Sales Blog for Sales and Sales Management

Two years ago I did a keynote for one of our clients that our company does sales training for.  The company sells commercial insurance and the market was particularly tough at the time.  The message that the CEO wanted to send was:  "We understand, but our objectives are non-negotiable, go sell."

And so here we are agian,in a tough market where people are tightening their belts, cutting back, looking for the 'best' deals, or not buying at all.  I'll tell you the same thing we tell all of our sales people that we train.

1. There are always going to be challenges to hitting targets.  Ignore the problems, focus on the opportunities.
2. Think of one of your competitors that typically is the low cost provider.  Do they own the market?  Probably not.  It is never about low price no matter how tight things are. If low price were always the criteria for buying everyone would buy the cheapest most cost efficient vehicles available.  Doesn't happen
3. When the market is difficult people are always looking for help. Go see all of those people.  If your people want to see you guess what, chances are the competitors clients want to see them or somebody. Call the competitors clients NOW.
4. Nobody owns 100% of the market. You have competitors that have more market share than you do and some with less.  Go steal market share from someone. 

Conclusion:  The market is the market.  You can't do anything about it.  You didn't start it, you won't change it, you won't end it.  All you can do is stick to the fundamentals:  See people, find out what they need or want, sell those that need and want what you have.  Period. End of story.