How do sales people make money when business is slow

Companies fiddle constantly with their incentive plans—but most of their changes have little effect. No sales force consists entirely of stars; sales staffs are usually made up mainly of solid perfomers, with smaller groups of laggards and rainmakers. Though most compensation plans approach these three groups as if they were the same, research shows that each is motivated by something different. By accounting for those differences in their incentive programs, companies can coax better performance from all their salespeople. This group is also motivated by social pressure—especially from new talent on the sales bench. Stars tend to get the most attention in comp plans, but companies often go astray by capping their commissions to control costs. The key how do sales people make money when business is slow to treat sales compensation not as an expense to rein in but as a portfolio of investments to manage. Companies that do this will be rewarded with much higher returns. Sales executives are always looking for ingenious ways to motivate their teams. They stage grand kickoff meetings to announce new bonus programs. They promise exotic trips to rainmakers.

A slow period is just another name for opportunity.

When thinking of advice for this piece, I turned to some of my trusted colleagues first. What do they think is the best way to prepare your business for a slow season? Well, that solves it. Unfortunately, not all tech companies can make it through each year without experiencing some dip in sales , often in the leaner summer months. Whether your company is brand new or you’ve already experienced some success, the fact of the matter is that situations beyond your control — weather, current events, Mercury’s relative position to the other planets half joking — can send you into a temporary sales rut. It stung then but he was absolutely right,» said Mike Barbeau, VP of business development at Ethology. Any good leader with a sales system that honestly and consistently tracks leads, conversion and close timelines should be able to get to 90 percent predictive, 90 days out. Which means you can be a season ahead of your slow sales season. Short of not having a slow season at all, here are some ways to best leverage down days on the calendar so you can set yourself up for more success to follow. If you don’t know what a dry time looks like or the toll it takes physically and emotionally, sometimes trial by fire is the best motivation. Just don’t make slow seasons an annual occurrence. Your sales cycle will give you the answers. If it takes you three months to close a deal, then start pounding the pavement in March so your June won’t be bleak. Likewise, if you know you can expect a big rush around the same time every year, re-focus your efforts on owning a completely different part of the calendar. Try a strategy of over delivering at a time when no one is expecting it. In truth, to over deliver requires very little extra effort on your part — simply piping up when everyone else is silent is something, and something can lead to sales. Companies can become so locked in trying to make the biggest splash among all the pool-divers during holiday season, big cultural events, etc. Gray talks from his own experience when his company spent a large chunk of its budget and devoted extra time and effort to attend and sponsor an important industry conference. The summit was a success, but being so heads down in this task pulled valuable resources off of securing leads. Once the conference ended, the company had to work twice as hard to hit goals. If you properly anticipate a slow season and make sure you’ve properly delegated so you don’t make your own, you can actually be extremely productive during supposed down months by taking a more long-term approach. Start by taking inventory of your current customers and potential customers from the past with whom you never closed. Reach out to both groups — your current crop to check in, make sure their needs are being met and tactfully ask for referrals, and your older leads to revisit the conversation. Maybe you were both swept up during the busy months, and now those older targets will be more amenable to making a purchase. Don’t think quick fix during slow times, think about laying the groundwork for the seasons ahead. With the right attitude read: not totally freaking out about a sales drought , you can actually spin a slow season into a positive for your business. And the way to do that is with a little bit of «me-time. When things are rolling, it’s hard to keep all ducks in a row.

What to Do When Sales Slump or it’s Simply a Slow Day

February 22, Every business, seasonal or not, experiences lulls. Maybe you know when your lulls will come. Maybe business has started slowing unexpectedly. Either way, you may be better off treating this slow period as an opportunity. And, who knows, maybe in the process you’ll find a revenue generator that will help your business during its busiest times, too. Think about related services or products your customers would appreciate. If you own a gourmet food store, for example, you might stock specialized kitchen equipment or add an online ordering and delivery service. If you’re a landscaper, you might add snow removal during winter.

Like most sales, B2B selling, for the most part, is a very cyclical activity. Buying decisions can often be dependent on the time of the year including holidays, seasons, and quarters. Does a cyclically slow sales period mean that salespeople should put in less effort or focus on non-selling activities? The answer peopls a resounding NO. But, there are steps to take during slow months to accelerate your overall sales — here they are:. Blaming it on summer or the holiday season is easy, and might be accurate, but just to be sure, take some time to research and find insights maje why these specific months lag behind in sales. Then, find out if there were customers that were closed during the slow months. Winter holiday season and the months of summer can add up to a lot of downtime for B2B businesses. People are taking the time to travel, celebrate and spend time with family. It hw then, that trying to reach out to clients and prospects at this time would be fruitless. However, by turning this downtime into an inclusive experience for the people in your sales pipeline, will dales to creating long-term relationships with clients and prospects alike. To do this you could:. Ask yourself this, is there a better customer experience than bringing a prospect into your world as if they were already a client, member of busjness team, or family? So far, we know that clients and prospects are less likely to buy during certain months, ultimately slowing down the sales cycle. But those months should never slow down marketing. Marketing has its fair share of peaks and slumps, but unlike sales, the time of the year has less of an impact. So why not use the downtime to align the two teams even more? Work hand-in-hand with marketing momey come up with a list of prospects and personas to go after in the upcoming months. Your marketing team can then create an inbound strategy to bring those prospects into peopls sales funnel for you to start conversations with and close.