Over a year ago a post appeared on the shorespeak blog about ways to keep selling through a recession.
As I speak to both managers and producers, it’s clear that those that stayed the course, with healthy corrections along the way, are best positioned for success as the recession slowly makes its way into the rear view mirror.
Here are five of the most important lessons learned by those who chose to find a way to slay the recessionary dragon versus those that melted from the heat of its fiery breath.
1. Stay in contact with your best clients. If you don’t, someone else will.
This is hands down the most important attribute of those that have prospered.
Folks learned how to get out in front of clients in multiple ways.These include calling your product partners to receive call scripts, newsletters, market opinions, market history pieces, etc. Sending these approved materials to your clients. Calling after sending to follow up. Inviting clients to informal events at your office to review market events and their portfolio. All of these activities strengthened the client/producer relationship bond.
It has been proven yet again that staying in front of your client during stressful times pays huge, memorable dividends for years to come. They will say to colleagues, friends and family, “I remember the time she called/wrote just to hold my hand; it made me feel so much more at ease with what was going on.”
2. Extend your reach beyond your primary contact.
Whether you are a broker or distributor, this has become an important dimension of the business of recession selling. Successful brokers extended their reach to spouses, children, and grandchildren in order to better understand the client’s decision-making process. Also, this extended reach proves invaluable when assets change hands due to an unforeseen life event.
Distributors have learned, sometimes painfully, that a deep roster of contacts at key account firms is a critical ingredient of success. Many folks were shuffled around or out during the height of the calamity, so if your relationship capital was invested in only one contact you could find yourself in deep, dark water.
3. Bring the resources of your entire firm to the table for discussion.
Each of our businesses has unique strengths and weaknesses. Harness your strengths and Offer Free Consulting.
Doing this builds deeper client relationships across your company, helps other business units get more engaged with sales, and, most importantly, gives you a huge “leg up” on the competition.
4. Listen more carefully.
Companies that I have worked with in the last year have invested in making themselves better listeners .
Why?
Because during tough times people need to vent. Those that are equipped with the best set of listening skills will identify more opportunities to bring value to their relationships with clients.
Notice I did not say “sell more stuff.”
Listen to find out where it hurts and then bring more value.
5. Remember your humor.
Humor is arguably one of the least expensive, highest ROI ingredients to success. We all need some comic relief from the day to day business of building (rebuilding) client trust and portfolios.
Successful recessionary sellers have had the gifted ability to interject healthy doses of humor at the appropriate times. Humor has lightened moods, lifted spirits, and made valuable, if sometimes unseen, contributions to our client relationships.
Who knows what the next twelve months will bring? What is known is that the sales professionals that embraced these five concepts have successfully slayed the dragon – and they will have a huge lead over their competition the next time a fiery economic beast comes calling.
