The document outlines 5 steps to get out of a sales slump: 1) Continue polite perseverance and don't give up after the first "no", 2) Establish personal relationships with customers, 3) Learn from mistakes instead of despairing and adapt your approach, 4) Avoid non-selling "alibi" tasks and focus on actual selling, 5) Don't blame external factors and instead focus on customers who can get you out of the slump through new sales or up-selling existing customers. Adapting your sales approach to understand each customer's unique motivations is key to overcoming obstacles and getting back on track to success.

1. 5 Steps to Get Rid of Slumping Sales
Success doesn’t happen by accident but is rather a result of
careful planning, effective execution, and confidence.
By Jared Bergknoff
Business success doesn’t just happen by accident. It is the result of careful planning,
effective execution, and the confidence to close the sale. In essence, sales professionals aren’t
just selling a product or service; they’re selling themselves and the believability in their offer.
However, what happens when the sales dry up? Where do you go when your approach or
presentation is no longer believable? How do you turn NO into your Next Opportunity? Finding
yourself in a sales slump is the last place anyone wants to be. But, if sales are down, how do
you get them up again? By simply following these five steps, anyone can get out of a sales
slump.
1. Polite perseverance - Remember that NO is short for Next Opportunity. Don't give up. If you
want to be better than the average salesperson, you need to try harder than average. A top
sales professional is successful because their personality exudes competence and affability.
They have evolved a wining personality and have worked hard to do so. They have shaped
their character, patiently labored through the intricacies of their profession, and done their
homework day after day for every customer they encounter. A top sales professional knows
that 80 percent of potential customers buy after five to ten calls from salespeople, but 50
percent of sales professionals call their prospects just once. You’ve done the work, just keep
calling. Perseverance makes the sale.
2. Establish personal relationships – People always buy from people. This means that most
sales decisions are made on a relationship level. In today’s corporate world, where B2B sales
professionals have to deal with buying centers more and more often, connecting on a personal
level may appear harder than in the past. The way around this is to find “allies” within your
target company, for example potential users of the product you’re selling, and have them help
you through their company’s internal decision-making process.
3. If you fall, get back up – When sales fall, you need to get up. When in a sales slump, or after
losing a deal, many salespeople lack motivation. It’s better to assess what happened and learn
how your approach went wrong rather than fall into despair. We all make mistakes, push too
hard, and even step on the wrong toes from time to time, but it’s how we evaluate and adapt our
approach that keep salespeople successful. Top salespeople know they need to become even
more motivated when times are tough. It is critical to learn to deal with rejection. Focus and
recollect your energy, and start over, with full power.
4. Avoid “alibi” tasks – Sales professionals who spend large amounts of time drafting proposals
or conducting extensive research may feel like they are working hard, but are getting nowhere
for it. In reality, those are “alibi” tasks. Those salespeople are making sure their whereabouts
are accounted for, but they are not actually selling. The problem is you are a salesperson. You
need to focus on the core aspect of your profession. No salesperson is paid for visiting
customers, sales pitches, traveling, objection handling, sound elocution, or dealing with
customer complaints. These are all preconditions that must be overcome to address the actual
issue. You need to sell! So instead of you filling time with “alibi” tasks, delegate them to a
strong inside sales front office staff member so you can focus on what you get paid for: selling.

2. 5. Don’t play the blame game - Don’t blame the economy or the weather when sales are down.
Don’t look for someone to blame for the sales slump. Look for who can get you out of the slump
– customers. In general, sales always consist of two kinds of customers: selling to new
customers (turning prospects into customers) and up-selling or cross-selling to existing
customers (within your customer base). So when times are tough for acquiring new customers,
sales professionals can focus on up- or cross-selling for awhile, and at the same time work on a
fresh approach for new customers (or vice versa). Customers with whom you haven’t been able
to close a deal, or who have already said no, or who have rejected you twice, five times, a
hundred times, are precisely those whom you must never forget. Most important is to never
give up on a customer that you haven’t won over yet. Probe through conversation and open
questions for their reasons to buy, they may be exactly what you need to get out of the sales
slump.
Adapting your sales approach is imperative as long as you know what drives your
customer’s decisions. It is believed that people buy products for seven varying reasons: the
item raises personal prestige, it is cost effective, it contributes to comfort, it represents cutting-
edge technology, it satisfies social need, it is good for the environment or personal health, or
that it fulfills a need for security and safety. Relying on the notion that not one but several of
these factors play a determining role in people’s decision-making will allow any sales
professional to overcome obstacles and get themselves back on the right track.
A sales slump can feel like quicksand, the harder you fight the faster you sink. But using
these five steps can quickly change your mindset and get you back on your feet. Remember
that to be a salesperson is to be a fighter, a go-getter, adaptable to your conditions, and one
who strives for the goal of being number one. Once everything is said and done it’s not just
your performance, title, or position you’re after, it’s the results you reap from that performance
and about keeping your one goal in mind from the very beginning. Make the sale!