Are You In A Sahara Sales Desert?

One of the nasty little sides of selling is something MOST people won't tell you about.

But I will!

Sometimes you will get caught in a Sahara Sales Desert Dry Spell that will suck every ounce of energy out of you if you don't know what to do!

Have you ever experienced it? I certainly did in my early days of selling.

I can still remember it like it was yesterday. (How scary is that?)

The Well Went Dry! (oops!)

I lost 4 of my largest television advertising accounts in one year due to changes outside of my control. Anddddd I was COMPLETELY UNPREPARED for the Sahara Sales Desert that immediately followed! I will never forget what my sales manager said to me at the time (remember - he was a lifetime member of the Old Boys' Club)

"Kim - I think this happened because you don't have a boyfriend."

That was his special advice for me on how to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Losing those HUGE clients was a really tough lesson (especially as I was a 100% commission salesperson) and it forced me to become REALLY CREATIVE and also to make sure it never happened to me again.

So What Is A Sahara Sales Desert?

You're selling like crazy, working your little buns off and then WHAM! the sales start disappearing and you start to panic.

How Do You Avoid The Dry Spell From Hell?

•Plan Ahead! If you are too busy "working in" your business vs ON your business - I guarantee you will have one dry spell after another. You must plan ahead and determine the months of the year that your sales increase/decrease and then create a strategy on what to do!

•Have Some Reserves! (Camels Do!) Most women in business are under-capitalized. You have to SAVE/have a Line of Credit/ access to money to help you weather a DRY SPELL so you don't react in a manner that is totally short-term thinking. ie/Cancelling advertising, stop promoting yourself, don't take any professional development etc as you don't have the money. If you are at that point - then you aren't making wise business decisions for your business and you have more DRY SPELLS in your future. GUARANTEED.

•Don't Have All Your Water On One Camel! It happened to me - it could happen to you. Who is your biggest client? Now..imagine that client goes out of business, retires, chooses another provider - where would YOU BE? Don't keep all of your major revenue in a handful of clients otherwise if something goes wrong - you will need a HANDFUL OF KLEENEX!!

•Make Sure You Are Headed For An Oasis and NOT a Mirage! Do you have realistic sales targets? Do you have an established sales and marketing plan for the next year or are you WINGING IT? How much do you want to earn this year and write exactly in DETAIL - HOW are you going to do it?

Are You Feeling A Little Cracked?

Hey - I remember what it feels like! Maybe your bank account is feeling a little CRACKED UP because your sales have flat-lined or decreased. One thing I know for sure - if you keep doing what you have done in the past - you are going to get the same results.

Listen To My Dad (he's bossy too!)

An expression my Dad always uses is "Dig the well before you are thirsty" - and this totally applies to avoiding the Sahara Sales Desert hitting your business!

Now it is up to you.

If you are either feeling the heat of the Sahara Desert now or you think you may have one in your near future - DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT THIS WEEK and become your OWN RAINMAKER!

Kim Duke, The Sales Diva, provides savvy, sassy sales training for women small biz owners and entrepreneurs. Kim works with clients internationally, showing them The Sales Diva secrets to success! Sign up for her saucy and smart FREE e-zine and receive her FREE Bonus Report “The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make” at http://www.salesdivas.com.

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