HTSS58 - Sales 911 how to beat a sales slump - Scott Sylvan Bell

Sales 911 How to beat a sales slump

At some point you will enter a sales slump. First and foremost you have to recognize you are in a slump. You don’t just have to recognize it you have to admit that you are in a sales slump. You don’t get extra points for trying to say you are not closing deals.

Start here if you are in a sales slump

Once you admit you are in a sales slump you will want to pause what you are doing. Look at your numbers and try to reverse engineer what happened in your life to start the problems. There are a few items that lead to sales slumps that are the most common.

• A big check and bragging rights can lead to a sales slump
• A major change in your life
• A relationship where big fights have happened
• A death in the family
• The know time of a vacation
• The statistical average – this does not happen often

How to pinpoint the cause of the beginning of a sales slump

When you take the time to pinpoint where the problem came from you can get past the problems it has created. Most salespeople bump through a sales slump but do not know why they started so they happen again. This is a learning experience that you must go through as a salesperson.  

There is no shame in asking for help when you are struggling. Asking for help does not make you weak it makes you smart.

If there is a problem mentally pay for the help because either way you are going to pay. You will either pay for the help or lose the deals and lose the money.  

Even closers hit sales slumps but they normally know why they went through the loss of deals. Closers know that they should get help and they ask for it. They have been in the game long enough and know most of the ways to deal with their problems. This does not mean why they why the problems started.

If you are a new or newer salesperson you may not see all of the angles of where thr problems began. It’s how you decide to deal with the sales slump that matters.

The path the help reduce a sales slump  

Its been said before but you do need to be willing to ask for help. You will find that help comes in many ways. This could be a coach, mentor or even some sort of therapist.  In lieu of the previously mentioned people you can call your friends and or support staff.

If you are after professional help you need to recognize your emergency isn’t their emergency.  You will get put off or pay extra in order to get the immediate help you need. This is why you need to start a relationship with a professional early on.

One of the best things you can do is implement what you learn from coaching, training and even therapy.  

You will want to create a checklist of your presentation. You can reverse engineer the checklist from recording your sales presentation.  This is something you need to do right now. This will help you set a baseline.

Slowing down your sales process is important. When salespeople struggle they speed up what they are doing to get to the close.  This is about the basics of sales interactions. There is a good chance that somewhere you are pulling parts out of a sales presentation.

Here is generic version of a sales presentation that you can use to think through what you are doing.

• The intro to the sales process and setting the agenda
• Your rapport phase no matter what it means
• A discovery phase where you ask questions to find the pain, problem and or the risk
• Your sales presentation and the danger here is not getting to the close and asking for the sale
• Ask for the sale in a way that makes sense for you and your industry
• Deal with concerns or objections from the buyer and taking your time to deal with them and be patient

What you can do outside of sales to close sales

If you take a look a things you can do outside of the sales process there are ways fo you to get back to closing sales. It isn’t always about your sales strategies and tactics to develop. Sometimes you have to develop yourself personally at the same time. You may have hit a sales slump from being too wrapped up in the world of sales. Here are a few things you can do to get out of a sales slump.

• Get outside of sales and interact with people that are not in sales.
• Go to the gym and workout
• Get some sleep even if it is tough
• Eat as clean as possible
• Work on your hobby or hobbies
• Donate time somewhere where people are struggling more than you are

Scott Sylvan Bell

@scottsbell

@sales #closer #success #podcast #howtosellshow #Sacramento

This episode was recorded in Sacramento California

Here are the episodes you need to check out:

HTSS19 – The squeeze in sales

HTSS20 - Freefall in sales

HTSS22 – Adversity in life

HTSS47 – Why you feel stuck as a salesperson

HTSS53 – Neediness in sales

HTSS59 – Money is emotional and leads to objections