Economic Conditions Do Not Dictate Sales Success

I love studying and reading about economics. In fact, if there is such a thing as an amateur economist, I likely fit the description. Despite my personal interest, I make a conscious effort not to let economic data cloud my attitude about selling. The economy is not the driver of my success, I am. When working in sales, be careful not to get too consumed in economic analysis and predictions as it can mire you in complacency, false assumptions, and excuses.

As an example, the Baltimore Business Journal interviewed Barbara Smith, CEO of Commercial Metals based in Irving. The article discusses some of the struggles that the company faced during the 2008 global recession and the strategy they used to overcome the economic conditions.
Smith was able to return to profitability by focusing on a core growth strategy. Despite a wide-spread recovery since then she states that, "Most steel producers feel like we're still in a recession."

So have steel producers faced a harder road to recovery? It’s possible but companies like Commercial Metals prove that economic drivers do not force people into failure. Great sales people perform consistently regardless of market conditions. Having an awareness of your market and changes that are affecting it is a strategic advantage but not a reason to abandon revenue growth.

At any given time you can likely find a naysayer and a fanatic predicting economic booms or dooms. One of those forecasts will be wrong and neither should be taken to heart when laying out your sales behaviors. External factors might alter your go-to-market strategy but it will not dictate performance.

Internalizing these analyses and using them as an excuse is a road to ruin. Once excuse making begins it starts to poison your attitude. That toxic attitude will alter what and how you sell which will eventually cause your performance to diminish. That diminished performance will reinforce the excuse and it becomes a downward spiral that ensures more excuses and less effectiveness.

Excuse making happens in every environment, good and bad. Even the best economies will have poor performers that insist their region, the time of year, their product, or their company is holding them back.

People and businesses are rarely spending money on pleasure and fluff. They are, however, willing to spend money at any time on things they need or perceive to have value. Great sales people will find pain, discover compelling reasons for the buyer to move forward, and close sales regardless of external factors.