Turnaround CEO, sales consultant and trainer, Paul D’Souza captured a much needed and timely exhortation in the title of his book, The Market Has Changed: Have You? The vast majority of company leaders, owners and sales managers have been feeling pain over the past year from dramatic changes in their industry compounded by the economic challenges; yet few of them have come close to making significant innovations and changes in their own approaches to business other than the lazy approach of downsizing.

Too many leaders and good sales reps are focused on others to the point that it takes away from their own energy reservoir and the quality of their family life, and this is being exacerbated by the stress of the challenging economy. D’Souza suggests that given the significant changes in the marketplace, it is key to anchor and take care of yourself and family first. Make a list of the top priorities for improving yourself and your family and take just one action each week from each list to move toward better balance.

Only when you are fully charged, and the reason for your earning an income is being fully met, will you be able to fully serve the secondary customer, those that are paying your economic paycheck versus the psychic and spiritual, but remember that means first things first; “put your oxygen mask on first, before you help those around you.”

If you want to sell more, stop selling and start solving your customers’ problems. Help your customer solve whatever problems they have regardless of the immediate relevance to your products/services. D’Souza says you can begin by asking “given the issues you face, what are you focusing on solving this season?” When you stop selling and start focusing on that question, you deepen the rapport, relationship and reciprocity potential for when you are in the position to sell.

In this market, everyone is looking for a deal. Salespeople need to know their numbers; then they can make the deals profitably and be empowered to move faster and protect their pricing and profit margins. Part of D’Souza’s custom workshops is about going through the numbers and margins in a business to ensure that the sales team realizes just how little margin there is and where “leaks” may be happening in the selling, delivery and servicing of a customer. When sales reps are aware of the leaks/opportunities, they can begin to improve these areas and thus, profitability. Also, when sales reps are more fully informed about the narrowness of most profit margins, they are more likely to protect and sell the value and reasons behind your pricing.

D’Souza makes sure that participants are aware of three sets of numbers that are part of this profit discussion.

1. The personal number/profit range to make the right commission for self/family.
    
2. The company’s appropriate profit range so that they can continue to maintain the right team and improve on their offerings.
    
3. The numbers behind what the market will bear and where and why the competitors’ pricing is where it is.
    

Remembering that you and your family are a customer, too, and also putting a healthy focus on problems and profits can help you grow in this challenging economy.

• Follow Paul D’Souza on LinkedIn.
• Visit his website.

Each Tuesday, turnaround consultant Mark Faust will be sharing his expertise on how to turn around your small business. His blogs will be filled with practical insights and basic turnaround strategies designed to guide you through crisis leadership and change management.  You'll be able to tap into tips on everything from profitability issues, business continuity plans and pandemic pivots to operational processes, marketing and customers additional value.

As one of the companies he helped grow, we know first hand how inspiring his leadership is and just how well it works! Mark has also agreed to make his best-selling book ‘Growth or Bust’ available, free of charge, to any small business to help them create  their own effective turnaround plan. We’ll be sharing that with you soon.

You can learn more about Mark and his company, Echelon Management, by clicking here.

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