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What's the problem: poor selling or a weak economy?

Are your salespeople justified in blaming the economy?

Day after day it seems corporate spokespeople are announcing poor results or a disappointing forecast coupled with job and cost cuts. It's not hard to imagine why. Executives have been told the economy is to blame and they don't know how to check whether or not it's true.

Could poor selling be a factor? Could it be the real underlying reason for poor results?

When the economy is booming 'OK' selling skills are often enough. But when every penny counts then buyers and sales managers raise their expectations of salespeople. A poor economy puts stress on sales people and their selling skills.

But when threats and bribes haven't worked and when the latest deferred decision is reported how do you know what to do next?

Here's a little routine to help you decide what is going wrong and point to how to fix it.

Look down your 'if only' list, (the if only list is a list of sales you expected would close and if only they had then life would be so much better today, maybe you'd be in the Bahamas!)

Select one opportunity you were expecting to win. Pick a key one, one that would make a big difference.

Identify who the project was 'for'? Identify which Executive role would have had the most direct benefit had the project gone ahead. For example an ERP system would usually be for the 'manufacturing person', CRM or web services would often be for 'marketing' and storage management tools would usually be for the CIO.

Imagine yourself in that role at an executive meeting.

The chair looks to you and says, 'item 4 next, theBiggo Project. Steve, would you explain for us the major benefits this project will deliver and, given the economic climate, would you express them in financial terms and perhaps you can tell us when will we reach breakeven?

Can you give a credible response? If not can your salesperson?

No? Then don't blame the economy, at least not yet!

Now if the committee aren't empowered identify the person who would formally make the decision; let's call him Jim. It could be a member of the 'committee' or someone the committee reports to.

Imagine you are Jim, you've made the decision and signed the paperwork. Your boss asks you, in a cordial tone to explain. In this case the explanation would usually need to be from a different perspective, how the project helps the whole company or supports defined strategies, not just Steve and his team. Could you give a credible reply and would it withstand close scrutiny?

No? Then it's not time to blame the economy, yet!

In both case the seller hasn't finished selling. The buyer hasn't yet reached a conclusion that the investment is good for him, for his career, good for his team and good for his company. In buoyant times Steve may take a chance and may win Executive support, especially if the expenditure was 'budgeted'. And Jim may support him. Today the rules have changed.

What if your answer above was 'Yes, I can explain it and I do have a credible response'?

In all sincerity you're saying to yourself 'if I worked for that company in that role then I would have approved the project'. Great. Now you want to know why the people who have that role do not do as you would.

How do you find out? You ask! But don't ask 'why didn't the project get approval'.

The answer you get to that question is at best unreliable and at worst very misleading. Chances are that Steve and Jim both know how hard you've worked and they probably appreciate your efforts. They know life is tough, no 100% club to Brazil this year. And they know they've wasted your time. So they want to let you down lightly. The last thing they may do is to tell you the truth. So they'll assign blame elsewhere, the product, your references, personalities, corporate strategies, in fact anywhere else! The worst thing you could do is take these seriously.

So try this question instead. And in future ask or get your salespeople to ask it before the project sponsor puts the topic on the agenda for the next meeting.

Here it is:

Steve, given the state of the economy I don't understand how you are going to justify this investment and get the support of the Executive team, can you help me understand?

Good selling, let me have your comments

Mike Duff
Managing Partner
Selling Sciences

p.s. not all buyers are called Steve, don't forget to use his real name!