OK, so I think we are all agreed we are in a recession. Technically, it's 6 months of economic decline but the reality is household named businesses toppling like nine pins, major Corporates laying off tons of staff and Government Ministers working all weekends to save our Banks.
I still am staggered by the number of people who are not actually planning on tackling a recession but I do know they will ultimately feel its effects - good or bad. So here are some tips which are rehashed from a previous blog article but are worth repeating:
1) Review Your Sales Pipeline
Take a look at your CRM output, spreadsheets or fag packets and sit down every salesperson and review in detail, deal by deal, their entire pipeline. Ask the tough questions, take out those companies who are cutting back, take out industries suffering most from the downturn and focus on the business which is real and stands a decent chance of coming in. Then look at the gap between the new forecast and the old and the expectations of the budget. If there is a significant difference then you know the extent of how the recession is going to hit you short term.
Plan accordingly.
2) Get Close To Your Current Customers
Throw a 'Blanket of Value' over your current billing customers. Go visit them, look at their plans and requirements, make sure you can fulfill them and then make special deals to ensure there is no chance of the customer shopping around. Go that extra yard on service, check they like it, make sure staff are focused on delivering more. Do not be afraid to surrender some profit or extra service to ensure you nail a longer term commitment as these customers will help you ride the storm and be the bedrock of sales when the recovery comes, so give them something in return for a commitment that suits you.
3) Review Your Value Proposition
Whatever your 'Value Proposition' has been to date, it probably at least needs emphasising but more likely adjusting to make sure it is applicable to customers experiencing a recession. It needs to focus on delivering real benefits which can be quantified and are real to customers not just what you think. It cannot be secondary gains or long term justifications, it must be real, and immediate. Customers are not going to look at the long term at times like these and accountants will be far more unreasonable in their demands on returns so be prepared.
4) Make Sure ALL Staff Know The Value Proposition By Heart
It is zero good that only salespeople can expound and explain a Value Proposition. All staff must be bought in, know it by heart and be able to properly and succinctly explain it whenever it is required. Make it second nature.
5) Gear Bonus And Commission To Survival
Most budgets will have to be trimmed in tough times and many salespeople will be expecting to keep their earnings the same while moaning about downturns impacting their business. You have to work on your bonus and commission plans to make sure they at minimum are paid out for survival and nothing less, then accelerate earnings thereafter much faster than normal. The key to any Compensation Plan is having the flexibility to drive behaviour.
6) Join Staff In To The Cause
So many managers will retreat into closed rooms and debate in secret the effects of a downturn, focusing on things they believe their staff should not know or are not capable of handling. It is far more powerful to join in staff to the issues, debate them openly, ask their help and advice and implement solutions with their complete buy in. The power of communication engenders trust and a commitment to a common cause - there is never a more important time to make the staff part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
7) Delay Recruitment Decisions Where Possible
I have seen so many businesses fight to back fill lost heads at the wrong time only to find knee-jerk decisions cost much more in the short and long term. Stop, think about whether you can survive before refilling open positions and think long and hard about what power you actually need. Those managers who scream about it need to step back and look at the bigger picture.
8) Get Creative, Put The Power Where And When You Need It
For open heads, think about innovative, short term measures like contract, highly commissioned salespeople who can put the muscle in where needed but have easily changeable contracts. Think about what sales efforts are best suited - telesales for rapid, wide reach rather than a highly experienced field sales if that's what is required.
9) Focus On The Successes
Think about the recent successes and what sort of customers they are - look for similar ones and take the Value Proposition to as many of them as possible and fast. Clone success - focus marketing into a short term gain and reduce branding exercises which are costly, esoteric and not easily measurable.
10) Make Every Penny Count
Look to your costs and cut out spending on what is not required for the short term. Marketing and training are budgets which are easy to adjust but think about other areas first as these could be vital parts of the armoury to fight downturns and take advantage of the upswing. Look at how salespeople spend their expenses - cut Business Class Travel, rethink mileage costs, mandate lower star hotels, make people justify sales or other trips before allowing them to go.
11) Redouble Efforts
Make sure that work rate rises. The number of visits to customers by the average salesperson across a variety of industries is less than 2 per week - it's very poor. Set goals for the number of phone calls, demonstrations, quotes, meetings etc - call them KPIs if you wish but set minimum standards in line with those of your best performing people.
12) Value Your Staff
If I could have £100 for every company who use a recession or downturn to rid themselves of 'Poor Performers' and feel as if they have done something clever, I would be a wealthy man. You need your staff highly motivated when the recession bites and the fact you have not taken action on poor performers before it starts only shows poor management. Culling staff during a recession is a desperate measure and demotivates staff. Focus on getting poor performing staff up to a higher level. Make the Value Proposition simple and easy for them to understand, help them deliver it properly, show them where to call to get business, what to say and who to.
Give them more help rather than less.
Selling In A Downturn
There are many tactics we can do to help trigger sales but the most obvious are to make sure you profile a viable customer to you, know where to find them, know who in the customer needs to hear your message, know the customer's business enough to be sure you know what your product and service can do for them and quantify it, rehearse and check your message to ensure it rings true, customise the message for the specific customer, and then call and visit as many of these potential customers as you possibly can.
In reality sales is a simple numbers game - the more people who fit your profile you can get in front of, the more chance you have of gaining sales. In a downturn, sales efforts should be redoubled, whether you are set to benefit or possibly lose out - now is the time to work harder.
The one thing I strongly advise is to not take the next 3 months or so at face value. Make sure you ask all the tough questions now and do your planning to mitigate the effects of a recession.
Complacency Is Your Biggest Enemy.
No comments:
Post a Comment