In all honesty, I am a streaky salesperson (at best). I have always been prone to peaks and valleys in my sales which speaks more to my abilities. Nonetheless, this ManageSmarter.com article addresses this problem with tips for breaking out of a slump.
First, a great point:
Besides, prospects can smell desperation in sales people. If you panic, your prospects will sense that you’re desperate, and they’ll avoid you.
Oh that is so true. Prospects have an innate ability to detect a salesperson working a deal out of desperation. And, of course, that desperation typically plays out as a sizeable discount in the sale price.
Then there is this:
Third, don’t get angry. Anger will be misinterpreted by your clients, peers and managers as being emotional or out of control. Whenever you find yourself becoming angry, try to be as honest as possible, and focus on solutions and options—not on laying blame.
Anger is the common outcropping when a desperate deal falls through. Nothing hurts worse than losing a good deal when you are in a sales slump.
There are 7 steps in the article that provide guidance for getting out of a slump. The steps are worth the read so here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:
2. Get back to basics.
Once, after Tiger Woods had spent hours on the practice green sinking hundreds of puts, a commentator asked him why he was still practicing considering how consistent he had been. Tiger responded: “I don’t like the way the ball is rolling into the cup.” That’s mastering the basics.
Slumps are almost always caused by not having enough qualified buyers in the pipeline—in other words, not enough prospecting. If you find yourself in a slump, start by looking internally, not externally. Remember that the slump is your slump, not someone else’s. Be strong enough to realize this, and take corrective action.
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