by The good book — and the Byrds — make it clear that, “For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.”
But before you leave the site, I promise I am not about to preach or pass the offering plate.
Instead, I hope to simply make a point that for many of us in sales, we seem to be in a season of planting as opposed to raking in the harvest.
We don’t need divine intervention to know that times are tough. It really doesn’t matter what the analysts on Wall Street report … the folks that buy furniture, Mr. and Mrs. America, and the nation’s citizens trying to make ends meet on Main Street, know the real story, and that story is business, for the most part, is stagnant.
So, the purpose of this week’s column is to kick around some thoughts and ideas on what salespeople might want to do when business is challenging.
The first thing you may want to consider — and I realize this sounds wild, especially if you are in sales — stop selling.
This is not to suggest you go dark on your customers. If anything, you want to consider upping the frequency of reaching out to customers. But trade your sales calls for “Is there anything I can be doing to help you and the business?” calls.
IHFRA recently did a spot survey with some 20 successful furniture retailers and asked what reps could be doing to help them during challenging times.
The overwhelming response was: “Tell the reps to truly be our partners.” What they meant was that they needed the people calling on them to talk with them (as partners) about the business and jointly come up with ways to make the business better.
Another seemingly obvious, but often overlooked, thing someone in sales can do these days — listen. I mean really listen empathetically to what your customer is struggling with. Odds are you may not have the tools or the resources to fix the problem right on the spot, but this doesn’t mean you should not go home, look at your notes, and see if there are parts of the problem that you can remedy.
As mentioned earlier, retailers responding to the IHFRA survey were hungry for solid communication from reps and also were anxious to hear from the salesperson ideas on how to better the business.
If you are in sales, and while the market is weak, bulk up on your skills as a teacher. Smart businessmen and women are always eager to learn new ideas, skills and techniques that can make them better and more profitable.
Digital assets are becoming indispensable and if you fall behind in this area, be prepared to eat dust — lots of it.
Not every successful furniture retailer also has a digital dynasty. By becoming an expert in digital assets and social media marketing, you become a member of the value-added team in your customers’ eyes.
One more important suggestion — be willing to learn. Yes, it is important for you to teach and bring new ideas to your customers, but when business is slow, take that time you might not normally have and do a deep-dive with your customer on any and every part of the business he or she wants to share with you.
My final thought — meeting expectations these days is expected. Exceed your customer’s expectations. Think about how good you feel when someone you do business with takes the initiative to exceed your expectations.
In closing, let me apologize in advance if it seems that I am preaching to you.
You know, maybe I was. But like any sermon worth its salt, it only has power if you put it into action.
