It’s a new sales environment out there

The last Tuesday of every month is when the Case-Schiller Index of home prices is published.  Today we saw the results of housing prices in March of 2009.  The news was not good.  Depending on your market, house prices have fallen up to 53% from their peak in June 2006 (Phoenix…53%!  Wow!)  You can check it out here for yourself…Case-Schiller.

We continue to struggle through a major economic downturn.  If your in sales you are certainly well aware of this fact.  Consumers, people, are holding onto their money tighter than ever.

It makes sense.  People are uncertain of what the future holds and uncertainty breeds caution.

Examples

I was in Las Vegas last week.  The casinos were empty.  In fact, when I went to breakfast in the Las Vegas Hilton nobody was in the casino…nobody.  In ten years of going to Vegas I have never seen that before.

I was at a local shopping mall today and the place was a ghost town.  There are more vacancies in retail every time I visit a shopping center.

I am sure you have several examples of your own.

Yep, it is getting scary out there.  We are in the midst of a change in the selling environment that is going to last for several years.  Why?

Because people are hurting and we still have a way to go until we get to the bottom.

Still, you need to sell.  As Rob and I continue to stress, Selling is both an art and a science.  Selling also requires you to adapt to changing circumstances.

Do you know what is going on in your industry?  You need to.  Here are some steps you can take to stay ahead of the curve.

1)  Read.  Keep yourself informed about what is happening locally, nationally and around the world.  Think about how the changes in the economy, the law and politics will affect your sales world.

2) Keep an eye on the stock prices of your company, your client’s and your competition.  Subscribe to news feeds about all the above.

3) Go buy some file folders and create a file for each of your major existing and target clients.  Set up Google Alerts for them as well.  Start to collect information.

These steps will make you the most informed sales rep in your industry and market.  This will allow you to be a step ahead of your competitors and major trends in your industry.

Tagged as: Double your sales, information management, Territory Management, tough times