As sobering economic news continues to permeate people’s airwaves and 401Ks, I receive dozens of calls from business owners about the increasing number of stalls they are hearing from their sales prospects and salespeople. 

Forecasts continue to be pushed out and people are wondering how to get clients to “pull the trigger” on pending projects.  Many are having a tough time closing business in the face of “wait and see” attitudes.

As a business owner, this economic climate makes it even more imperative to manage attitudes and paradigms (both your own and those of your salespeople).  In the face of various delays, spending “freezes”, discount requests, cancelled appointments, and other forms of increased resistance, it is essential to keep mindsets within the Circle of Influence and outside of the Circle of Concern.

As people get whipped up inside their Circle of Concern, it will not take long for your weaker players to believe all the “bad news”.  In the face of externals forces and chatter, they become demoralized and expect to fail.  You cannot allow this to happen.  Make every discussion you have with your salespeople positive.  Discuss only those things that they can control.  Also, find something to celebrate inside each situation.  Can the economy be better?  Sure.  However, business is still being conducted.   Even companies who are proclaiming project delays or spending freezes are still making purchases.  Whether inside a company, an industry, a country or an entire global economy, there is a Bull Market inside every Bear Market.  The job of a great leader and salesperson is to find it and seize the opportunity.

Some of the things your salespeople are listening to are situations that cannot be controlled or addressed, but most of the things they hear absolutely can be.  Superior salespeople already know this.  Encourage all your salespeople to listen more actively.   How much of what they are hearing are simply first-line excuses or pre-programmed objections, something prospects hope salespeople will buy into so they can get leverage?  What percentage of your prospects are simply bluffing?  How many of those objections, stalls and put-offs can be overcome with better strategies, better sales management and a more effective sales process?   How many of your salespeople are REALLY equipped to sell in an economy as difficult as this one?

It is easy to tell your salespeople what you need them to do and then fall into the trap of  hoping for the best.  Unfortunately, hope is not a strategy.  The fact is the great majority of salespeople simply not capable of doing more than they’ve done before in the face of tougher competition and resistance, without some fairly dramatic change.   So what needs to be changed?  You can learn by assessing your sales force.  There are great tools available to diagnose things and let you know exactly what needs to be done to fix it.

© Copyright 2009 Joe Zente

Bookmark the CEO Success Blog!