Sales Training Tip #258: Sales and the State of the Economy

Don’t think for a moment the appearance of a soft economy is a reason to back off on your sales efforts. Just the opposite is true. If you buy into the belief that the economy is soft, then you also must accept it will come back. Unless you’re out selling every day, you’ll never know when it comes back until after it’s too late.

It’s in difficult times when superstar salespeople are born. Anybody can sell when times are good and in reality, in those periods salespeople are only taking orders. During tough times, top salespeople create and stick with strong selling habits, they keep up their momentum, and they don’t allow themselves to get swayed by public opinion.

Never allow public opinion to derail your sales efforts. A great example of why this is critical to your sales success is the price of oil. Just last summer, we were hearing reports of it hitting $200 a barrel and it was projected in a few years that we’d see $400. Oil has now come down to $65 and could easily go lower. This is the type of bad public opinion that the media loves to create and shape.

Superstar salespeople don’t allow themselves to be impacted by this type of noise. They stay committed and focused to making the number of sales calls each day that they know will lead to success. They are continuously reviewing their sales process to find ways to improve and to close more sales. Superstar salespeople don’t give up; they press on.

There’s a great quote I love to use regarding this theory. I’m not sure where it came from, but it goes something like this: “when everyone else zigs, it’s the best time to zag.” I’m personally using this economy to take my business to new heights. I’m not allowing it to slow down anything I’m working on and, in fact, I’m finding more ways to “zag” than I ever thought imaginable.

Keep on selling! Don’t back off! Whatever you do, don’t allow yourself to get swayed by the many doom-sayers out there.