Smart thinking - Newsflash: Misery Club seeks new members

by Cathy Atkins

September 19,2008

You can’t escape it. Pick up a newspaper. Listen to the news reports. The price of gasoline is still quite high. The stock market is still down. The economy is still sluggish. The Middle East is still unsettled. The mortgage industry is still volatile.

Perhaps it’s time to pack a survival bag and head for the hills. Airlines are increasing fares, charging extra for luggage and cutting back on services. Automobile manufacturers are closing plants and laying off workers. The price of food is higher. The air is more polluted. Glaciers are melting, endangering various species that live on and below the ice. People trying to sell their homes can’t find buyers. Buyers looking for homes can’t obtain financing.

Civilization will survive. You can worry about the sad state of affairs, or you can say, “So what?”  People and companies are still buying goods and services. And salespeople are still needed to sell those goods and services.

Those industries where businesses represented a smaller piece of a bigger pie are faced with making dramatic changes in the way they do business, or they may not survive. Many of them haven’t. Have you considered that it’s just as good to receive a bigger piece of a smaller pie?  True, the market potential may be less today than it was a year ago. So, what does that mean for you?  You have to be a bit sharper. A bit more organized. A bit more focused. A bit more determined. And, a bit more willing to do whatever is necessary to identify, qualify and develop selling opportunities. You must be willing to go the extra distance. If you don’t, another salesperson will-and he or she will obtain the business.

I was at the Columbia Mall a little over a week ago looking for softball shorts for my daughter. In this particular sporting goods store, I noticed a young teenage boy shopping with his family. He wore a shirt that read, “Losers whine. Winners practice.”  His shirt referred to basketball. I contend those words refer to life.

Another phrase that I have posted in the windowsill above my kitchen sink read, “Life may not be the party we’d hoped for, but while we’re here, we might as well dance.”

Two things I know to be true. You can’t control the things mentioned above, or at best have very limited control over them. You can’t control interest rates, terrorist behavior, Stadium traffic or the caloric content of a McDonald’s value meal. The only thing you can ultimately control is yourself: your own attitudes, behaviors and beliefs.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not making light of the very real challenges that lie before us. Very close friends and clients have suffered. But my challenge is for you to choose for yourself the attitudes and behaviors you’ll embrace. The only thing that will make a difference, in hard times or in good, is you. You can buy into the negativity, buy a box of tissues and hide in the closet…or you can step up your game. It’s still easier to find a new customer than it is to find a new job. So, join the Misery Club. You’ll join others who live there, and be able to complain, wait for things to get better, and make excuses to your heart’s content (so to speak). Or you can choose the road less traveled.

So what else can you do?  You can go out and make things better. There are undoubtedly customers who will buy more of what you have to offer, if you will only ask. Some of the customers who have dropped off the radar are willing to buy from you again if you will take the time to contact them. Some of your competitor’s customers have become disenchanted with the service they have been receiving and will give you their business if you’ll take the time to seek them out.

Regardless of your political affiliation, Rudy Giuliani summed it up when he said, “Change is not a destination, and hope is not a strategy.”   Hope is good, but hope alone cannot make anything happen.

A glass is only a glass. It doesn’t matter if you see the glass of water as “half empty” or “half full” if all you’re after is half a glass of water. If you’re after a full glass, tear up the Misery Club application and go out and take action. ϖ

© 2008  Sandler Systems, Inc.   Sandler Training is the global leader in sales & management training and consulting.  To bring world class salesmanship to your organization, call Catherine Atkins at 573-445-7694 or email her at atkins@awarenessmanagement.com.

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