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Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith Become an Author

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Boy does bad news generate a lot of pity party excuses by small business owners or sales professionals be them real estate agents, financial advisors, insurance agents to other professional service providers. After hearing all the “sky is falling,” one would think that no one is spending any money.

Being in sales sometimes is not as easy as other times. However, during a down economy, being in sales is the best place to be provided you drop all the excuses as to why you cannot increase sales.

Excuses create negative self fulfilling prophecy. These thoughts generate negate energy. This energy literally and figuratively pushes new business opportunities away from you instead of drawing them into you.

Now is the time to schedule a 15 minute appointment with yourself and start listing all of the excuses keeping you from winning more sales. Of course, you must be honest with yourself.

Here are my top 7 all time sales excuses that I have heard from my business coaching training clients to colleagues. Yes, some of these I did think years gone by, but no longer.

1. The economy sucks and no one is buying. Drive by any mall and do you see an empty parking lot? How about a fast food diner? People still buy in a down economy. You must show them the value in investing their dollars with your business.

2. My competition is getting all the business. The reason your competition is winning more sales is probably that they are out calling on potential customers. You cannot increase sales staying in the office and hoping that someone will give you a call.

3. I cannot sell. If you have sold in the past, yes you can sell. Maybe you need to revisit your own professional development plan and write some new goals. Are you sales skills 21st century or 20th century?

4. No one calls me back. Face it, people are busy. Professionalism within the marketplace is unfortunately dead by many accounts. Do not take a lack of return phone calls personally. Stay committed to reaching that potential customer especially if you know that you can meet their needs.
5. I am not a mover or a shaker. Everyone started somewhere. Unless you had terrific name recognition, everyone begins as a non-mover or non-shaker. Look to where those movers and shakers go. Adjust your schedule to attend those events.

6. There is just no business around here. One of my colleagues and mentors, Doug Brown, once said: "We drive by more business than we will ever have." There is plenty of business. You must take the time to discover where that business is.

7. Everyone wants everything cheap and I cannot make any money. Selling on price is always a losing proposition. Yes, people are careful with where they put their dollars. If you understand how to add value to your goods and services, then you can make money. Also, why are you selling to everyone?

By taking the time to identify and then drop your excuses, you can increase sales and take advantage of any down economy. Of course, you could still stay in the office, have your pity party and watch your competition win a lot more sales.

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