You need to make a decision – go down with the economy or step up your sales disciplines to maintain or grow your sales results. If you stay as you are, you will be going down with the economy. However, if you step up your sales activities – sales disciplines, you will not only maintain but you will grow your sales results.

Salespeople become a product of their environment, just like everyone else. When things slow down, they too slow down too. However, one must do the opposite to succeed in today’s economy – Step up and do more. Refuse to let external forces take over daily sales activity – daily sales disciplines.

Sales disciplines start with tracking your daily behaviors to determine your call to close ratios. Each day, note the number of outbound and inbound calls. The number of appointments that got generated from each of those calls. Then note the number of appointments that turned into qualified prospects, then presentations, closed sales and value of the sale.

With that information you can start to see what behaviors or disciplines are getting you the best sales results, or where you are not getting the sales results you need. Then you can start stepping up those sales disciplines.

For example, I used to sell franchises in Canada for a U.S. firm. I would track my daily sales disciplines and total and average them at the end of the month. I learned a lot from doing this and after a couple of months, changed my daily sales disciplines.

I would make 600 dials and get 300 contacts. From 300 contacts 285 would say think it over, leaving me with only 15 qualified sales prospects. Out of the 15 only five would be willing to pay the expense of going to the USA to check out the franchise. However, only three would show and two of the three would buy. I was paid $1,500 commission for each sale or $3,000 for the above transactions.

The first analysis lead me to realizing that I was making $5.00 for each dial. If I wanted to sell more, I would have to make more dials.

Then I noticed I was only getting a 50% contact rate. That made me think. I thought I was calling an office number, when it could have been a home number. That lead me to call at different times of the day, and take time zones into consideration. Once I changed my calling pattern, I got up to 500 contracts from 600 dials. Still the same amount of work, but better sales results just by changing some of my sales disciplines.

Then I noticed that 285 out of 300 were rejecting me. It was like trying to find a needle in the haystack. When I made contact with a prospect they wanted to learn all about it, and I would waste my time telling them. Then I tried something different.

When they asked me to explain the opportunity, I quickly answered that I would, however I asked, “Can I ask you a question first?” They always said yes and my qualifying question was “Do you have $36,000 to invest in a business?” I started getting a lot of no’s instead of wasting my time explaining the opportunity, getting think it over and following up with them.

Every time I would get a No, I got excited. I would hang up the phone and sing “Another one bites the dust, another one gone.” I was excited because every no I got, I was getting closer to a yes.

How many no’s do you need to go through to get to a yes? When you track your sales disciplines you get to know your numbers, and you end up stepping up your sales accordingly.

You do not have to slow down, stepup, do more and work smarter to maintain and grow your sales results. Happy selling!

Want to learn more about the ABC, 123 Sales Results System, click here and purchase Up Your Bottom Line and Sales Gurus Speak Out. Want to learn more about Discipline, click here and purchase Disciplined for Life, You Are the Author of Your Future.