What are some strategies for selling in a recssion?

This recssion year may well prove to be an interesting year for some businesses and individuals. It is up to you, how you react, and respond to what might be a challenging recssion year. Here are, 5 tips to help you to sell in a recssion.

Strategies 1 : Believe you can and stay positive!

Problems with recession talk is that once people believe there is going to be a recession they start to feel negative about their business and prospects. They tend to see what they believe rather than believing what they see. Once you believe a thing you tend to only notice statistics that support your beliefs. Your negative beliefs quickly affect your outlook and the way that you feel.

If you thought this year was going to be a great year for business, your best year yet; how would you feel? Conversely, if you thought this year was going to see a major recession and that it was going to hit you and your business hard; how would you feel?

Remember, nothing's changed here other than your belief. Having a positive and supportive belief structure is essential if you want to succeed in any market but it is vitally essential if you want to keep on selling in a tough one.

Understand that clients want to partner with the best companies. Businesses that they can rely on, support them, and who are going to be around tomorrow. If your competitors struggle, that means more sales and more business for you.

Strategies 2 : Get more proactive!

In a recession many companies cut their sales activites. They figure, "If we're not going to sell anything, what's the point?" Cut your activity, cut your sales. You're a living, breathing, self-fulfilling prophecy! You believe there is not much business out there, so you feel negative. That in turn affects your activity and your activity destroys your sales results. Even if there is not as much business out there, then you need to be more active, more focused and more targeted not less. That's common sense. Increase your sales activities. Do more marketing and more selling. Attend more events, do more networking, promotion, and more canvassing.

If your competitors are easing off, it is the time to up the anti and grab your share of the market.

Strategies 3 : Sharpen your sales skills

If a workman needs a spade and a farmer needs a horse; a boxer needs a defence and a chef needs a recipe; what do salespeople need? The answer's obvious - it's sales skills. Most salespeople do not spend enough time working on improving their sales skills and techniques. Sales training and development is not something that many salespeople spend their time on out of choice. Perhaps they can get away with this in a booming market when sales are easy.

But things will always change if the market tightens. Sales success will go to the salesperson who really understands why people buy and can help people make the right business decisions. Salespeople of this calibre stand to benefit from possible changes ahead because there will be more business for them as their competition falls by the wayside. Sales will not go to the journeyman salesperson, the mediocre wannabee or the 9-5 order taker. Salespeople like these could well be in for a rough time. When did you last read a sales training book on selling? How many sales training audios have you listened to over the last month? How many sales training seminars have you atteneded in the last 6 months?

Strategies 4 : Improve your service and focus on relationships

Many companies are working out how to cut corners. They will try to save money by tinkering with their business offerings. They will try and seek extra profits out of their clients by cutting the bells and whistles from their offerings. If business is tight you want to be wowing your clients with the best service that they have ever had, from you or from any of your competitors.

Go the extra mile. If a recession bites many companies will try and discount to survive. They probably won't (survive), but you don't want your clients going to them as they try to keep their heads above water! You need to "lock in" your existing clients now so that they won't even think about going anywhere else.

Spend time with your clients. Build stronger relationships with your clients. Make sure you truly understand them, their concerns and their businesses. Find ways to help them and add value over and above what they could have ever expected.

Strategies 5 : Leverage your efforts

In a soft market many salespeople only chase the easy stuff. They don't chase the tough stuff. They're doing ok, they don't have to. They're making sales right? Wrong. Most salespeople have all sorts of opportunities which they squander every day and every month because there are seemingly easier things that they can be doing.

This is particularly true where leads have been relatively easy to come by, where sales targets are relatively soft or where salespeople are overpaid so don't crave the business. In a tough market you must leverage all of your efforts.

This is basic sales 101 and should be stuff that you do every day anyway... Here are just a few ideas. Always ask for referrals. Referrals are great business but most salespeople do not ask for them because clients often say no. Learn how to ask for a referral properly and then build asking for a referral into your sales process and ask for one every time. Upsell and cross-sell. Whether though laziness, lack of knowledge or lack of ability many salespeople sit on accounts where there is so much more business than they are currently leveraging.

Extending your business with existing clients will not only make you more money, it will also strengthen your relationships with and value to them and their businesses. Contact dormant accounts. Most companies have hundreds if not thousands of "dormant" accounts. There may be multiple reasons for this from changing business practises to fall-outs with the client. Dormant clients may well be redeemable and may have been "lost" purely because someone forgot to ring them or a salesperson moved on. Get in touch with them! Follow up on all leads.

Follow up on all leads professionally using a proven sales system like the ones we teach in our sales training seminars and programmes and you will close more business. New business is the lifeblood of any business in any market.

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