Dear ToddCohen.com Sales Community,
In the last few months, I have counted no less than 20 different sales gurus claiming they have THE answer to selling in this recession. The titles all start the same way – “The 10 things you need to know…”, or “The 5 new things you can do…” or, my favorite “The 55 new skills you need to sell….” I am serous! I am actually saw that one. No joke.
Sales is simple. If you need 55 new skills, then I would be very concerned about your role as a selling professional. That, however, is another story. One such guru said the answer is to make “more calls” and do “more entertaining!” Are you kidding me? Another one that I had to restrain myself on was this priceless gem: “Hire me and in one hour I will share THE secret.” The cost of this person’s engagement was in the thousands. Finally, there was one I saw that started with “Give them a pickle….” I could not even finish it.
Now, I am not casting aspersions on any of my colleagues. They all have good ideas I am sure, but at the end of the day I am hearing very little NEW, very few truly unique ideas that accelerates us as a profession. It seems to me that everyone is saying the same thing. I can offer my thoughts and ideas as well, but they are not going to be a silver bullet. No one has that. To all the sales gurus out there who want to help, please stretch yourselves like I am and come up with something new – our sales colleagues want to hear from us!
Ok, now if you want to stay on top during this time, then the some advice I have is this: Build better relationships. Develop trust. Create value by educating and allowing yourself to be educated. Network (correctly) until you drop. Try using some Social Media tools. Now is a great time to get on board if you are not already. Give away your content. Stretch yourself and manage your companies’ expectations by introducing your new ideas. Be courageous and unique. Finally, never ever lose your passion and energy for your product. I have been through enough down and challenging economies and have always done very well by making sure I was doing the basics and doing them well. There is much more, but you get the point.
The bottom line is this: Like great jobs that are not posted, there is great business that can be found. You just have to work at it. No super special secret sauce or costly solution. Just YOU deciding that you are going to be a sales professional and develop your own sales culture like I have been saying all along.
As always let me know what you think. If you have a great idea, add it to the BLOG! I welcome your thoughts!
Good Selling!
-Todd
Todd-
I agree!! I have seen so many people claim to have the answer and they are all saying nothing! Thanks for giving me a chuckle at your candor!
Finally! Thank you for calling calling it like it is!
Todd,
You’re so dead on. There’s nothing new under the sun. It’s all about repitition and refinement. I really enjoy your work.
Thank you for the exhortation to be COURAGEOUS. It’s easy to get beaten down and easy to excuse ourselves because the economic climate is bad, but that’s like standing in the rain and complaining that you’re getting wet!! I plan to do at least one thing for my business that scares me today. Thanks, todd!
Todd – great post! I have found that selling in a recession (or when not in a recession) is to provide outstanding service to your existing clients. Do everything you can to build the trust and loyalty with those clients. Hiring a new vendor in a recession adds a whole new level of risk to the client/prospect in that they’re taking their precious resources and taking a form of a gamble. Will that vendor deliver for me? Will we work together well? Since I haven’t worked with them before, how do I know I’ll get the return on investment? That equation changes when you’re building upon an existing relationship. If you deliver well with your existing clients, they’ll likely ask you to do more – you’re a know quantity, and they trust you. And, they might even urge one of their colleagues to hire you too!
I truly believe in only one philosophy, get off your ass and do something about it! That being said, all the sales techniques in the world can’t change the fact, that if you don’t get up early and go out and get that work, it won’t be there.
So … stop wasting time reading this, and go make some sales!