During a recession even the best sales professional may think that his prospects and customers main motivation is saving money.
For some that may may be the case. But, the for the vast majority of companies who are successfully weathering the storm the real motivation is to:
- Trim wasteful spending
- Get the best value for their money
The second point is the sweet spot where you need to find yourself: Providing the best value for the money.
Take a moment to do an inventory of your company and where it stands in the market place:
- Are you priced at the bottom, middle or top compared to your competitors? If you’re at the bottom you need to avoid using “cheap” as your way of gaining interest. Unless you are a “bargain” type of company, otherwise think “value.” If you’re at the top it’s time to make sure you are executing the following steps.
- What differentiates your company from the competition? What does your company do better than it’s competitors?
- What differentiates your product or service from the competition? How is it better than anything else?
- What differentiates YOU from your competitors? What do YOU do better than anyone else? Remember, your customers will be dealing with you.
- How do your customers benefit from using your offering? Do they save money over time? Make their job easier? Improve employee morale? Increase profits? Make a list of all the tangible and intangible benefits your customers will enjoy by doing business with you.
In every economic climate their are winners and losers. Losers buy into the cliches and are quickly lost in the crowd.
Winners take the road least traveled.
Take the road that few are traveling during this recession and you stand a good chance of coming out on top. Above all — STAY FOCUSED!
