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TOUGH TIMES SELLING--BE A HOPE MERCHANT (Number three in our tough times series) By Tom Reilly, author How To Sell and Manage in Tough Times and Tough Markets (Motivation Press) Your customers are inundated with bad news. They are surrounded by the bad news bears. You may be the only sunshine they see today. I met a salesperson who was long in the tooth, and he said to me, "If the sun is not shining, I better be." This was his way of saying he needed to bring sunshine to customers. If every salesperson who calls on the buyer is negative and you're positive, whom do you think the customer will want to see? You must be a hope merchant. Spread your message of hope far and wide. Customers are eager to buy it. Inform the customer about your company's plans for growth in the future--your investments in technology that will have a positive impact on their business. Share your knowledge of the future of the industry in a positive way. Tell the customer how other companies are using slow times to lay the ground work for expansion, once tough times are over. Offer cost containment and profit enhancement ideas. Profit enhancement is a different mindset than cost cutting. Cost cutting means doing less of something; profit enhancement could imply doing more of something that will boost the bottom line. Sell your customer on the concept of profit enhancement, especially if they must invest money in your product to achieve their profit goals. Keep your tone positive and your message optimistic. The customer may depend on you for a desperately needed shot in the arm. If you pack some hope in your briefcase and share it freely with others, you may discover the buyer wants you to come around more often in tough times. "The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man...it is more powerful than external circumstances." (Seneca) "Tough times never last; tough people do." (Robert Schuller) "What we do not see, what most of us never suspect of existing, is the silent but irresistible power which comes to the rescue of those who fight on in the face of discouragement." (Napoleon Hill)
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