A lesson in sales from Sir Winston Churchill

"Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it."

I'M NO kite flyer - I tried a few times as a kid, but didn't really have much success with it. Why? Well, I have no idea. However, we can really relate this quote from Sir Winston Churchill to a sales situation, particularly at the moment.

As the world slumps in a recession, as salespeople we can really say that the wind is against us, rather than for us. It's now that our jobs become harder, targets seem further away, clients have budget cuts, and we're under more pressure than ever to perform to the max. It's also a time when the gap between the very best salespeople and those who are just mediocre will widen, and the people who take time to sharpen their skills will find the current bumpy road much smoother.

The fact is, that when everything's going well, it's quite easy to sit back and watch the sales (and the commission) pour in. We can relax a bit, knowing that a large proportion of our prospects have money to spend, and a half-hearted sales call can often to the business. At the moment though, these tactics simply won't work, and every call, every email, every contact with a prospect has to be better than the last. We have to listen harder than ever, and bend over backwards to differentiate ourselves from the competition. And at the moment, it's not just the competition which are a problem for us - it's building value in the product and showing a clear return on investment - our prospects need to see that whatever they're spending with us will save them money in the medium term, and will often need this spelled out to them very clearly. So, what can we do?

Smile! Before you enter that meeting, before you pick up the phone, a smile will go a long way to show that you're not bothered, you're not struggling, you're confident that the product is of sufficient quality to sell in a tough market

Analyse. After every call, every sale and every rejection, spend just a few minutes thinking: What did I do right which got me that sale? How can I do it even better next time? What stopped me getting that sale? How can I ensure I don't do it again? How did the prospect react to my questions? To my information? To my small talk? What is going to get me even better results next time?

Put the effort in! There will always be people to buy your product. However, in a slowdown the balance will more towards those who will not buy at the moment. What does this mean? You'll have to look harder, make more calls, send more emails for the same results. And what about those who won't buy now? Don't write them off - put the same effort into these, give them the same attention, make them feel just as valued. Why? Because...

...when the economy picks up again, these people will help you smash your targets. Keep in regular contact and they'll remember you, and when they have money to spend, guess where they'll go. Some of the competition may have dropped away, and as a top salesperson, the work you do now will help you to really profit when conditions improve!

A lesson in sales from Sir Winston Churchill

By: Neil Shorney

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