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Sales Training Article:Avoid "Sales Death" by Paralysis
by Skip Anderson Founder, Selling to Consumers
During times of career challenge or struggle, we can be overcome by
paralysis. But no matter how challenging your business may be right
now, it’s vitally important that you don’t allow paralysis to
infiltrate your career or personal drive.
It is action that makes our sales careers chug along. The opposite
of “action” is “inaction,” and inaction leads to paralysis. When
we’re paralyzed, we are nothing but helpless reactors to stimuli
around us, and paralysis can even make it challenging to react to
that stimuli.
Paralysis can be contagious. Just as many of our prospects and
customers have become paralyzed by the economic downturn, we, as
sellers, are in danger of allowing this paralysis to invade our
well-being, too. For many in sales, these are very difficult times.
But one thing is certain: if we allow ourselves to be infected by
career paralysis, we will be harming ourselves.
We’ve got to keep moving, keep calling, keep closing, and keep
leading the sales process and motivating our prospects. We have to
be passionate about our customers, our products, our companies, and
our careers. We need to think long-term, even while short-term
pressures grow in front of our eyes. We have to be more creative
than ever before, more resilient than ever before, and maybe more
flexible than ever before. No matter how challenging our route,
we’ve got to keep taking steps toward our goals, even if they are
baby steps.
I’m not suggesting we become manipulative (I never suggest that
regardless of the quality of the selling environment). I’m not
suggesting we pretend this recession isn’t real (we’ve got to face
reality if we expect to rise above that reality). I’m not suggesting
we become aggressive in our selling (aggressiveness is the enemy of
both the customer and the professional salesperson).
But we’ve got to keep marching to the drumbeat of our sales goals
and career aspirations. The economy has slowed, it hasn’t stopped.
It is not dead, it is alive. People are still buying. Customers have
needs, and many have the means to meet those needs with you. You
need to find them, sell to them more effectively than you’ve ever
sold before, and not give up.
Have the courage to change what you can. Take the steps you need to
take to position yourself to take advantage of opportunities, even
if those opportunities are disguised or hidden from view. Be bold,
be wise, and be active.
And most of all, be a salesperson.
© 2009 All rights reserved
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