Sales Laundry

Times are tough. Sales are down and Management is cracking the whip on the sales team. Forecast meetings have turned into an exercise in pain management as the same weak opportunities get hashed and rehashed week after week as revenues dry up and leads exist only in legend.

Does that about size up the sales effort so far this year? Well grind no more my good man.

Simply put, if what worked yesterday does not work today for one rep, look at what has changed about the rep. If what worked yesterday does not work today for the entire sales team, look at what has changed about the business of doing business.

In those heady days before 2008 when sales reps were writing new business in their pajamas or while still wearing the cloths they wore to the bar the night before, many sales professionals were able to check their skills at the door and become order takers, often times stumbling across an order or two blowing across the parking lot on the way in the office.

Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but it is only to make the point that instead of complaining about the market, now would be a good time to hang up the order takers apron, knock the rust off the sales armor and go jousting.

“Our clients are laying off staff, they do not have the budget to do anything this year.”

Do they still need your service in these difficult times? If you were providing staffing for them, ah, maybe not. Or, they might just need you more than ever. If you have the relationship in place maybe you can suggest temporary staff that are more cost effective to help them wind down their operation until their new reduced permanent head count can wrap their arms around the business. Maybe not, but it is a thought.

Maybe you expand your business by snapping up the best people being let go and using the power of their resumes to land them positions and you some new clients.

Maybe you expand by delivering severance package services like executive retraining, interviewing skills, or resume services.

Maybe all of these will work, maybe none of them will. The point is if business is not coming in the door the old way, think about creative ways to change the business.

“My client is saying she does not have any money to do anything.”

If the company still needs your service, it sounds like it may be time to think about ways to creatively finance your offerings or find a strong leasing or financial partner/bank that can buy the deals you write and give you some needed cash flow.

If you are in a strong position financially, see if you can bump your prices in exchange for time and terms with your client.

Think like a partner when you are talking with your client. Listen to them. What is it that their business really needs to success, or in some cases, survive? Ask questions to expose the bigger picture.

Why doesn’t your customer have any money? Are there sales down? Do they have clients not paying at agreed terms? Are they having cash flow issues in some other area of their business that is limiting the amount of inventory they hold and turn?

Think outside of the box on this one. Is there any service, deals, crucial contacts, reciprocal arrangement or vendor partners that you can marshal to help solve an underlying problem for your customer that will put your customer in a position to solve your problems by buying something.

What if your own sales team dedicated some time to finding opportunities for your best client through your own contact lists, effectively growing their sales force in the short term?

What if you developed some joint marketing efforts, effectively cutting both companies costs in half for the same ad/airtime?

What if?

The take away here is now is the time to think about problems at a greater depth than you are accustomed to doing, and frankly may not have strong enough relationships with your clients to allow those conversations to happen. You may need to solve a problem or two that is higher up on your clients list of issues than the typical problems you solve within the scope of your offering.

Got any creative ideas or stories of how you or your company bailed out a customer? Let me know.