Good sales people in poor economic times

So, this morning, as many mornings I received an email in my inbox from a recruiter soliciting me for a position that has nothing to do with the background I have.  I looked at it for a moment, and then thought, “I’m going to reply just to see if he will engage me in the sales process.”

Our economic climate is tough, so I figured he might just give me a ring back on the phone (since it is in the signature in my email).  30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, 120 minutes, and I received an email back from him.  His response to my request for more information about different positions (via email) mind you, was to go to their Website, fill out our application and resume information, and then you can browse the jobs we have online. “  Whoa?  Really?  What happened to the days (not so long ago) when a recruiter would call you relentlessly until you had to hang up on them?  Apparently they are gone.  I digress… Please keep in mind I have no intention of leaving my existing employer, I was simply testing this person’s aggressive nature to work a deal.  Well, needless to say, I was a little taken back.  Fill out the form, and browse the listings?  I specifically asked him to fit me to a certain criteria, which admittedly was a little out there, but, he couldn’t pick up the phone to talk to a prospective employee that he was going to make a commission on if he helped to get me a job.

This brings me to my point, what are your sales people doing in this economic climate to drum up more business.  Cold Call, Cross sell existing clients, Email marketing, building a better referral netwok (which I have been very lax in doing recently myself), going to networking events, handing out business cards to everyone they know telling their story and asking for the referral if they know someone, etc?  If not they should be doing all of the above and more.  Times are going to get tough, and the sales representatives, business owners, and customer service people that are active and interface with people every day proactively are the ones that are going to survive.

Here are some resources I have found:

• National Sales Center:  http://tinyurl.com/bjs3l2
• Natural Entrepreneur:  http://tinyurl.com/bvruhx
• A Slideshare.com Presentation:  http://tinyurl.com/6z3xru
• Good Blog Post:  http://tinyurl.com/bnwysl
• Refresh your Sales Memory at www.justsell.com

The moral of the story is, sales are hard to come by.  Do your best to be proactive and tell your story in this economy.  When I was a VAR back in the early 90’s there wasn’t anyone I wouldn’t tell my story.  In the bar/lounge, on vacation, at dinner, etc.  I would tell it to everyone who listened.  I went through thousands of business cards a year.  Everyone knew who I was.  Everyone.  Eventually I couldn’t go anywhere in my geographic area without seeing someone I knew or knew me, and invariably, someone would ask me a PC, network, or software related question.  My answer.  What time tomorrow should I come by or send someone by…  There is a huge payoff at the end of the networking and selling rainbow, and it’s not hard to find.

Now go get it!