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Whitepaper on Customer Messaging Must have Adobe Reader 8.0
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We Are Hope Merchants
By Tom Reilly, the guy who wrote the book
on Value-Added Selling (McGraw-Hill)
"When you stare into the
abyss, the abyss stares back at you." (Friedrich
Nietzsche)
We have all stared into
this economic abyss—the longest recession since the Great Depression—and it has
stared back. Everyone I know is affected by it in some way.
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Most people have hunkered down—savings are up
and spending is down, which means sales are down.
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Most people have set and focused on defensive
goals—account retention and controlling the bleeding—versus gaining ground,
which is an offensive goal.
Yet, there is cause for
optimism:
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The index of U.S. leading economic indicators
rose for the sixth straight month in September, according to the Conference
Board.
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Manufacturing for the July-Sep quarter was up
5.2%, the biggest growth since the first quarter of 2005.
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The Conference Board's forecast for economic
growth in the next three to six months projects the biggest six-month gain in
26 years.
There is cause for
optimism, and as salespeople, we provide the most needed commodity for this
recovery—hope! We are Hope Merchants.
Our profession is steeped
in hope:
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We become salespeople because we believe we
can provide a good life for our families. We are Hope Merchants.
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We get up in the morning and prepare for a day
in the field, solving problems and making sales. We are Hope Merchants.
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When we sell our products, we provide jobs for
people in our company. We are Hope Merchants.
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When we sell our products profitably,
we provide revenue for our companies to re-invest in R&D and systems to better
serve our customers. We are Hope Merchants.
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When we have a new product story to tell, we
beat a path to the customer's door to share the good news. We are Hope
Merchants.
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When we ask customers what we can do to make
their lives easier, we are Hope Merchants.
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When we share good news with customers, we are
Hope Merchants.
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When we extend a hand to help a struggling
peer, we are Hope Merchants.
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When we sell products, stimulate the supply
side of business, and the economy begins its recovery, we are Hope Merchants.
This is what we are called
to do. We are Hope Merchants. When we do our jobs right, we make other people's
lives better. We are Hope Merchants. Everywhere we go we must share our hope and
optimism with our customers because we are Hope Merchants.
Whether this recovery is a
V-shaped ascent to prosperity or a U-shaped slog is anyone's guess. When the
spigot opens, you may witness a fire-hose thrust or a garden-hose trickle. Who
knows? One thing you can be sure of is that we will recover. We always do. We
are Hope Merchants.
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