Counterintuitive Selling Rules During a Recession

February 20, 2008

Written by Debbie Mrazek

5 Tips to help your business weather a recession.

When panic about a sliding economy hits the airwaves, the first impulse is to react. Most business react by constricting into a ball. The strategy is to drop and hide until the recession passes – no matter how long that might take. Businesses that take the counterintuitive track of boldly staying the course and selling more – not less – will find that the competitive landscape is largely void of the usual suspects.

 
The sales mentality during a recession is just like it is in the summer. Sales people think everyone is on vacation, so they don’t make the calls. Similarly, they think everyone is not buying during a recession, so they don’t make the calls. The sales go to those who make the calls.

Recession-proofing sales begins with a counterintuitive mindset. Your mind might be saying, ‘run, run’ but if you will have the courage to go forward during this time, you will find that there’s actually a better chance for you to rack up sales. I have worked with many companies during recession periods and some of these booked as much as 110% of their goal while competitors were closing their doors.

Here are her five suggestions for surviving – even thriving – during an economic downturn:

  1. Sales and marketing rule. A recession is the time when you really want to pull out the sales and marketing magic. The key here is to stick with what you know works.
  2. Commit to learning. Those who know everything have nothing to learn. In a recession, it’s a great time to look at things from a fresh perspective. How can you do things better? Serve clients smarter?
  3. Go for the long shot. Why not go for gold? This is the time to be bold and go for those big accounts you wouldn’t dream of calling on during a boom time. You just never know what might happen. Chances are you won’t meet with a lot of competition.
  4. Drill deeper. When clients are doing great and you are part of that success, see if there are other opportunities to do more. Think outside the box and have more fun – try new ideas.
  5. Embrace change. Most companies buy into the Big Bad Recession theory and before you know it the wolf is at Grandma’s house! Embrace this time and you’ll weather the recession and do better than you think.

 
If you stay the course, you’ll be that much farther ahead. During a recession, it’s better to break away from the pack.

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