Sales Lessons Learned from Selling in a Recession

The past couple of years have definitely interesting. Some sales professionals prospered while others suffered. I spoke to one person who doubled his income—and he works in automotive sales! Yet, another well-established person experienced a decline of more than 50% in their sales. There are several key sales lessons that can be learned from selling in a recession. These will help you succeed in the upcoming year.

Companies are Leaner

This has been an ongoing factor for many years with continual downsizing and cut backs. However, the recession forced many companies to scale back even further than they normally would have. This has resulted in an extremely lean workforce.

What does that mean to sales people?

It means people are stretched even further and busier than ever before. It means it will become even more difficult to connect with decision makers. It means projects will be put on hold because people will be too busy to implement them. It means you need to find a way to help your customers deal with this. Make your solutions easier. Assist with the implementation. This also means respecting their time when you meet. If you have 60 minutes allotted for your meeting, but you can wrap it up in 45, then do so. Your customer will appreciate it, and it will help you stand out from the crowd.