There is a mirror image, a flipside if you will, to the challenges the current economy brings to you as salespeople.
That is, it is the best time in years to take customers away from your competitors and here is why.
During stressful or uncertain times, people tend to really focus upon things they took for granted when the pressure was off. Both in business and personal terms, people revisit issues and service providers like insurance, banking, training, securities, medical, hard goods, services like repair and maintenance, landscaping, painting and even commodities like energy, paper and water. Nothing is sacred . . . everything is up for grabs.
For salespeople, on the defensive side, this is where your years of relationship building should pay off.
Yes, you are all going to lose some business if a customer, for example, is going down for the count. But you should also be given the chance, by your best customers, to work with them through the stress.
On the offensive side, now is the time to turn up the energy level and outmaneuver your lazy competitors who have been resting on their laurels during the good times.
They are vulnerable now, and it is your job to go in and let their customers know that there’s a new sheriff in town who would die to have their business. And one who can really deliver the goods!
