| Surviving The Recession |
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In tough times the key to survival for every company is to make every asset work harder starting with the assets that earn money; the sales teams and the tools that they have. A good starting place is to look at your product differentiation and how unique your proposition is. You can then look at how well it suits your audience taking into consideration any recent changes to their needs. Once you have a strong sales story, assess how well you are selling, there are probably some simple refreshers that everyone can benefit from, our free resources page might help you with this. Throughout all of this remember that recent tighter legislation now exists to protect buyers and you need to be scrupulous in sticking to the legal requirements in your sector. Behind the Lines is also committed to ethical sales and long term trust partnerships and we use that as the final arbiter in how we do business. Once you are clear that your sales proposition is being sold well and ethcally look at your ‘outfacing collateral’ - a great term for, ‘stuff that ends up in front of the client’. This is a good time for the sales teams to be presenting to each other and senior managers so that you can assess and improve how your organisation is represented. Look also at the quality of proposals that are going out and any brochures, newsletters or other material that clients see regularly. Is it consistent, good quality and is it promoting you at every opportunity. In a recession the only thing that disappears faster than forward bookings is the sales team’s morale. When they start to feel beaten the quality of sales is bound to go down. Look out for negotiations crumbling because sales people don’t believe in the value of the product as much as they did or they are panicking and taking ‘short cuts’ rather than sticking to a structured approach. In previous downturns I have seen teams suddenly offering everything at knock down prices in ‘clearance sale’ style selling that would makes Woolies last days seem demure. It ruins immediate order values and does lasting damage to the perceived value of your products. Stay calm and focused and make sure that all your selling time is being used effectively. Good time management buys you more time to make those calls and see those clients and when under stress you really need a tidy desk and an organised mind. Before you start bringing in trainers and consultants to improve your revenues, can you free up more working hours in the day by better organisation and a tidy systems. Mel’s top tip; start by looking at your email inbox, should all that stuff really be in there? These days long term planning isn’t just left to board directors, we all need to have a clear strategies to deal with the coming year. Some businesses won’t survive and some very good people will lose their jobs; it's part of the economic cycle, but this isn’t the first downturn for many of us and if we have learnt anything it’s to stay calm, keep thinking your way around problems and, most importantly, be able to tell a good story to the board. |