Are you hearing any of these statements when you talk to a salesperson about their sales or lack thereof lately? Take a look. Oh, and feel free to add your own.
- The economy is down and the news said we are heading for a recession so everyone is scared to buy my products.
- The war in Ukraine has caused a major slow down that is affecting how my customers are buying from me.
- China is threatening Taiwan and with that going on I am not able to make my forecast.
- Right now with the Democrats in power all defense contracts are on hold. When the Republicans get in power the DOD will start getting the contracts started.
- Right now with the Republicans in power all defense contracts are on hold. When the Democrats get in power the DOD will start getting the contracts started.
- No one is going to do anything until the election is over.
- Now that the election is over everyone is in a wait and see mode so nothing is being bought.
- We did not throw enough virgins into volcanoes last year so I’m not having much luck getting business.
- Many companies are still not open after Covid so I cannot visit customers and sell right now.
- The Granola eaters are not allowing oil exploration and that is really holding up business right now.
- The shipping industry is all screwed up, nobody is unloading the ships and so no one is buying anything right now.
- The millennials don’t do business like we did so I can’t sell to them.
- The groundhog didn’t see his shadow so that means three more months of lousy sales.
- People are taking too many vacations, and with the Fourth of July coming, it’s practically shutting down the whole country for this month.
- People don’t want to work anymore because the government gave them too much money to stay home.
- The Chinese government supports their native industries so we don’t stand a chance in their country.
- Our competitors are giving away their products so all I can do is wait for them to go out of business before I even bother visiting that customer again.
- I read the other day in the Wall Street Journal, or maybe it was Mad Magazine, that the Chinese are using up all of the world’s concrete and that is affecting all aspects of the economy and that’s why I can’t see any prospects right now.
- Without being able to take my customers golfing, I don’t stand a chance of making my forecast this month.
- Greedy entrepreneurs are cutting down the 60,000 acres of rainforest everyday and that is really messing up my ability to make my forecast.
- Last month in the Amazon a butterfly flapped its wings and that has affected my ability to make my forecast this month.
I am hearing these things all the time and frankly these macro trends have little or nothing to do with them booking business. In fact they have little to do with anything that can affect a ten million dollar company trying to increase their sales by a mere twenty five to fifty thousand dollars a month. Nothing. Nada. Because in the wise words of that great western philosopher Bill Murray “It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter!”
Great salespeople find a way to succeed. Great salespeople take advantage of the fact that their competitors are so busy coming up with these creative and mostly fictional reasons for not making their sales. Great salespeople use their substantial creative juices to find new and innovative ways to sell and sell successfully in all conditions, regardless of what they are.
The most successful people keep their heads about them while everyone else is losing theirs, which of course is the true definition of grace under pressure.
Okay with some of these 21 reasons I’ve had a little fun, and I will admit that some of these excuses are based on fact but so what? We have made it through world wars, we have made it through recessions and we have made it through a pandemic and through all of these challenges the cream always rises to the top and the best always find a way to stay the best.
Yes times are tough, times are always tough, that’s part of life. Do you think things were easier in this country in 1775? Or 1860? Or 1916? Or 1929? Or 1941? Or 1968? Or 2008? Times are always tough and there will always be 21 or more reasons that you can’t make sales. But that has nothing to do with how well we do our job.
How we do our job is entirely up to us. How we handle ourselves regardless of what is going on in the world around us is in our hands.
It’s only common sense.
