The marketplace has changed! Large corporations are putting everything "on hold," including the purchase commitments they made to you. Commitments you were counting on. Big companies are buying little companies and laying people off. Companies big and small, fighting for growth and profits, are tightening their belts. Budgets are smaller or non-existent.

Sales people are fighting for sales in a marketplace with few prospects to approach. They are finding it harder to get prospects to make decisions and spend money. So what does that mean for you? It means opportunity...if you are willing to change.

When business is slow, the tendency is to hang on to every selling opportunity as if it were life and death. You must do the opposite! You can't afford the luxury of pursuing unqualified prospects...waiting for decisions...cutting price to close a sale.

Salespeople must be more proactive, more efficient, more effective, and more focused. You must be able to quickly identify qualified prospects and obtain appointments. You must have criteria by which to qualify or disqualify an opportunity. You must be able to get prospects to make and keep commitments. You must be able to make presentations, obtain buying decisions, and obtain referrals and start the process over again. Your mantra must be "Close the sale or close the file...and move on."

David Sandler once said, "Don't go out looking for challenges." How many of your sales calls turn into challenges - arm-wrestling matches and negotiations? How many started out as a challenge where you spent most of your time trying to convince a prospect that he/she needed what you had to sell?

It happens most likely because you try to sell the prospect what you want to sell, not what they want to buy. Why? Perhaps you are focusing on dollar signs, not the prospect's problems. You are trying to get your needs met - hit quota and generate commission - rather than address the needs of the prospect.

How do you prevent it from happening again? Don't approach each selling opportunity with a preconceived idea of what you are going to sell. Don't assume you know what's best for the prospect. Don't assume that you know anything! Listen to what the prospect tells you he/she wants to buy. Additionally, you must have specific criteria by which to measure the viability of an opportunity before you begin to put together proposals, presentations, and demonstrations. Is there an established reason for them to do business with you versus the competition? Have you thoroughly defined the prospect's problem/needs? Have you determined that your product or service provides the best-fit solution? Do you know the criteria by which you'll be judged, and what their decision-making process is?

If you can't answer "yes" to each of these questions, you are not ready to make a presentation. And it is unlikely the prospect will ever give you anything but a "think-it-over." So, if the opportunity doesn't measure up, move on to a more viable one. Let your competitors chase the unqualified prospects. Will they close some of those difficult opportunities? Perhaps eventually they will. However, while they are arm-wrestling over price, performance, delivery, payment terms, etc., you will be closing sales with more qualified prospects.

Yes, the marketplace has changed. If you want to keep up with the pace, you must change, too. Change the way you view opportunities. Change the way you qualify opportunities. Be selective with whom you invest your time, effort, and energy and get a bigger piece of the pie.

Good Selling!

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