By:Doug Dvorak
“A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. For myself, I am an optimist – it does not seem to be much use being anything else.” –Winston Churchill
“The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.” – Kahlil Gibran
“Don’t find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain.” – Henry Ford
“There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.” – Richard Bach
Whining leads to inaction and inaction to the curses of failure and defeat. Winston Churchill has rightly said that there is no use in being a pessimist and keep complaining about things. We have to be happy with the deck that has been dealt to us and play to the best of our abilities. Amazingly, more often than not it turns out to be good if we play it right. If we keep complaining on what we do not have our misery will be endless. On the contrary, if we accept gracefully what is given to us and continue cheerfully to multiply that our happiness and joy will be infinite. The choice is always ours.
If all difficulties, objections, and obstacles must be removed before the commencement of an activity perhaps no activity would ever take place in this world. A baby would never learn to walk if it waits for the surface to be even, till it gains enough leg strength, and is able to balance itself completely. It gains leg strength and learns how to have balance while tackling different surfaces as it keeps trying to learn how to walk.
Start Selling in Tough Times
Selling in tough times is like finding your foothold on a slippery surface. But unless you keep wading through, slowly and cautiously, how you will reach the goal? Many sales people and businesses have actually thrived in tough times. It is common knowledge that many great companies were founded and earned fame during recessions. Coors, Wrigley, IBM, UPS, GM, Herman Miller, Disney, Zippo, Hewlett Packard, Toys “R” Us, Domino’s Pizza, Super 8, Microsoft, Symantec, Nantucket Allserve, Wikipedia, and Newegg are some of the famous companies that were established during recessive periods and flourished during those periods. There are many small and medium sized organizations, which are not so famous, did start during recessions and prospered during the tough times. So what’s your excuse?
Is the current recession any different?
Evidence and facts show that there are companies that are thriving even during this recession. Amazon and Netflix are two such companies. Amazon’s total sales and profits increased by 18% and 9% respectively in the last quarter of 2008. Amazon improved its service and shortened its delivery time to beat its closest rival ebay. Earlier it used to deliver ordered products in 5-6 days. With smart rethinking it reduced the delivery time to 2-3 days.
Netflix added 718,000 new customers in the last quarter of 2008. Its net revenue increased by 19% and profits soared by 45%.
The telecom industry was hit hard by the recent recession. Giants like AT & T saw their profits plummet. Sprint Nextel actually suffered losses – $1.6 billion in the last quarter of 2008. Against this backdrop, Verizon’s performance is very inspiring. Verizon’s profits grew by 15% as it added 1.4 billion subscribers in the same period. Verizon had laid FiOS fiber-optic network to provide high speed broadband service. It spent a lot of money on ads though the times were not bright. People cannot afford to remain disconnected even if it is recession. The plan worked and Verizon added 282, 000 customers in the last quarter of 2008 with their wireless and phone services.
Heinz, Hershey, and Colgate changed strategy. They all increased prices and made profits. Hershey’s increased its prices by 11 percent when the price of cocoa hit a 30-year high in August 2008. Later cocoa prices came down, but Hershey’s stuck to the new prices. Its profits rose by 51 percent in the last quarter of 2008 over the same quarter of 2007.
No problem presents itself without its solution. We have to work diligently to find the solution.
Non performers will always give excuses: tough economic conditions, fierce competition, lack of complete support from the organization, and even personal set backs. But a real salesman (woman too) will sell no matter what.
About the Author:
Doug Dvorak helps companies and professionals achieve results through customized, creative and non-traditional sales training systems that are “one size fits one” and developed to the unique business needs and “sales pain points” of each client. He is available to speak on these topics.
For more information visit https://salescoach.us or call 847-359-6969 FREE
Permission is granted to reprint this article in print or on your web site as long as the paragraph above is included and contact information is provided.
Copyright 2008 The Sales Coaching Institute, Inc.
Sales Skills Training Strategic Sales Coaching
Doug Dvorak, CEO of DMG International, is the Author of the forthcoming book “Build Your Own Brand” (Pelican, 2009)
