We all have bad days, but we have a problem when bad days turn into months or quarters. The key to handling slumps is to avoid getting into one in the first place. I share 9 quick tips to get out and stay out of a sales slump in this slide deck below. In the rest of this article, I’ll explain how to get out of a sales slump – and stay out!
Table of contents | How to get out of a sales slump
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Way back in 1962, there was a company going through a massive slump where they were struggling. They couldn’t even make a profit and they had to do something. They had to change things up and what they did was, they decided to work hard and in fact that work harder became their goal, their mantra. In fact, they said we try harder. That was their mantra, that was their goal. They decided we need to put in more effort. And that effort is what made all the difference to turn their business around.
We simply need to try harder.
Sales slump is a common phenomenon | How to get out of a sales slump
A slump could be defined as a sudden downward spiral right or a sudden downward decrease in anything, sales performance, activity, profitability, anything from time to time and sales. It’s natural to experience a slump from time to time.
Before A Slump | How to get out of a sales slump
Things you should do before a slump:
Start Saving For A Raining Day
Live within your means. If you’ve got a comfortable base salary and your average monthly commission is something that’s predictable, you live within those means for your monthly expenses. Even if you have a great month, reward yourself a little bit. But don’t blow the bank. Invest some of that money. Save it for a rainy day.
Establish A Referral Network
You need to start building your network of possible referrals who can send business your way as soon as possible even before when you’re not in a slump. You see what happens quite often, is sales reps find themselves in a slump. They’re in a downturn. They’re having problems They’re not closing deals or even worse or maybe not even finding prospects or leads to meet with and they struggle. They panic. They start looking through their database, looking through their phone, their contact lists and reaching out to people. Hey, who do you know who might need our product or service? By then, it’s too late.
Keep Existing Customers Happy
We are so busy moving on to that next deal. Sometimes we neglect our customers, even our best customers even though it’s a lot easier to get repeat business from customers than it is to go out there than try to close new ones. It’s a lot easier to get more money from existing customers than people who don’t even know us or trust us. So, if we know that to be true. Why is it, we don’t spend enough time with our existing customers.
During A Slump | How to get out of a sales slump
Things you should during a slump:
Find Out The Reason For The Slump
What you need to do as soon as you’re in a sales slump, well, the first thing you need to do is actually recognise that you’re in a slump. You need to realise it. So, how do you know? Maybe you notice your productivity level has gone down, you’re not making it as many calls as you used to, you’re not getting as many meetings as you did before or you’re just not closing as many deals at the same dollar amount that you were before. So, whatever your telltale signs are, you need to first recognise when you’re in a slump. Then ask a real honest question as what is the reason for the slump, whether it’s is internal or external?
If It’s External
If your slump is due to a recession, refresh your marketing collaterals, sales deck, sales approach, elevator speech, presentation style, things that you have control on, to better reflect the changing market conditions and stand out from the competition. Maybe your marketing collaterals, sales deck, sales approach, elevator pitch, presentation style, things that you have control on are outdated and competitors have a better version of that.
If It’s Internal
Get excited and chase that commission. You can do that by learning something new. There’s probably been some innovation, some changes so refresh, learn more, make sure that you’ve got all the product knowledge possible. Go on a plant tour or a site inspection or kind of walk through the factory, walk through the office, see how your product is made, see the different departments, talk to different people, get a different perspective, a fresh look on an old product that can motivate you. Maybe there’s a course you want to take, a book you want to read, a website you want to look at, a video you want to watch or a podcast you want to listen to. There are so many different things, you can do internally to motivate yourself and fire yourself up.
Get Back to Basic
Often at times, salespeople, when they’re in a slump, they decide to change everything. They change everything and they start from scratch and they try to reinvent the wheel, they take on a whole bunch of new complicated things. Get back to basics. There’s probably some fundamental of sales that being neglected that cause the slump.
The One Thing That Makes The Biggest Difference – Try Harder
It’s not talent. It’s not upbringing or education or resources. It’s none of that stuff that’s going to make the difference between winning and losing. It’s none of that, that’s not gonna separate you guys from your competitors. It’s not that at all, will you try harder?
Way back in 1962, there was a company going through a massive slump where they were struggling. They couldn’t even make a profit and they had to do something. They had to change things up and what they did was, they decided to work hard and in fact that work harder became their goal, their mantra. In fact, they said we try harder. That was their mantra, that was their goal. They decided we need to put in more effort. And that effort is what made all the difference to turn their business around.
We simply need to try harder.
Motivate Yourself To Get Out & Stay Out with SOCO/
Success in sales starts with having the right mindset. Having the belief, you will succeed is already half the battle, especially when times are tough.
Join our Mindset for Sales Training Sales because, at times like these, you need to learn how to stay motivated when the economy slows down. When customers say no and when things aren’t going your way. It’s often a strong sense of internal motivation that separates the top performers from the underachievers, which is why we consider mindset to be the foundation of sale excellence.
