We’ve all experienced it. Sales have been down and for some reason you can’t get out of the hole. Cash is tight. You start to get nervous. You start to blame everything around you. The economy is in the tank, your prospects won’t return your calls, your proposal didn’t get mailed on time, your car broke down going to an appointment . . . on and on and on. Ok, many of these things could be a cause for a slip in sales. But then these are all things out of your control.  So what can you control? The answer to that is . . . yourself and the actions you take! So what should a business do when sales have fallen? Here are some areas to review in order to get you back on track.

Review your belief system and attitude — Do you believe in yourself? Do you believe in your product or service? Are you surrounding yourself with successful and positive people? Are you approaching each and every day with a positive attitude?

Review your knowledge base and skills — Are you well informed of the products and services you are offering? What about your sales skills? When was the last time you attended a sales training seminar or read a self-improvement book regarding sales techniques? How about your listening skills?  What are you doing to improve in these areas?

Review your work habits — Are you disciplined in your daily approach? Are you prospecting in a consistent manner? Is your pipeline full? What has worked in the past and are you continuing to do it? Are you always in front of people who are qualified to be good prospects for your products or services? 

Review your sales process — Are you following a consistent and proven sales process? Such as building rapport, discovering the pain by asking questions, establishing a budget, offering solutions, closing the deal. Or are you just expounding “features and benefits”?

Take a look at each and every one of the areas and make changes where you find yourself in need of work. Be honest with your self-assessment. And don’t be shy to ask for help. Others outside you organization will have a much less biased view of you and your business.

Going through a period of fallen sales can be very trying. We tend to worry and get tight. We press for contracts. And with this sense of pressure it is a good chance your prospects can sense the intensity. They may have a tendency to back off. So relax. Stick to proven systems. Review the elements listed above and ensure you are working all the fundamentals. 

For those of you who are baseball fans take a look at what Ryan Howard has done this year. He started out in a terrible hitting slump but recently showed signs of returning to his slugging self. He changed a couple of things in his stance to get back to fundamentals and took extra batting practice. But above all he did not get discouraged. He seemed to keep his head in the game and boom . . . here he comes. Then again you can take NY Yankee first baseman Jason Giambi’s  approach. When he gets in a slump he wears his favorite gold thong under his uniform. Whatever works! Have fun with it.