HELP! I'm hearing CRICKETS! - b. michelle pippin

We’ve all been there…. where we hit an unforeseen and almost unexplainable sales slump. We keep pushing out messages, offers, even FREEBIES and yet — we hear crickets. We wonder,

Why Me?
What happened?
What Can I Do?
or even,
What’s WRONG with these people NOT buying?

lol…

So, what gives? Below is a five step investigative process that you MUST undergo before you officially send out those engraved pity party invitations. But before we even GET to that, you’ve got to remember that business is simple when you keep it un-emotional. I know… MUCH easier said than done. I mean, this is our WORK… our blood, our sweat, our tears, our story… It IS personal to us. I get it. But, to create a truly profitable business, we’ve got to train ourselves to think logically about the process. This means,

1) We can’t make it all about us. It’s not.
2) We can’t take personal offense to rejection. It doesn’t MEAN anything.
3) We can’t allow a sales slump to convince us that our business is doomed. It’s not.
4) We can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. This is called insanity. And, finally:
5) We MUST keep perspective, think critically and decide which STRATEGIC course corrections we’ll make to turn this slump into an uphill sprint.

So, here we go. Five steps OUT of a sales slump:

1 — KNOW that it’s gonna be okay.

Profitable decisions are rarely made in terror, fear, defeat, or depression. I believe that ALL of us have a place within our souls where we KNOW that we KNOW that we KNOW that it’s gonna be okay — regardless. Go there. For me this is an issue of faith. When I need to deliberately go to a place where I know it’s all okay, I read my Bible, pray and reflect on all of the small miracles (and large) that have gotten me “this far.”

The reason that profitable decisions are rarely made in terror, fear, defeat or depression is that RATIONAL decisions are rarely made there. So, let’s deliberately create a space emotionally where we KNOW that it’s gonna be okay.

2 — Embrace the Fact That You Live in a Cause & Effect World.

All effects have a cause. We can CAUSE things to happen to us, for us and around us. Every action has an equal re-action. I don’t know how else to put this. But, look. If you believe you are impotent, if you feel like there’s just “nothing” you can do to change your circumstances, you’ve already lost. My Daddy used to say, “Do something. Even if it’s wrong.”

This was a brilliant strategy he created. Because there’s ALWAYS something we can do. Today. That’s MY version of his saying. There’s ALWAYS something we can do. Today. If you want things to change, just get it in your mind that you’ll have to change things. NO ONE IS COMING to do it for you. The good news is, you don’t NEED anyone to come and rescue you. You can do it yourself. You want a specific EFFECT. Are you willing to BE the CAUSE of this effect? I hope so…

3 — Follow the Sales Trail.

Money always leaves a trail. So, get your investigative hat on. Dust off your last twenty sales. I want to know…

where’d they come from (lead source)
what’d they buy and why
how’d you initially start working with or selling to them?

Here’s the reason we want to believe ALL of our sales are RANDOM. Because if they are RANDOM, there’s nothing we can do to recreate them. If they are RANDOM, we’re okay just sitting this game out and allowing more random things to happen. After all, our business is different. Our clients are different. Our products or services are WAY TOO SPECIAL to be tracked like “other sales.”

Hogwash. B.S. Baloney. All of it.

Write down your last 20 clients by name. Write down EVERYTHING you remember about the process of them becoming a client. Spend 3 hours on this minimum. It will pay you back in spades. Because once you identify your Sales Trail (what led to sales in the past) you’re going to get back on it. You’re going to start doing MORE of what worked in the past. Immediately.

4 — Find out what changed. What led to the sales slump?

Listen, sometimes these things happen. Economies crash. Credit gets taken away. Our one big client walks away. I’m not trying to place blame, but hear this: In EVERY economy throughout history there were people who THRIVED and people who visited soup kitchens and barely survived. The same is true for industry, community, niche, etc. Facing the VERY SAME circumstances, there were those that thrived and those that barely survived. The VERY SAME circumstances.

So, outside circumstances are worthy of us taking note of their reality. But, we can’t change them. So, let’s look at the things that changed in US that MAY have contributed to a sales slump. Consider the little things. Consider our REactions to various circumstances. Consider the nuances.

We may not be to blame for the sales slump — entirely. BUT, this is OUR business… so we DO have a part in this. Let’s embrace it. Because if WE’RE the problem, WE’RE free to be or create the solution. So, identify what changed in YOU that has contributed to a sales slump, and create a plan to Go BACK to what was working before.

5– Finally, know your THREE M’s.

When there’s a sales slump in any business, AT LEAST ONE of the three M’s must be tweaked to get your sales BACK on an upward trajectory. It’s EITHER:

Your Marketing — or how you get your message out to the right market.

Your Message — what you’re saying to your market. OR

Your Market — who you’re trying to reach, serve and sell to.

Get really clear on ALL THREE and — considering what you uncovered in steps 3 and 4, tweak accordingly.

That’s all I have… do you have any sales slump busters of your own? If so, post them below! =) xo, michelle

** P.S. Much of this post was “swiped” from my mentors. Zig Ziglar’s books, Steve Chandler’s wise words, and Dan Kennedy’s constant training on marketing. =)

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