I happened to feel excited because I learnt that a big customer on whom I had no expectations now wants to proceed.
It’s easy to be positive when things go well.
That momentary euphoria also made me think about the opposite situation: who hasn’t been through a phase when orders don’t come for some time, and feel down?
Whoever is saying “it has never happened to me” is a liar.
Sometimes it happens to us too, even though we should be the “experts” when it comes to lead generation and customer acquisition in B2B. But experts too sometimes run up against tough customers, stagnant markets or companies with internal political problems that bury even the most potential project.
But there is one kind of behaviour that works.
And that’s exactly what I want to talk about today.
First, we will see a photograph of the same salesperson caught in two different stages.
This is the salesman who hasn’t sold a pin in weeks (months?), even though he’s been working hard:
- low ears
- elusive: spends milliseconds at the coffee machine
- whining like a baby sitting on chickenpox
- pissed off at customers who don’t buy, those bad guys
- pissed off at the market
- pissed off at politics, society, the condominium manager, and since we’ re at it, with the whole world.
and above all,
- libido down the toilet!
This instead is the seller who is taking multiple orders:
- Berlusconi-style posture: head high and chest out
- high self-esteem
- Starts feeling a delirium of omnipotence
- shamelessness
- first signs of walking on the water
- never-ending coffee breaks, where he gives young colleagues erudite and complex sales lessons
and finally:
- testosterone all over!
Yeah, orders are the most powerful aphrodisiac of the salesman…
How can we then get a testosterone boost if things suddenly go wrong?
How can we get out of such periods of crisis, when we don’t take orders?
A fencing master of mine from many years ago, Ezio, had a mantra:
“work, work, work”.
When talking about sales, same thing.
If you’ve always sold, and suddenly you don’t sell anymore, you haven’t become a duffer overnight.
Simply, sometimes it can happen.
Of course, a “due diligence” must be performed. It’s a good idea to understand whether you’re doing something wrong, if your commercial offer has something customers don’t like, if your target is wrong and to make any necessary corrections.
But if you’ve always sold that product to that target group, and suddenly you’re not selling anymore then it’s probably just a bad time.
You’ll get over it.
Overturning a strategy just because it’s a hard time is almost always counterproductive. In a few months you risk finding yourself with an even worse situation and have to go back.
So, grit your teeth and no overturning: just
“work, work, work”.
P.S.:
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