Selling More in the Down Market  

The strategies the top 20% use to succeed

If we are to believe everything on the TV, radio and paper, Chicken Little would be having a field day! Yep the sky is falling and we are all in trouble!

Or are we? In the past recessions more new business were developed than in the up period that preceded the recessions!

Obviously there must be opportunity in a down market?

The question is, "How do we take advantage of this window of opportunity?"

Here are several steps that can put you in the top 20%!

The Control Issue:  

The first point is to understand you can only control what you can control. Everything else is out of your control and just wastes time and space in your head! Yet how many people do you know spend most of their time and energy talking and worrying about what they cannot control! Dangit this stuff does not pay the rent, so why let it have space!

So what can you control?

How you think and what you think is under your control.
Your habits and behaviors are under your control.
Your actions, words and deeds are under your control.
How you treat people and the world around you is under your control.

So the first step is to be sure you are controlling what you can control. This will build your confidence, give you focus and separate you from all the noise that is controlling others. Ways to do this, read the rest of the article.

The question issue:  

It is proven by research that asking questions is one of the most powerful, yet lest used tools to tap into your powerful mind! Yep, that's right!

All the self-help books preach affirmations to make you successful, yet most highly successful people really do not use them!

What they do use is continually asking themselves questions! How could I....? What could I....? What if I...?

What this does is kick in the brains most powerful asset, it's obsession with solving problems! Give your brain a problem in the form of a question and it has to solve it! That's where those 3 am great ideas come from, you asked a question that night, last week, last year and the brain has been working on solving it ever since then!

In a down market you need to ask your brain more questions to find different answers and solutions. This will keep you focused on what you can control and help you to create the right habits and actions!

The discovery issue:  

The last real downturn was over 12 years ago! That means a great many salespeople and companies have not experienced these times. They have been successful and riding the wave of economic growth! Now the methods they have been using may not be as effective in the down turn and they have to discover other methods to simply maintain, much less grow!

Your customers may be some of these people looking for that new answer.

Back to the power of great open questions!

This is one thing you can control! Rather than being a "product puker" change to a "solution finder" by forgetting about your product and discovering what your customers really need! In our trainings professionals learn how to use the "5 Magic Questions" that can sell almost anything. These focus on the client, the needs and the solutions. In down times people are looking for solutions and opportunities. How are your helping find them?

The Willing to Change Issue:  

Lee Salz, a fellow sales consultant uses the DOODO Bird as an example of companies and salespeople that refuse to change. The DOODO bird is extinct!

When we hear the fatal terminology, "we have always done it this way" in a down turn, you can plan on buying that organization for pennies on the dollar in short time. The same goes for the salesperson!

First and foremost you must be willing to change and try something different! When your brain gives you that great new answer to your questions, get busy putting it into action! This will not only set you apart from the rest, but probably put you into the top 20%!

The one, who solves the most problems, creates the most solutions and discovers the most opportunities will be in demand and reap the rewards!

Will doing it the same as you have been get you these results? Or will it just require more work, more hours and less reward?

There could be more ideas, but if you can focus on these four and truly take them to heart, you can be the leader, not just the survivor!

To your success!

Till next time...

Harlan Goerger

© Harlan Goerger 11-2008
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