When Sales Tank

So, you are moving along, growing your book of business and feeling pretty good about how things are going when your revenue takes a sudden tumble. What the heck? What happened?

If you are out there, I know this has happened to you. I have experienced and lived through this more than once in my forty years plus sales career. It is discouraging, but there is no reason to panic. Take a step back. Take a deep breath and find out why sales have fallen.

A few places to look…

Why do people give you money? This is your value proposition. It’s the reason that you get the purchase order instead of your competition. Have you stopped reminding your customers of why you should get their business? Or, has your value proposition lost its luster and needs an update. If you are driving business by being the lowest price you are vulnerable to let’s say…Amazon.com and a host of others. There has to be a compelling reason to buy from you. Feature your value.

What are you doing differently than before? Have you stopped being a problem solver and turned into an order taker? That could be a core source of the problem.

Is your competition out hustling you and/or out smarting you? Better yet, do you have new competition that you weren’t aware of? Find out and if there is a new player in your back yard, learn who they are, how they work and where they are vulnerable. If your competition is taking your business because of effort, better sales skills or better product and industry knowledge, you have work to do. Fix it.

Has anything changed in your industry, your markets? You should know. Change is constant in business and in life. Nothing stays the same. Staying the course can become stale. Standing pat is not a good long term tactic. Be prepared for and recognize change. Then adapt.

I’m not asking you for excuses. Excuses don’t help. I am suggesting that there might be correctable reasons for a sales slump. Find them, fix them and recover your lost sales.