Change or Die

The signs of economic uncertainty are everywhere:

• The US GDP has essentially flat-lined
• Unemployment is still sky high. While the official unemployment rate is 9.6%, once you add back individuals that have given up looking for work some estimate the unemployment rate is as high as 18%
• Corporate spending is constrained
• Consumer spending is tentative at best
• Economic indicators are still sending confusing signals

All of which is contributing to:

• Longer sales cycles
• Stronger pushback from procurement representatives
• Fierce competition for every deal
• Inevitable concessions and discounts just to compete

In the face of all these discouraging facts, may sales organizations have resigned themselves to low or no growth and lower revenues, positioning themselves to “ride it out” and hope the economy comes back soon. On the surface, this strategy might seem prudent, especially to conservative, risk averse executives. However, this is no ordinary economic downturn, and organizations who take a wait and see attitude are ultimately going to see their productivity collapse, their margins evaporate, and their organization fade into obscurity and irrelevance; just another one of those companies that failed to adapt and paid the price.

Tough Times = Time to Train

This article understandibly caught my eye at the Top 10 Sales Articles website: “Tough Times Call for Tough Training”.  

Often people think of “training” as only skill and knowledge building. However there are additional plusses from good training – motivation and a positive attitude. These can be even more important than the skill and knowledge development.

Training takes time and money – two resources that are in short supply at the moment. However, both can be overcome with a little creativity.

The author goes on to discuss the type of training, who should attend, who should conduct it and how to make it cost effective. You can read the full article here.

Positive in Tough Times?

Tony Robbins was on the Today Show recently talking about being prepared mentally and staying positive through tough times.  Good clip and only about 4 minutes long.  Check it out below!

Not Down, Just Different

I like reading stuff by Jeffrey Gitomer.  He has great sales advice and he’s actually interesting to read.  Despite the reputation most salespeople get for being “people-oriented”, most sales books I read are kind-of boring.

So I mosied over to his website today and he had an article about finding opportunity during tough times.  I’ve heard it from numerous sales teams – the number one objection now is “we’re cuting back on expenses because of the economy” or usually something along those lines.   It’s tough to argue with, but it’s not impossible to overcome.

Keeping this in mind, Mr. Gitomer outlines 8.5 things that you can do to help get more sales now and help out the company:

Looking for Opportunity

As we continue to weather the storm, keep on the lookout for opportunities that will pay off in the long run.  That’s the advice of Warren Buffett in this Op-Ed in the NY Times.  It’s a great article with some really solid advice.

A key quote:

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.

Again, good things to keep in mind.

Definitely Maybe

According to Warren Buffett, we’re in a recession even though we haven’t technically met the official definition of a recession.

“I would say, by any common sense definition, we are in a recession,” Buffett said on CNBC.

[snip]

“It’s a certainty that insurance-industry profit margins, including ours, will fall significantly in 2008,” he said. “Prices are down, and exposures inexorably rise. Even if the U.S. has its third consecutive catastrophe-light year, industry profit margins will probably shrink by 4 percentage points or so.

“If the winds roar or the earth trembles, results could be far worse.”

So what he’s saying is that you don’t need to have the official tornado warning to know your house is going to get blown to OZ…