No One's Coming to Save You

Bonnie Tyler (sorry Gen Y's, Gen Z's and Gen Alpha's) might be holding out for a hero but the truth is, there isn't one. Unless that is, it's you. For yourself. Your own hero.

Business and selling in particular is tough these days. Tougher than it's been for quite some time because many customers are cutting spend, some haven't survived the constant hurdles to jump over such as: lockdowns, no trading, less productive workforce, less engaged workforce, lost momentum, supply chain delays, rising costs of production, rising costs of sales....So yeah, you can see why CFO's are wagging fingers, analysing spreadsheets and setting the tone of budgets come July 2022.

Some salespeople kept waiting until things started getting better: when lockdowns ended, when COVID went away, until Omicron/long COVID/insert variant stopped....and if that was anyone you knew, they may still be waiting because even our governments are beginning to realise that the world needs to keep moving forward and adapt to new conditions instead of stopping life altogether. The ones that didn't miss a beat still aren't.

The truth is, there has never been and never will be a silver bullet that comes to save/rescue/solve everything. No person, vaccine, mandate, legislation, supply chain miracle, pricing reduction...it's up to us to take back the power that is in our control and keep moving forward with courage and in the spirit of doing all we can the best we can. It is up to you salespeople:

• Are you talking to enough people every day to give yourself the best possible chance of smashing targets as opposed to the minimum effort to hit target?
• Are you getting in front of these people to get a real sense of what matters to them and what their challenges and goals are this year?
• Are you behaving in a way consistently and effectively that makes you someone they think of as their own trusted advisor beyond the products and services you provide as well as about them?
• Have you stretched yourself beyond your usual contact base into new networks and opportunities or are you hammering or mining the same handful year after year because it's the path of least resistance (for now....until it isn't)?
• What do you need to do differently TODAY to have a better TOMORROW?

Sometimes, the simplest actions are the ones we neglect to take because we overthink it and want a reason (ie excuse) for our lack of results. The things that are easy to do are also easy not to do...That doesn't mean you shouldn't do them! The most inexperienced sales person with the highest activity rate and level of willingness will probably outshine the skillful experienced sales person because of that activity. I'm not saying quantity over quality but you'll get quality with quantity because you learn faster! Let's say a newbie has a 10% conversion rate and everything else is equal, while the experienced sales person has a 90% conversion rate. If the newbie sees 100 customers in a month and the experienced salesperson sees 10 they'll still be more successful...and they won't stay at 10% for too long because their learning is fast tracked at that rate.

If you're not happy with what your numbers are, do something to change that. Do all you can within your own circle of influence and control to take action to shift it. Start today. There are only about 20-25 selling days left this financial year. What are you waiting for?