Secret To Avoid Sales Slump

We all have slumps: Those times when you just can’t quite find or maintain your rhythm.  No matter how good you are or how long you have been in sales, sooner or later you're going to hit a sales slump.  

  That time when you can’t seem to close the sale despite your best effort.  When each call or conversation that you do get seems that much harder than it ever was before.  The pressure is on, the volume is down and you just can’t get that deal to click.
Understanding that we can influence this cycle, spot problems, change behaviors and avoid repeating mistakes that lead to slumps in sales is key. Wouldn’t it be nice to know when a slump was about to happen? 
Larson & Associates we usually don’t like to brag, but we have a secret where we can successfully predict when a sales slump is going to happen, well, nearly 95% of the time that is. After all, no one is perfect, right?

So do you want to know our secret to avoiding sales slumps? It really is quite simple, it all comes down to: Prospecting. Yes prospecting. Sales prospecting is one of the most important aspects of an organization, let alone a sales process.
All companies (startups especially) have to fill their pipeline with good leads in order to acquire customers. Helping you understand prospecting and what it means for your sales is a big part of how our secret can work for you, the other thing you need to know is predicting when the slump will happen.
The crystal ball to that answer is identifying the length of your sales cycle, is it 1 day, 1 week, 1 month 1 year?    Once you pinpoint that then you are in the driver’s seat. Knowing this will not only help you predict when you are heading for a slump but also how long you can expect it will take to get out of it. Sales slumps have a way of self-perpetuating, with the lack of sales eroding our confidence and expectations of positive results, which in turn makes it even more difficult to return to the good form we have lost along the way.  In sales the natural reaction is to fight off the pressure and panic with a quick fix, by ‘digging’ for more sales. Digging in places where you know the sales were, looking for that next pot of gold. This is what went wrong in the first place, stop ‘digging’ where the sales were, trying to work that same ‘claim’ endlessly and move on to new ground.  If there is a trick to prospecting it’s doing the work to make it ‘work’. The only real way is to get back out there and start making the calls,   working the leads. Initiating conversations with cold f2f sales calls and going to the events where your prospects will be, these are still the ‘nuts and bolts’ that hold the process together. Opportunity is out there, your job is to find it, through prospecting.
At Larson & Associates we can fill in the potholes and help you be where you need to be, as your guide and as your partner in success. We can work with you to avoid mistakes and plan for the future. 
So when you find yourself in a slump take a deep breath, a real, fill your lungs and hold it for a second, deep breath, acknowledge that you are in one and get rid of all that emotional baggage. Make the commitment and set aside a daily time for prospecting.
Invest your time, energy and emotion into actions that you can control.
Sales success is a process, do the basics and the rest will follow. Prospecting is less about luck and more about effort, hard work and perseverance, searching for that new ‘strike’ and being ready to move onto the next.
So go on now. Sit down and pick up the phone. Go knock on some doors. Send out some e-mails. Work your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook social network and groups. Start asking for referrals. Talk to any and everyone about what you do.
 At Larson & Associates we are always ready to put forth that extra effort, to work hard and persevere in everything that we do for you. We can help you avoid the dreaded sales slumps, overcome marketing anxiety and map out new places to ‘dig’. When prospecting for gold or for sales, remember that your success is directly proportionate to your effort. If you do only the minimum, your payback will be minimal. The more you do, the more you get. It really is that simple.

 Larson & Associates
leaders in providing today's marketing for tomorrows success.

847-991-1294

Become Familiar To Your Prospects

Success in getting new customers is the engine that drives your business, the engine that powers your dreams, energizes your ideas and delivers your expectations. A well-tuned engine delivers powerful results, it takes you where you want to be, and beyond.

Starting that engine and running it at peak performance is the priority and end goal of every business. In the B2B arena, this becomes an even greater challenge, where customers are clients, individuals who have been in the trenches and know the drill, what to anticipate when you knock on their door. Often the engine is already built and just needs to be tuned up, sometimes it needs to be rebuilt.This subtle recognition is about making your presence known without all the obnoxious baggage. It’s about being seen and remembered, but for all of the right reasons. When the time comes and your potential client, after recognizing their need, contemplates where to go, what to do and who to call, you want their decision maker to say “Eureka! The answer is right here, call **Insert your organization's name here** immediately!” This is where ideas begin to become a success, where cold calls become clients, this is conversion.

At Larson & Associates, we firmly believe that the success of the campaign is not measured by leads, referrals, or clicks and likes on your social sites, but when the conversion is made. This is when potential becomes a client, where the rubber meets the road, driving your bottom line, creating success.  Everything else is just fluff and puff.

Here are the cold, hard statistics of lead generation. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Starting that engine and running it at peak performance is the priority and end goal of every business. It takes 1 to 3 touches to re-engage an inactive customer It takes 1 to 5 touches to engage a prospect who is high in the buying cycle It takes 5 to 12 touches to engage a warm inbound lead to buy It takes 5 to 20 touches to engage a prospect who has only a minimal familiarity with you or your company It takes 20 to 50 touches to engage a cold prospect who does not know you or your company Now ask yourself how are you going to to that? If you have done your research and have begun focusing on the names of companies that are a good fit for you, then you are ready for another cold, hard fact, it’s likely that many of these companies do not care about you or have even ever heard of you or your organization. Your name brings a blank stare and holds no value for them. So, what do you do?Plan to become familiar to them.   This plan might include office visits, phone calls, voice mail, e-mail, social media, trade shows, and industry conferences. Most importantly, establishing and maintaining contact with them, brand yourself and then integrating yourself into their business world. A word of caution, do not focus solely on building the relationship, do your work, use your product and professionalism in action, this will leave a lasting impression. Each time you leave a voice mail they hear your name and your company name Each time they read an email they see your name, e-mail address, company name and your product/service line and how it fits with they’re pain/pleasure needs. Connect on social media and familiarity increases If you “like,” comment or share something they posted you become more familiar (and important). When you meet and talk at industry events and conferences a name is put together with a face and you are even more familiar. While building your relationship learn all you can about their business. Be aware of any recent changes and any talks of upcoming changes. Don’t be afraid to go the extra mile, the clients will remember you. Respond quickly, never make them wait. Be More than an email address. Create an online presence.  Even with the most finely tuned engine, you’re like the man out driving, who is hopelessly lost but making excellent time. Yet when you build around a plan, with a focused list, clear objectives, aimed at a niched based prospect channel it becomes easier, faster and brings greater results. Invest your time, your efforts and your resources wisely.   If you don’t have a clear plan, if you haven’t identified your objectives or have nothing in particular in mind, then that is what you can expect, nothing, or even worse, a glimpse of success and the knowledge of preventable loss.   At Larson & Associates that is our plan, that is what we do, we sit down with you and create the roadmap to your success. We find the tools to help fine-tune your engine, to reach a peak performance that will put you in the fast lane to success. We offer the services and solutions to assist you in building your business, we ready, willing and able to step in at any part of the process, from creation to fine-tuning, repair, rebuilding or management, we have the right solution for you. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines! Call or email Larson and Associates 847-991-1294 howard@larsonassociates.ws