Selling in difficult economic times

Have just finished reading an interesting blog by Gavin Ingham entitled 7 Tips For Sellilng in an Economic Downturn - and it caused me to reflect on the role of a solution sales process, and what its relevance is in difficult economic times.

Over the past 2 weeks I've had a number of "sales people" (quote marks intentional!) try to convince me that they should have a meeting with their sales manager to request a lower target over the next 6 months.  Their rationale is "tough times - less budget for IT - we will get less sales".

This sentiment should be offensive to professional sales resources!

The foundation of a solutions approach to sales is to bring to prospects' attention business problems they are experiencing BEFORE they decide to go out and obtain quotations.  Once the prospect achknowledges the business problem, a roadmap is then established so that both parties can work together to solve the problem.  This is why we sell outside - as well as inside - the IT department.

Now - it seems to me in "tough economic times" that businesses will be having even more problems - and hence if we come up with "problem solving opportunities" in fact there should be MORE business for us to do during a downturn.

To me this argument crystalises the difference between being a "high level sales administrator" (ie waiting for the customer to figure out the problem, come up with their own solution, and then approach the market - ie the world of competitive selling) and being a "true professional salesperson" (ie predicting in advance what problems a prospect may have, obtaining agreement from the prospect that the problem is real and needs to be fixed, partnering with the prospect to remove the pain).  If our role is to spot business problems and then work with prospects to solve them, our funnel should be even fuller than usual!

In their terrific book Selling is Dead, Marc Miller & Jason Sinkovitz offer this most appropriate quotation:

We see many high salaries being paid to glorified account managers and customer service people who bear the title of salesperson, but who are incapable of actually being consistent creators of business value and new business revenue.

That’s a lot of money to pay for a cream-skimming, easily replaced, noncreator of demand and growth.

In an earlier posting I wrote about the demonstrated link between IT and competitive advantage - surely in tough economic times it should be easier - rather than harder - to "genuinely sell"?

Are you a cream-skimming, easily replaced, noncreator of demand and growth?

Comments

[Gavin Ingham]

Bruce

Thanks for linking to my article and you're totally right, there are far too many "order takers" who call themself sales professionals but who have no idea how to truly understand and add value for their clients before their clients see the issue themselves.

In any market order takers will miss out on potential opportunities, will get bogged down in price challenges and will face massive competition from other order takers but in a tough one like we have right now they could well get washed away altogether.

Whichever selling system you prefer, now is the time to sharpen those selling skills, get to the heart of client challenges and issues and work out how and where you can add value before you get the call from your client. Not only will this add value for your clients and grow your business it will help you to stay one step ahead of your order taking competitors.

Gavin

[Janet Horton]

I just read this one Twitter, which is a nice add to your most recent blog..."The great unsaid truth is that downturns are often makers of great businesses - reduced competition, lower costs, distilled focus, real need"