Chris sighs. Sitting in a large, leather-lined chair across from the sales manager's mahogany desk, Chris crosses one leg over the other, shifts the opposite way, then shifts back again, rocking like a boat on turbulent waters. "Look, boss. I just couldn't meet my quota that week. July 4th fell on a Wednesday, and everybody took the whole week off. Everybody! There was no one around to talk to. I couldn't make enough sales." 

If you were Chris' boss, would you believe that every potential client was out on vacation for the entire week? I wouldn't. I've been doing sales training for years, and I know how notorious sales reps are for finding excuses about why they don't have the sales that they should. Sales managers know too, and such excuses only serve to highlight the excuse as just that--an excuse. It's clear to anyone who looks that the given reason is not a real reason at all; it's an excuse for drifting away from doing the work necessary to sell. 

Making excuses can come easily even to the best sales people. It's easy to get caught in a net of excuse-making. Associates often try to convince one another about why it's going to be a lousy month in their industry. I've seen blame thrust at the weather, too-high pricing structures, too much management-required paperwork . . . and now the biggest excuse seems to be the economy. 

What economic-related excuses have you given or heard lately? "Budgets are tight." "Things are slow." "Companies are downsizing." "Consumer confidence is weak." "No one is buying." Wah, wah, wah! If sales reps whine long and hard enough about how bad it is, it will be for them, and they'll end up drowning in their own tears. 

Excuse me, but it is possible to have buoyant sales in a beached economy. The difference between those who swim during a storm of economic decline and those who sink is the differenc.between being a high diver and a bottom feeder. 

Bottom feeders have low or no expectations. They do little to make a difference in their situation. To get any bites at all, they wait for the tide to turn to bring them whatever they might be able to peck at. High divers expect more. They strive for more. They don't waste time complaining, making excuses, or waiting for the economy to turn. They tell themselves every day that with work, rewards are on the way. They expect to win, and eventually they do. With perseverance, they prevail. 

How do they remain buoyant in a beached economy?  When things get tough for me, I remember what my grandfather used to say, "Go work! Quit selling yourself on why you can't sell anything and just go work, work, work! Remember son, a fish hunting food doesn't notice the hook." 

It's true. If you focus on your reward, work to meet your own expectations, and keep working until you get the desired results, you'll forget about the state of the economy and reach your sales goals--through work, work, work! But just the word "work" seems to conjure up feelings of laborious drudgery and exertion. It doesn't. You do. You may not realize it, but your mind actually decides whether it's easier to make excuses about obstacles or to make efforts that overcome them. You decide to sink or swim, drift or direct. It is your mental state that affects your desire to work. 

Consider this five-phase sequence of possible events.

First, you recognize your situation as one in which the state of the economy gets worse and worse. 

Second, you interpret the state of the economy as a negative influence on your day-to-day livelihood. 

Third, you tell yourself that you cannot sell anything because no one is buying due to the bad economy. 

Fourth, you feel that laborious drudgery and exertion are ineffective motions against a bad economy and you are therefore unmotivated to do any work.  

Fifth, you make excuses instead of doing the work required to sell. 

Such a scenario undoubtedly gives the feeling of being on a sinking ship. Now grab ahold of a life preserver and consider what a high diver would do. 

The first phase is the same; the situation is the negative state of the economy. But at this point, you can make a difference in the sequence of events. Instead of seeing the economy as a negative influence on your career, you purposely think deeper about the situation. The deeper you go, you more you begin to see that the state of the economy provides you with an opportunity to spend less time pushing products or services toward unlikely leads and more time getting to know your potential customers and their needs more intimately. 

With this affirmative new twist in your interpretation of the situation, your self-talk changes. You tell yourself that those potential customers who really need your product or service will buy it no matter what the economy is like. The key is to find those customers. 

So now you are really ready to sail right along. You feel revved up to cast your nets and seek out those customers who need your product or service, and who need your assistance in securing it. Not everyone you speak with will qualify, but you know all about qualifying leads, and now you are motivated to do so. You desire to perform the work necessary to find and then aid those clients. You end up making sales to the people who are counting on you to help them meet their needs. 

Do you see how your interpretation changes the entire chain of events? By interpreting your situation through crystal-clear instead of murky waters, your mental self-talk will be more in line with your ultimate goal of selling more, as will your emotions and your performance. While excuse-makers feed off of the bottom, you will be taking a high dive. They will be beached along with the economy, while your sales will be buoyant. 

09/20/01

Rob Wilson is a professional speaker, Author and sales trainer. Rob lives in Des Moines, IA. He can be contacted at 1-866-219-0425.