Economic Conditions Do Not Dictate Sales Success

I love studying and reading about economics. In fact, if there is such a thing as an amateur economist, I likely fit the description. Despite my personal interest, I make a conscious effort not to let economic data cloud my attitude about selling. The economy is not the driver of my success, I am. When working in sales, be careful not to get too consumed in economic analysis and predictions as it can mire you in complacency, false assumptions, and excuses.

As an example, a recent article titled Economists Express Both Optimism and Concern for Northern Virginia Economy reviews some of the findings from George Mason University’s economic forecasts. GMU’s data explores the Northern Virginia region’s dependency on federal spending and identifies select industries that are well suited to overcoming that dependency.

Does that mean that sales people within those industries should sit back and let the money come to them? Should the sales people outside those industries lower their goals because it’s looking like an uphill battle? Should the sales people inside the industries that can be negatively influenced by undesirable federal changes look to jump ship before it’s too late?

Of course not, great sales people perform consistently regardless of market conditions. Having an awareness of your market and changes that are affecting it is a strategic advantage.

At any given time you can likely find a naysayer and a fanatic predicting economic booms or dooms. One of those forecasts will be wrong and neither should be taken to heart when laying out your sales behaviors. External factors might alter your go-to-market strategy but it will not dictate performance.

Internalizing these analyses and using them as an excuse is a road to ruin. Once excuse making begins it starts to poison your attitude. That toxic attitude will alter what and how you sell which will eventually cause your performance to diminish. That diminished performance will reinforce the excuse and it becomes a downward spiral that ensures more excuses and less effectiveness.

Excuse making happens in every environment, good and bad. Even the best economies will have poor performers that insist their region, the time of year, their product, or their company is holding them back.

People and businesses are rarely spending money on pleasure and fluff. They are, however, willing to spend money at any time on things they need or perceive to have value. Great sales people will find pain, discover compelling reasons for the buyer to move forward, and close sales regardless of external factors.