year is going to be tough then you need to be more proactive. Much more proactive. You need to do more marketing and more selling. You need to attend more events and do more networking. You need to do more promotion and more canvassing. Bottom line, you need to increase your sales activities, maybe dramatically.

In a recession many companies cut their sales activites. They figure, "If we're not going to sell anything, what's the point?" Many individual salespeople do this too. They may not think about it but it is what they do.

Touche. Cut your activity, cut your sales. You're a living, breathing, self-fulfilling prophecy! You believe there is not much business out there, so you feel negative. That in turn affects your activity and your activity destroys your sales results.

Even if (and it is only if at the moment) there is not as much business out there, then you need to be more active, more focused and more targeted. If your competitors are easing off a little, now is the time to up the anti and grab your share of the market. Even if sales do slow down temporarily, you will be in pole position when things pick up again.

3. Sharpen your sales skills

Most salespeople do not spend enough time working on improving their sales skills and techniques. Perhaps they can get away with this in a booming market when sales are easy. Perhaps not. But things will always change if the market tightens. Sales success will go to the salesperson who really understands why people buy and can help people make the right business decisions. Salespeople of this calibre stand to benefit from possible changes ahead because there will be more business for them as their competition falls by the wayside.

Sales will not go to the journeyman salesperson, the mediocre wannabee or the 9-5 order taker. Salespeople like these could well be in for a rough time.

When did you last read a sales training book on selling? How many sales training audios have you listened to over the last month? How many sales training seminars have you atteneded in the last 6 months? For 80% of salespeople reading this, the answer is zero.

If you're in the minority who have made the effort... Great, you're on track. Keep the study up and make sure you stay ahead of the game.

If you're in the 80% who haven't... Don't panic! You still have time. Start now by putting together your own sales training and development plan to sharpen your sales skills and hone your sales techiniques. Salespeople who can sell in any market will always be in demand. Effort now will reward you whatever this year brings.

4. Improve your service and focus on relationships

As I write this many companies will be working out how to cut corners. Companies will try to increase profits by cutting their service levels. They will try and eek extra profits out of their clients by cutting the bells and whistles from their offerings. This is not a good idea.

If business is tight you want to be wowing your clients with the best service that they have ever had, from you or from any of your competitors. You need to be going the extra mile. If a recession bites many companies will try and discount to survive. They probably won't (survive), but you don't want your clients going to them as they try to keep their heads above water! You need to "lock in" your existing clients now so that they won't even think about going anywhere else.

Spend time with your clients. Build stronger relationships with your clients. Make sure you truly understand them, their concerns and their businesses. Find ways to help them and add value over and above what they could have ever expected.

5. Leverage your efforts

In a soft market many salespeople only chase the easy stuff. They don't chase the tough stuff. Many salespeople take the easy route and do not follow up leads like these every single day.

In a tough market you must leverage all of your efforts. This is basic sales 101 and should be stuff that you do every day anyway... Here are just a few ideas.

Always ask for referrals. Referrals are great business but most salespeople do not ask for them because clients often say no. Learn how to ask for a referral properly and then build asking for a referral into your sales process and ask for one every time.

Upsell and cross-sell. Whether though laziness, lack of knowledge or lack of ability many salespeople sit on accounts where there is so much more business than they are currently leveraging. Extending your business with existing clients will not only make you more money, it will also strengthen your relationships with and value to them and their businesses.

Contact dormant accounts. Most companies have hundreds if not thousands of "dormant" accounts. There may be multiple reasons for this from changing business practises to fall-outs with the client. Dormant clients may well be redeemable and may have been "lost" purely because someone forgot to ring them or a salesperson moved on. Get in touch with them!

Follow up on all leads. I recently contacted 5 health insurance companies over the web. Only one replied. You should not be burning leads like this in any market. Follow up on all leads professionally using a proven sales system like the ones I teach in my sales training seminars and programmes and you will close more business. New clients are essential for any business in any market.

So there we are, 5 tips to help you to sell in a recession. This year may well prove to be an interesting year for some businesses and individuals. Some of this will be down to the market itself. Much of it will be down to you and how you react and respond to what might be a challenging year.

Here's my prediction for the year...

There will be winners and there will be losers. Which are you going to be?


Copyright (c) 2008 Gavin Ingham

Article Source: http://www.upublish.info

About the Author:
Gavin Ingham
For more on sales expert and motivational speaker Gavin Ingham visit http://www.gaviningham.com now. Here you can sign up free for Gavin's Sales Success mini-course and newsletter.