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Never Sell Alone

Written by: Keith Ferrazzi

Article Overview: Sales can be a lonely game. During an economic downturn, sometimes it can be downright depressing. One of the best ways to keep morale high is being able to look around and know that you're dealing with the tough times as a team. You don't have to weather the storm alone.

Never Sell Alone

Sales can be a lonely game. During an economic downturn, sometimes it can be downright depressing. One of the best ways to keep morale high is being able to look around and know that you're dealing with the tough times as a team. You don't have to weather the storm alone.

Take my cousin Wendy. Wendy's in real estate - not exactly the easiest business today. What's keeping Wendy strong is her business partner. These two share every responsibility and they constantly push each other. Thanks to mutual support, they're weathering both a down-market and what business writer Judy Barwick has aptly called the "psychological recession," that pervasive feeling of vulnerability that comes with unstable economic times.

Contrast this to my days as CEO and Chief Sales Officer of YaYa Media. I remember many cold, snowy nights - literally, since business often took me to Detroit, but also emotionally speaking when I was alone with the weight of the company's success on my shoulders. (As anyone who has run a start up knows, the one thing you can't live without is sales to keep the lights on while you work out the rest.)

Team selling can take many forms. Some companies have salespeople sell alone, but institute a group support system to celebrate success and troubleshoot challenges. Other times the team-selling environment isn't institutionalized, but happens naturally as the result of a tight-knit sales force.

And yet despite advantages for both team players and their customers in any economic climate, team selling seems to have fallen out of fashion. I'm guessing this is because structure and resources are often required to facilitate and sustain group processes, and in face of trouble, people tend to fall back on the path of least resistance. They sacrifice long-term success for short-term ease. I'd like to encourage people to stay the course.

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Article Tags: barwick, business partner, business today, business writer, chief sales officer, climate team, economic climate, economic downturn, economic times, group processes, group support system, lonely game, path of least resistance, recession, salespeople, snowy nights, term success, tough times, weathering, wendy



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Your advantage over others - Sell using your USP - unique selling proposition. Why should people buy from you, instead of your competitors? Think about it, why are you so great? It may be a hard question, but finding the answer can multiply the effectiveness of any advertising or marketing activities you undertake.
Re: When do entrepreneurs retire, if ever? - Why would you ever retire when you love what you are doing? Sell the business and start another one maybe - but retire - NEVER! You should all read, The 4 Hour Work Week - By Timothy Ferris. He talks about building your business so that you can take mini 'retirement's throughout your life, instead of saving it all up for when you are old. Great concept - what do you think??
Re: SES Toronto - Day 1! - ...oh and even though it's 21 secrets, why do you have [quote:1gz722fe]Tip #22: Use Your Thank You Page to Sell[/quote:1gz722fe] on your blog? Are you holding out on secrets or are you adding your own? Hope to see you at the next conference!
Some online business suggstions debunked - 2. Sell photos on stock photography sites --- I tried this, couldn't even get in the front door. But then, I'm apparently a lousy photographer... However, if you do get in, I think you only get something like 25 cents a download... 8. Build services atop Amazon Web Services ---I've been an Amazon associate for a loooong time, selling books, and business has been lousy since the beginning. Nobody reads anymore...I do get a few DVD sales every now and again... but frankly I make much more money though Google Ads on my site. It took several months for that to build up, but now as my website has more readers those ads are starting to pay off, whereas there's been no corresponding jump from Amazon ads on the same pages...
Foreclosure? - [quote:2075tw2d]I slipped when I hopped on the real estate wave two year ago and unfortunately now I have to seriously consider foreclosure. [/quote:2075tw2d] I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. Are you saying that the bank is going to repossess your house. Foreclose on [i:2075tw2d]you[/i:2075tw2d]? Or you have to foreclose on someone [i:2075tw2d]else[/i:2075tw2d]? Depending on where you're located, there's a business that buys houses for cash...regardless of how much equity you have in them... For the life of me I can't remember their name, but they advertise on the radio all the time. But that'd be the solution to your problem, if they do business in your area. Sell them the property you're having trouble with... "We buy ugly houses." I think that's their slogan?


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