Should a recession affect your sales?

How often do your sellers tell you “Our buyers aren’t buying, there’s a recession going on!”

So now it’s official. The UK economy is flat-lining, meaning that we may (or may not) already be in the second dip of the dreaded double dip recession. Let’s leave the economists to argue the toss.

How should market trading conditions affect sales activity? Well, I take a robust view. Unless you are a market leader and can measure your market share in defined percentage points, the market situation shouldn’t be regarded as an excuse for not achieving the sales numbers. Most SME’s are in this position.

If your sales are, say £5 million, out of a market size of who knows what, say £500 million, that national GDP has not grown (by its target of 0.8%) affects your salesforce how? Yes, individual customers may have reduced their budget, but plenty of business is still being done out there, and even if your market size has shrunk by a few percent, that still leaves plenty of opportunity to expand the £5 million into. Your expansion (obviously) has to come by winning business from competitors, rather than growing market.

At these times, businesses that can communicate their value proposition, are the ones that increase their sales. Buyers need to understand the reason they should buy your product or service, and they need to understand why they should buy it from you. How confident are you that your sellers can answer both these questions?