Flat Is The New Up. How To Sell In Tough Economic Times

As the recession lifts over the global economy, companies are faced with a critical challenge: how to negotiate the changing times and recover lost sales opportunities. Debates and discussions on sales selling are featuring a common statement: Flat is the new up. If your business has not been making much money lately and the growth has been flat, congratulations! There are many companies which have gone out of business in these lean times, while you have managed to hold the fort, and kept the revenues steady.

Think value. The crucial question facing most companies like yours in these tough economic times is how to keep the revenues from nose-diving. Frozen sales, unenthused customers, these are all indicators of danger. If you want to sell, and make the most of the tough times, the first thing to do is think value, and not size. Consider why you are doing what you are doing: is it in response to your peers taking the same measure, or does it have a solid business decision behind it.

Re-evaluate. If cutting down your sales force helps to streamline your operations, go right ahead. Be sure exactly what your motivation is, and analyze the pros and cons of your action in long-term, instead of taking a decision in a panic. Sometimes it is a good move to re-evaluate your market and see if you can identify new ones. You can deploy some of your sales team in those new markets instead of keeping them all in the drying, older one.

Increase ad spends. Another move that might seem counter-intuitive is to increase your advertising spend. If these are lean times, but you have been able to maintain a flat growth curve, this is a good opportunity to get an edge over your competition. Find fresh applications for your product, and brainstorm on new ways to pitch them. Do not simply create new ads for their own sake, validate the extra spend by creating more value around your offering.

Change how you sell. In these changing times, a good idea is also to evaluate how you sell and see if a different strategy might be more effective. If you have been used to door-to-door selling, analyze if phone calls to a more targeted audience would be a better solution.

With companies scrambling to keep their sales going, the message is out: flat is the new up. How to sell in tough economic times and make the balance sheets smile is the most critical challenge in sales today.