***Sales Management in This Recession - Improve Your Sales Team’s Performance

We limit ourselves when it comes to selling and business development. Here is another story from my networking association meeting the other night. This article can help you or your people overcome self limiting sales beliefs and develop more business faster.

Back to the two ladies I talked ...We limit ourselves when it comes to selling and business development. Here is another story from my networking association meeting the other night. This article can help you or your people overcome self limiting sales beliefs and develop more business faster.

Back to the two ladies I talked about in my previous story, after I asked my favorite question. “So ladies, what are your major issues as it relates to business development during this economic down time,” here is what happened.

I started giving my suggestions about what they could do about the low price issue (see previous story.) As I’m talking, one lady is sort of listening as the other is checking out all the other people to see if there is someone better that she can network to. As people walk by she actually starts talking to them as I’m talking and then comes back to my golden nuggets of selling wisdoms. Obviously she wasn’t interested in hearing what she could to do about her issue. The other paid a little closer attention, but then wanted to tell me why the customer was wrong. Basically, without words, she told me she was going to continue doing it her way.

Now here is the irony. These people need to win more deals. Their business floats with the economy, meaning good economy, more business and bad economy, less business - always the same share or the pie. Yet, their employers want business - no matter good or bad economy. This means in a bad economy their share has to get bigger or they have to beat the competition more often. So why don’t these people want to get some tips and try to use them? Here are 2 reasons why.

1. People that are employed are content and feel they don’t need to do anything different. If anything they want to change their employer - i.e. complaints, suggestions, and excuses. Even if they are on an incentive or commission they blame the company for their failures. That’s why I advocate a negative commission, i.e. you lose money if you lose a sale that’s forecasted.

These people have no reason (in their mind) to change. This is where management has to step in (a) to tell their people what they have to do - coaching, and (b) then hold them accountable for producing results - task master.

2. People hold themselves back. From childhood we are conditioned to attain a level (get a job.) People get so far i.e. employed with a steady paycheck, and they have subconsciously reached their level. Yes, everybody says they want more, but they are held back by their own negative self talk, and this, believe it or not, keeps them in their comfort zone. Subconsciously they are saying, “The devil I know is better than the one I don’t.” or “Why invest in self improvement, I’m good at what I do.” or “This is as good as it get’s. Why risk, why make the effort?” or “It’s everyone else’s fault,” or some other limiting negative self talk.

This again is where managers have to step in. They have to realize these self limits about their people and (c) train them on how to sell,- trainer (d) show them on how to do it, - mentor and (e) again, hold them accountable for the implementation - task master. The lack of accountability for implementation is why training and self-help fails. Without reinforcing the changes, the negative self talk that is solidly programmed in the minds of everyone, takes over and sabotages any progress towards change. See John Assaraf’s book The Answer for more on this topic. www.johnassaraf.com

So the moral of this story is that employed people do not have the incentive to change. They are content in their status and unless someone - like a manager - is not content with their outcome, nothing will happen to raise the level. It’s as good as it gets with more of the same happening, but everyone hoping for better results - the classic definition of insanity.