Economy upor down? What’s the REAL situation?
Breaking news! Have youheard? The economy is down!
THE economy is down,but how about YOUR economy?
Regardless of the stateof your industry, the state of your market, and even the state ofyour sales, as a salesperson it’s best to look at the big picture.When you see the big picture, you can craft more when themarketplace says less.
Before you try to makeanother sale, before you call on the next customer, I want you tolook at the real world so you can come up with real ideas and realanswers. Ideas and answers for your customers, for your sales, andfor yourself.
Let me be morespecific. I want you to look at and define your real world,and their real world. Before you visit any customer, you haveto know what the total situation is in order to understand them,relate to them, help them, serve them, and sell them. In these times,’sell them’ may be last on the list.
Let me define TOTALSITUATION. Don’t make the fatal mistake of just defining yoursituation. You also have to define the customer’s situation, themarket situation, and your company’s situation with theircustomers.
What you are definingis what exists now; the present situation. And by the way, once youhave defined a situation, it will begin to give you clarity of thesituation, and clarity of mind. Write the situation down. Writing itdown will clarify the situation for you. It will also serve as aspringboard for the actions you must take for your customer in thesetimes, so you can win in these times – and all times.
HERE’S THE PROBLEM:You may be panicked, maybe even pushed, for MORE SALES NOW. Thismeans you have to make a choice. Panic, or prepare. My strategy is alittle slower, but A LOT SURER.
After you have writtenthe entire situation, now you can begin looking for opportunities.What are the opportunities for the customer, for your company, andfor you? Is there an opportunity for you to capture a higherpercentage of the customer’s business? Is there an opportunity forthe customer to make more sales so they can pay their invoices in amore timely manner? Is there a market opportunity that the customeris missing because they are more focused on their woes and theircompetition, rather than their strengths?
Whatever they are, onceyou’ve identified all the opportunities, and you’re clear ontheir situation, then and only then can you begin to writewhat you intend to do or accomplish – your objectives.
Your objective may beas simple as getting the customer to pay their outstanding balancesin a more timely manner. Your objective may be to double yourbusiness with this customer. Your objective might be to help yourcustomer through troubled times. Your objective may be to broadenyour relationship with the customer so they will refer you to othercustomers. Your objective might be to make a sale right now.
You may have severalobjectives. Whatever the objectives are, they must be clearly statedand defined in writing. AND PLEASE do not confuse objectives withgoals. Write down what you intend to do to help the customer,do more business with the customer, gain more referrals from thecustomer, and make the relationship with the customer a financiallyrewarding one.
Once you clarify andunderstand the situation, identify opportunities, and write yourobjectives, make certain they are congruent with your intentions.
When the market isvolatile or uncertain, all facts defined will help you think moreclearly, act more directly, and become more successful.
Now, I’m going tochallenge you on a mastery point. Once you have this game planwritten down: situation, opportunities, objectives, and intentions, Ichallenge you to share these thoughts with your customer so that theycan become aware of how serious, how professional, and how certainyou are about growing the relationship, helping them, and buildingyour business.
Doing this will notonly give your customer peace of mind, you’ll also give yourselfpeace of mind.
Your list of ideas andanswers will not only set you apart from your competitors, who atthis moment are merely trying to sell and collect, but they will alsobuild your relationship in the more difficult times, so that whentimes become better (and they always do), you will have earned thebusiness and the loyalty that you deserve.
I have one morepowerful strategy to beat the crunch. If you want it, go towww.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time visitor, and enterthe word OPPORTUNITY in the GitBit box.
