Sales Stagnation
Are your sales improving or are they flat? You measure that by observing your increase (or decrease as it were) in sales as compared to last years numbers. To do this accurately you have to consider the economic increases, your market increases and inflation. In other words don't fool yourself by saying "I had an increase of 8% last year" when the market index in your business improved by 5% and your company had a price increase of 4%. Considering inflation from one year to the next, you actually are doing worse than last year in this scenario.
"It's the economy, stupid!" Remember that line? Well, it works here. When we boast and pat ourselves on the back falsely, who are we fooling? Certainly not our sales manager, CEO or the owner of the company. What will it take to get you to face the facts that your sales improvement may not be as great as you play it up to be?
Why I am I picking on you? If I hurt your feelings - I apologize, but if you are still reading this, chances are you are looking for some thoughts on how you can make yourself a little better. Possibly you did such a bang-up job that even with subtracting out the inflation, price increases and market acceleration you still show a sizeable increase in sales production. However, if you are one of those people who feel no matter how well you are doing - you can always do better. Kudos to you! With that attitude you will continue to get better.
Self-Reflection
My “style” does not include a lot of nurturing (in case you can't tell). So the best way to get an accurate assessment is to do it yourself. (Don't look to me to help you out because I will just hurt your feelings.) Ask yourself these questions:
- Have I set aside specific times throughout the week to prospect for new business?
- Do I look for new markets to penetrate or am I stagnant and locked into some "old friends" that are comfortable to call on?
- When I call on existing clients do I bring up potential additional internal business to grow that client's value to my company?
- Have I asked for a referral with every visit to my existing customers?
- Do I ask every prospect that tells me "no" for a referral?
To score yourself, rate your performance to each question above on a scale of 1 -20. Add up all the questions.
If you score below 75, you need to change your behaviors and quit fooling yourself. You could be doing a lot better than you are.
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