Do you want to continue to trust your economic future to Ben Bernanke and the Fed or on the abilities of you and your people to sell your products and services in any economy? The companies that are already recovering are those that KNOW how sell in difficult and challenging environments. Companies that don't have effective sales training and sales teams will continue to suffer regardless of what the Fed does. Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, acknowledged that consumer spending will remain tight. He then goes on to say, "there would appear, all else being equal, to be a case for further action by the Fed,"
Bernanke and the Fed can NOT save you and your company if you don't know how the number one rule to any recovery - sell! Continued actions by the Fed only make the weak, weaker - (you can't learn how to swim holding on to a life preserver). Consider that while retail sales remain sluggish, internet sales continue to grow. Why is this? Because consumers are not being given an experience at the retail level that exceeds merely ordering over the internet.
A CEO recently told me, "our sales team does not equal the quality of our products and services. We have lost our sales skills because of a dependence on incentives and free credit."
If you trust Mr. Bernanke and Fed to solve your problems, get used to them because you will have them for a long time. Go back 5 recessions and will find those that recover first after economic contractions are companies with disciplined sales skills, sales teams, sales motivation and sales processes. Companies that don't embrace sales skills will be punished long after the a full recovery. You don't need an analyst to tell you that the consumer is not spending the way it was 2 years ago. That won't be coming for at least 3-5 years. Quit waiting for the consumer reports to improve, instead, improve the sales skills of your company.
What is needed right now to increase your sales skills:
1) Commitment to World Class Sales teams
2) Treat the Sales Experience as THE Solution
3) Sales Motivation and Sales Inspiration Daily.
4) Quit Waiting for Fed to Improve the Economy.
5) Maximize Every Sales Opportunity through Follow Up.
Regardless of your line of work, product or service, sales training, sales effectiveness, sales processes and sales motivation are the only way to recover from this mess we have created for ourselves. This economy will only improve for those that are willing to improve their sales skills and sales effectiveness.
Grant Cardone, NY Times Best Selling Author and Sales Training Expert