Thank Goodness for a Slow Economy!

No, this title is not a mistake! My high school basketball coach used to tell us, “There’s a time for everything. There’s a time to be aggressive, a time to be defensive, a time to be generous and a time to be selfish.” Although Coach was referring to the game of basketball, I think that same analogy applies in the sales world at a time like this. As a sales development expert and the author of four books, I probably hear more from salespeople about what they are thinking than anyone in the market, and in the past few months all I’ve heard is how many deals are getting suspended, canceled, put on hold, and how tough the market is for everybody.

What I’ve come to realize during 35 years of business is that these business cycles happen regularly, and they serve as a brutal judge as to the difference between the “A” salespeople from the “B” and “C” players. “B” and “C” players buy into this negative talk, and they become demoralized and expect to fail. “A” players don’t let that happen.

It’s true the economy is lousy and we may be in it for awhile, but business is still being conducted; and even in companies where there are spending freezes, they are still making purchases. I’ll give you a first-hand example. In addition to my life as a sales development expert, I have a secret life as the Chairman of the Board of a large real estate firm, and my message to them in the past few months is to cut costs, get focused on bottom line results more than ever before, and I have reminded them constantly that good times like we have had the last decade tend to overlook bad management, but in reality, the company is still buying a lot of things and making serious, expensive new commitments – we’ve not stopped pursuing growth and change.

All of my sales development clients are renewing, some even bigger than last year. In reality, there is no such thing as a true spending freeze; it’s mostly something that top management tells bottom management to make themselves feel like they are doing something. What you really see in times like this is that decision makers stop wasting time; they stop humoring salespeople that cannot bring serious value to them, and they require salespeople to be able to really distinguish their unique dominant competitive advantages.

My friend, David Kurlan, who is the CEO of Objective Management Group, one of the largest, most successful sales development firms in the country, was sharing some thoughts with me this week. He said that while a few of the things salespeople are listening to are conditions that cannot be countered, most of the things salespeople are hearing can be!

How much of what you’re hearing is convenient, easy excuses, something prospects hope your salespeople will buy into? How many of the prospects are simply bluffing? How many of these stalls, put-offs and objections can be overcome with more effective sales processes, better strategies and more powerful tactics? How many of you are actually equipped to sell in an economy as difficult as this one? If you want to be better at something, you are going to have to do something you’ve never done before.

So, where does my old coach’s advice come into play in sales? Well, here it is: in a time like now, being defensive means guarding your thoughts; being offensive means prospecting daily; being selfish means protecting your time and not confusing your pay time versus no pay time; and being generous means investing in yourself now more than ever before.

A mentor of mine told me as a young man, “It is very likely that you will get promoted and make a lot of money, but that doesn’t make you successful. What makes you successful is if you can help other people follow the path of success and make money.” I would overlay this on salespeople that selling during the good times doesn’t indicate we’re good. Selling in the bad times is where we really prove our value.

Thank goodness for tough times. It identifies the “A” players from everyone else.

Ken Edmundson

Edmundson Northstar Companies