How to React When an Unexpected Hailstorm Hits Your Sales Efforts
We deal with a number of clients who are affected by unpredictable weather. Some have recently had challenges with multiple hailstorms hitting their areas and causing major damage. Dealing with Mother Nature is a part of our industry.
We understand how the unpredictable nature of weather can throw people and companies into turmoil, which is why we stand ready to help them and serve when needed.
For salesmen, this unpredictability is the kind of stuff that keeps them up at night. A big client goes with a competitor, that hot prospect went silent and won’t answer your calls, your RFP came in too high and you didn’t get the business. You may have backed off from your prospecting efforts because all of that big business was in the pipeline. Now it’s gone, along with your projected sales numbers.
Not good.
What do you do when a hailstorm hits your sales funnel and you hit a major slump? How can you recover? What can you do to get back on track, refill the pipeline and keep your sales manager off your back?
You need to Recognize, Respond, Replace and Recover in order to get that healthy pipeline back – even better than before – so it’s full of qualified prospects and you are well prepared for future storms when they unexpectedly hit.
Because they will.
Here’s what you do:
Recognize
Recognize that “Houston, we have a problem.” Some salesmen will ignore it and hope the dried up funnel goes away or fixes itself. No, you’ve got major issues on your hands and you need to recognize that it won’t correct unless you take action.
Respond
You take action. You don’t want to react – lose your cool and do foolish, desperate things to fill your funnel with shoddy prospects and making unnecessary calls to unqualified people in a desperate attempt to figure out what happened. You’ve recognized what the problem is; now put a plan in place to fix the problem.
Replace
As a professional salesperson you are skilled at helping people solve their problems and showing them how you can help. Put those skills to work for yourself. You’ve done your homework and put your plan in place as a response to your problems and now you start to replace those lost leads, those people who went silent on you, the people who sent your emails right to the delete bin.
Recover
Another action step. You’ve put a plan together because you recognized and identified the problem, took a step back to survey what the damage was so you could respond rather than react. Get yourself some small wins, get that smaller deal closed, keep moving forward and remember how it feels to win a deal and fill the pipeline. Channel that energy into your focused prospecting. Get those quick, small wins – even if it’s just setting an appointment. Count small wins to build up your confidence again and recover your sales mojo.
You can and will recover your sales funnel if you follow these steps. Remember, as salespeople you are used to taking action – you just need to apply these steps to yourselves. You are professionals hired for your resourcefulness and ability to overcome objections and obstacles. Prove it.
Sales slumps will happen -these are but short term inconveniences – but like the weather, they will happen throughout your career so be prepared, don’t lose faith, apply these steps and come back stronger than ever.
