Mack Powers

I think that it would be fair to say that many sales people, and business people for that matter, are stressed out due to the tough economic conditions that we face.  I have a simple question… would you rather purchase from a stressed out and nervous salesperson or a relaxed and confident salesperson?  If you are the sales person, where do you place yourself on the spectrum?  Are you relaxed or are you stressed out. 

Last week I presented five breakout sessions to a group of Texas state employees on the subject of stress management.  Here are two of the five practical ideas that I presented to them on stress management.  I borrowed several of the ideas from Dale Carnegie’s book How to Stop worrying and Start Living:

1. Identify what you are worrying about
   1. Figure out the worst case scenario
   2. Accept the worst case scenario
   3. Work diligently and calmly to improve upon the worst case scenario that you have already accepted
2. Solve and Decide
   1. Write down what I am worrying about.
   2. Write down what I can do about it.
   3. Decide what to do.
   4. Start immediately to carry out the decision.

Try these out.  A relaxed salesperson will sell more any day, guaranteed!  Here’s to a happy and relaxed selling environment.

Have you recently made a sales call and your customer said to you that they weren’t going to engage with you because they were waiting to see what is going to happen with the economy?  Well, what exactly are they waiting for?  Are they waiting for the Dow Jones Industrial Average to go above 10,000?  Are they waiting for the price of oil to go to $ 15 a barrel? 

 It is fair for each of us to define the right set of metrics for how and why we make business decisions, but my question is this…how many people and/or companies have actually defined those metrics.   If they have great, find out what those specifics are, and then track them for your client or with your client.  When the strike price has been reached, you will be ready to move forward with your client.  If they haven’t identified those criteria then maybe they are just generally nervous.  If this is the case then we can as true professional consultants, provide them with accurate industry data that will help them determine when they should re-engage and why it makes great business sense to do so.  Make sure your facts are truthful, accurate and relevant and help them build a solid business case for moving forward.  Hopefully, the date to proceed and engage will be sooner rather than later.  If not, you might need to find a new value proposition for your products and services.

Either way, you will be better prepared to serve your customers by knowing when to work with them and when to wait for them.  Ambiguity and uncertainty for you and your client will benefit neither of you.