There is an even stronger need to sell and sell well. Sure, it can seem tough to prove otherwise when the media keeps pointing out statistics about consumer and business buying habits, but regardless - the reality is that people are still buying and sales are still being made. You just have to get better at selling. Whether you are selling products or services, economic times like these can be rough for anyone in sales. The word recession scares consumers and businesses alike. While the recession would be an easy excuse to explain away limited sales, the current economic climate should not be the downfall of your business.
True Sales Professionals know they need to create their own opportunities and find the solutions to fill a need. Here are 3 quick tips for selling during recessionary times.
Tip #1: Experiment With New Initiatives
If you have been using the same old sales tactics and marketing initiatives, now may be the time to try more innovative techniques that you may have avoided in the past. You may have shied away from breakfast meetings, lunch 'n learns, or other public speaking engagements because they were not your cup of tea, but both of those marketing avenues can be a great source of potential clients. Adding personal touches to your presentations can make people decide they trust in you and think seriously about investing their cash in your services.
Tip #2: Remember Psychology
Regardless of money matters, one of the keys to consistent sales is a human one. Our decision- making process is often driven by emotion, so if you can touch on some of those natural emotions such as money, security, fulfillment, and peace of mind, you may be able to trigger a sale. If you have not traditionally use an approach that elicited emotion in your prospects and clients, it's time to modify your sales approach. Consider what you would want to hear to motivate you to make a purchase of a product or service.
Tip #3: Watch Your Language
People may be too quick to throw around economy-related terms, including the dreaded 'recession'. Use more positive words, such as advantages, benefits, and opportunities. A few switches of your vocabulary can have a great impact on your potential customers or clientele.
As a Sales Professional who is battling low sales numbers, step back and take a good look at your sales approach first before assuming wary prospects or the economy is to blame. In a time when everyone seems to be pessimistic about the state of the nation, it is the prime time to become an agile, creative Sales Professional.
Attend MSP University's next Boot Camp for FREE! Erick Simpson
MSP University
Subscribe to my blog here
Subscribe to our Newsletter here
Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
Great tips. Particularly like the one about Psychology. Everything we do is based on emotions and emotions are driven by our psychology.
Great stuff!
Cheers
Darren Fleming
Australia's Public Speaking COach.
Posted by: Public Speaking Courses | September 06, 2009 at 05:59 PM
Excellent comments, Irvine IT and CA. I was recently told that in IT, the sale occurs after the contract has been signed - meaning we need to continue to prove value on a consistent basis to maintain and improve our business relationships.
Erick Simpson
Posted by: Erick Simpson | August 23, 2009 at 11:14 AM
One thing you might want to consider doing is helping prospects convert their fixed costs into variable costs. That way prospects do not have to finance the initial outlay for the purchase.
The next thing to do is to help prospects see how they can improve their cash-flow with your solution. No business or entrepreneur will dismiss the above two points.
Posted by: CA | August 23, 2009 at 06:49 AM
Great tips. Some of the hardest things to sell can be IT services. There is a lot to go into convincing the buyer that they really need it, and then you have to show them results since it's not exactly something you can just hand to them. The intangible products rely heavily on strong customer service in order to sell them and to keep the clients happy.
Posted by: Irvine IT | August 20, 2009 at 12:49 PM