When demand is low and few are buying, how can you continue to hit your quota? In a recent interview of Tom Hopkins by Geoffrey James, Hopkins points out how crucial it is for sales pros to stay in touch with existing customers while finding new prospects. However, just staying in touch may not be enough. You need to also stay up-to-date on you current customers and prospects business so that when you do keep in touch with them you can hold intelligent conversations. This includes knowing what’s happening with the business in terms of financial, mergers, acquisitions, management changes, all also with new product or service announcements.
The other major problem that Hopkins sights is that sales reps tend to be too aggressive in tougher times: “They go into sales situations with dollar signs in their eyes. They know that their company and their family needs them to make a sale and so they come across with too much intensity” says Hopkins. Instead of worrying about each sale to the point of making this mistake, realize that the economy will bounce back at some point and use a more normal sales approach.
Hopkins believes that 2010 -2011 will be a great year for sales, so now is the time to get your ‘ducks in a row.’ The past few years have been challenging, but when the economy turns the corner it might be worth revisiting lost opportunities from the past few years. As the economy changes, so do people’s needs, and you might find these individuals to be more receptive the second time around.