Your closing rate has dropped. Your pending proposal stack is getting taller. Even though you don’t want to admit it, your weekly proposal output is declining. The competition is kicking your butt more often than they used to. You’re not hitting your budgeted sales numbers and you’re worried you won’t catch up.
If you’re human and somewhat normal you’ve certainly been “through the valley of the shadow of sales starvation” at some point in your career. Nothing goes up in a straight line forever, but when it’s your sales motor that sputters, it’s all hands on deck.
Your manager miraculously now has time to ride with you in the field to identify and “fix” your problem as quickly as possible.
Magically your sales team now has new incentives available and updated discounts for prospects.
You now get the (mandatory) privilege of participating in a weekly Call Night, in order to get on the horn and schedule more sales appointments.
One of your colleagues tells you under his breath, “The beatings will stop when morale improves.”
None of these approaches are necessarily bad ideas, and sometimes they are the best solution. But you should never mistake symptoms for the real problem.
Maybe your closing rate is dropping because you’re just not as likeable as you used to be, or are no longer conducting an adequate interview or diagnosis in order to determine the prospect’s specific pain.
Maybe the competition is beating you like a drum because you are no longer handling prospect’s concerns and objections like you were trained.
So make sure you are considering the cause versus the effect. I’m not saying you should stop the music and lose all momentum as you figure this thing out, but you definitely need a mid-course correction.
————Tell ‘em Gene————
“Doug’s weekly online sales meetings are an effective, relevant, and very convenient way to conduct sales training. Salespeople benchmark against peers, learn new techniques, and get motivated!” Gene Hilger, Bloomington, IN. See for yourself, HERE.
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Here are a few ideas to help you assess what’s going on, so you can get back on track:
- Search deep inside – Gather information about the situation and go deep internally by looking everywhere; at people, products, and processes.
- Look left and right – Look outside the immediate area. Is there something new occurring with a competitor? Are there any events happening beyond your control? What can you learn from up line management (District or Region), or knowledgeable allies at the Home Office?
- Look over your shoulder – Analyze when and why the problem started appearing and study your sales reports. Look for anything that might have changed. Each time you think you’ve found something, ask “why” questions like a 4 year old child does.
Have an out of body experience – For an additional perspective, benchmark with others outside your company to help you define the problem and gain confirmation of what you are experiencing. Consider talking to trusted vendors to gain an additional perspective. These same “outsiders” might be able to give you some valuable input, maybe even noticing weaknesses or roadblocks you have overlooked in your position, where it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees.- Respond to ‘worst first’ issues with the simplest solutions – Like a jigsaw puzzle, once you’ve cobbled together the straight pieces that comprise the outside border, the problems are framed and potential solutions can be applied. As you move forward always manage your behaviors, which can be measured, rather than your attitudes, which are harder to quantify and qualify. Make sure to implement the simplest solutions first, realizing that less is more.
- Measure improvement and evaluate – As you begin to apply solutions, improvement should be measurable pretty quickly, but if improvement is slow or insufficient, abandon that solution and try an alternate.
As you tackle sales problems, remember that the definition of insanity is “doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.” Asking questions will ensure you find the root causes and this will position you properly to move forward with your solution.
“I keep six honest serving men, they taught me all I knew. Their names are what and why and when and where and how and who. I’ve send them over land and sea, I sent them east and west. And after they have worked for me, I give them all a rest.” Rudyard Kipling-1902
©2016 Robinson Training Solutions, LLC
