Fight the Mid-Summer Sales Doldrums With These Best-Of Tips

A lot of businesses slow down this time of year. The beach beckons, and Labor Day Weekend is on the radar. But the committed salesman rises above and keeps on closing. Don’t blame the time of year if your quota is slipping – get into action and start making deals happen. Here’s a roundup of our best tips over the last few months to help you get started.

1. Throw the perfect summer sales meeting!

Keep it short and sweet. Make sure you have a well-rehearsed and well-organized demo to keep everyone’s attention.

2. Keep things light (and be sure to lead the conversation)

Liven things up with a suggestion of rooftop drinks meetings, or anything outside the typical conference room. But wherever you wind up, don’t leave it to the other party to control the conversation — but don’t be dominating or rude, either. With a good set of conversation techniques, you can give someone else the sense of control, but still be the one driving toward next steps. In negotiations, this is particularly important, so you can guide who plays their cards first.

3. It’s summer – ramp up the storytelling

People want to know what things will do for them, or how a product or service will affect their day-to-day. The don’t care about the feature as a standalone with all sorts of bells and whistles. Context is key. So tell stories around how your product or service helps them or helped a previous customer.

4. Even if it’s a mid-August Friday, stick to your sales process.

If you’re constantly redefining your process, then you’re never perfecting one, and a meeting can easily be taken out of your hands. If you don’t have a process and clear plan for every meeting, it is easy to get lost or distracted. The process is there as a roadmap to keep you on track, but also as a guide to get you back on it. The key is sticking to it in any situation — even when you can tell your audience is counting the minutes ‘til they can head out for Summer Friday.

5. Keep in mind, your job is to sell, not make new friends

Yes, make people like you. Yes, be friendly and personable. But also know your goal is to have the other person do something for you — aka, buy. I prefer to keep my business contacts slightly more at arms length and prove out the business value first, and then let the personal element be the icing on the cake. Become friends after business is done. When you lead with the personable side, it can be tough to switch to being a shrewd negotiator, or an effective salesperson.