New Year -New Plan

Guest Contributor: David Colomb
David's Posts - David's Blog

As we enter the New Year, and the tough economic times, it's time to think outside the box in planning and executing sales. Your customer is probably scared to death, and if they're like mine, they make have a list of issues that lead them to believe they can't buy. Let's face it, that isn't going to work for us.

This is the time that you need to have a business discussion with your customer and point out that there is a new President on the horizon, an economic recovery plan in the Congress. They need to start planning on their own economic recovery plan. If they're going to stay in business, and we assume that they are, they need to continue to buy the materials that they need to do business. Use the information that you've collected from other customers to recommend what they can buy from you that will help them to be successful in their business. Be aware that they may not need as much of your goods or services, but they still need to do business. The second thing is that you need to use whatever incentives that your company can provide to help them succeed.

This is a time where relationships are built. The salespeople who are a team member and a consultant who is truly interested in helping with their business will become a trusted part of their business as things begin to improve. The salesperson that rolls in and doesn't listen or have any interest in their customer's survival will be out the door, and not in a position to reap the improving economy.

We all need to understand that the way our customer does business will change and evolve as this economy goes through its own evolution, but the government and business leaders have learned a great deal through other recessions and they will find a way to get us back on the right road. The U.S has always been, and will always be the greatest economy in the world. We all need to pull together to help get back on the road to recovery. Every person who buys something and sells something in this environment is helping to make America better.

As we look at the numbers in relationship to the population, this recession is significant, but it isn't as bad as the Great Depression. The powers that be were able to identify the downturn and get on to improving things. It'll all work out.