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Selling in difficult market conditions

Written by: Bob Hazell

Article Overview: Three short points that we can use to make sure we succeed. Drive-Attitude-Confidence

Selling in difficult market conditions

Selling in difficult market conditions

The Smaller Cake
As the cake gets smaller we need to get a bigger slice of it just to stay where we were. We can succeed in difficult times if we have three important ingredients. These are our Drive, our Attitude, and our Confidence. Research suggests that these things make up around 93% of star performers.

Drive
We will need to ask ourselves how much shortfall we will need to make up. Work back from that to find out how many extra customers we need to win over, and what that means in daily activity. We have our own individual or company averages. Use them to determine the extra effort we need to make.

Attitude
Let's make sure our attitude is right! Do we really believe in the products or services we sell, the company we work for, and our ability to succeed? If not, find someone who does, and get their ability fused into us! Try this: "I might as well have this business if it's here to be had, because if I don't I'll lose out, and the customer will lose out by not having the best product or service". Let's be sure to ALWAYS give ourselves positive feedback.

Confidence
We keep our confidence high by keeping ahead of the competition. We need to get training as often as we can. Do read books to improve knowledge, but always remember, we must work our plan, not just plan our work.

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Article Tags: attitude, confidence, difficult times, positive feedback, shortfall, star performers



Related Forum Posts
Re: FILL IN THE BLANK: When I'm feeling down about my business I - This is a great question Evan but I find it difficult to answer without sounding obvious. All my previous experience has been in engineering, brewing and now training. All of these jobs are challenging but were and are a lot easier to evaluate or seem to be than Internet Marketing. I know we have various means to check stats and lead sources etc but in many ways we seem to be dealing with something that quite often defies logic when it comes to finding and keeping customers, you can lead a horse to water etc etc. If my Internet business dips or seems to be stalling then I always liken my actions to a soccer match. The goalposts are constantly shifting as are the conditions but I figure that if I remember my basic skills and keep shooting as often as I can then eventually I will score again. just my thoughts, Mal.
Cost vs Benefit - I like Albert's post about positioning training in terms of ROI, I find trying to sell training to people or corporations without an ROI element in the pitch is almost impossible especially as a newer company entering the market. I also found recently the value of not trashing one's competitors when I landed a contract and the client told me how badly one of my competitors had trashed the other players. Selling on your own benefits and not the shortcomings of others may seem like common sense, it's just nice to get the break for clean living once in a while. Cheers!
Definitions of merger - Mergers can be characterized according to three categories: horizontal mergers, which take place between firms that are actual or potential competitors occupying similar positions in the chain of production; vertical mergers, which take place between firms at different levels in the chain of production (such as between manufacturers and retailers); and other mergers, such as those which take place between unrelated businesses or conglomerates with different types of businesses. Aberdeen Lyle Merger Analysis Large mergers, acquisitions and some other corporate combinations require prior review and approval in some jurisdictions. As part of their review, competition authorities may prohibit mergers or approve them subject to conditions. Mergers are usually only prohibited or subjected to conditions if the authority concludes that the merger will substantially harm competition. Given the discretion inherent in the interpretation of this threshold, various competition authorities have published merger guidelines. These are intended to assist firms and their advisers to anticipate the procedures and criteria, which will be applied in assessing a merger. Some Merger Concerns Merger reviews typically focus on horizontal mergers since, by definition, they reduce the number of competitors in the relevant markets. Also of concern are mergers between firms, which are active in a particular market with another firm, which is a potential competitor.
Re: Great start, but no finish - A good niche or area of expertise is and should always be the cost of entry into entrepreneurship. But its easy to stick to your niche. What most people dont realize is that they have to LEARN and continue to grow in their own learning and development or at best, they will build themselves a nice little hobby. Statistically they say 40% of all businesses fail within the first 5 years. whether this has to do with market conditions or the actually CEO, how knows. I do believe that you have to start studying business as business and then weave your own expertise/products/services into that education. If you can sell one thing, you can sell anything. Longevity in business is about being adaptive, opportunistic and a hard worker, J
Difficult to PM on the subject - It would be difficult for someone to PM you to be fair, since you could be a representative of a franchise. Most of the dodgy ones though aren't too difficult to spot though. If the idea is easy to replicate, steer clear.


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