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Are your sales slumping?  You're not alone. Sooner or later we all stumble into a rut.  The longer you stay in the rut, the worse things seem to become.  Sound familiar?

How Most Reps Respond to a Slump?

Here's the thing: When sales dip and stay dipped many salespeople start to point fingers to explain, complain or justify their less than stellar performance. They blame the crummy lead list, they blame the market or the economy, they blame the company or the product they are selling not to mention the price.  Slumping salespeople will blame their competition, their manager and the alignment of Jupiter with Mars.

The trouble is, the moment you begin to 'blame' results on external factors is the moment you become a victim.  Victims feel sorry for themselves because things are seemingly out of their control. Victims are 'helpless.'  Victims are 'victimized' by circumstances. Or so they think.  And so the slump continues. In fact, it gets worse because victims eventually become bitter. At this stage it's almost impossible to counter the effect.  You need to fix the problem fast.

The Moment of Truth Question

How do you slay the slump?  You ask yourself this one single question:
"So...what am I going to do about it?"
Heavy emphasis is on the "I".  That's it.  That's all there is.

The question puts the slump squarely back on your shoulders where it should be. You see, at the end of the day it's YOUR responsibility to deal with the slump. It's not your manager's job.  The economy won't change for you. Your buddies aren't going to come to your rescue. Your competitors aren't going to cut you a break.  The product isn't going to miraculously change. And good luck on getting your price reduced!
The only thing that can change is YOU and YOUR response to the situation.

"So What Am I Going to do About It" is a liberating and exhilarating question. If you let it, it will galvanize you into action because what it means is this: there's absolutely no one who will bail you out ... but you.
When you realize that, you realize you have choices.  You have a choice to do nothing, stay victimized and fail miserably.  Or you have a choice to get up off your butt and DO SOMETHING. Once you come to grips with this reality, the easier it is to slay the slump because your mind is now in "fix" mode, not "whine" mode.

Action Plan

If you are in a slump or if you sense you're sliding into a slump, follow these 4 Steps:

1. Give yourself 10 minutes to feel sorry for yourself. Cry “Whoa is me.” Lament. Gnash your teeth. Feeling crappy and down about a lousy situation is natural.  It's okay to be discouraged.  But it's not okay to dwell.
2. Then, take a deep breath and say, "So what am I going to do about it?" To make this second step a little easier I have created a nifty - homemade - poster that you cut and paste at your desk. The poster acts as a written conscience every time you face a dilemma or slump or crisis of some sort.

3. Then take 5 minutes to jot down your options. Put everything down from the sublime to the     ridiculous. Leave nothing out. Explore every single option.  For instance, you might write:  " do nothing," "quit the job", "hope things improve", "get coaching", "check the Internet", "buy a book", "ask a colleague", "come  in earlier," "pray," "stay late," and all the other options you have.
4. Analyze each option. Some are ridiculous. Toss them out.  Some have merit. Those that do, begin implementation right away.

Summary

The act of 'doing something' doesn't mean overnight success but it the first big step to recovery. Your slump won't instantly vanish but your defiantly will start to get different results.   You will have taken control and that's the key.

So, what are YOU going to do about it?