“The sales slump” – ever heard of that? It’s that time where EVERYONE goes on vacation and NOONE is left in offices for B2B sales people to call, email, or visit. Zero people are available and if they are FOR SURE they won’t make any decisions about anything. at. all! Word has it, Selling can’t be done in this period of the year. Impossible! Let’s just stop all activity, make backup copies of our LinkedIn networks or brush up on skills like remembering names or work on our internet listening setup.
At least, that’s what we hear a lot. We’ve heard it last month. We’re hearing it this month. And we’ll continue to hear it going into next month.
Let me tell you what the sales slump is.
The Summer Slump: Leaders and sales people
finding yet another excuse they can’t sell!!
What is the Sales Slump Really?
The sales slump is a myth. One of those things some members of a sales team tell each other, cling to, and use to explain and excuse why they don’t need to make calls, send emails, go for visits – in short it’s the excuse to do nothing at all related to selling.
Don’t get me wrong. People go on holidays. Covid-19 pandemics occur. Economies do tank. Because of that people take time off and because of that not reachable. Due to the need to recharge the batteries and rebalance priorities. We all need that. It’s how it should be.
While that is true, somebody is still working. Organizations and markets don’t stand still. This is especially true for social sellers who may operate more on LinkedIn than anywhere else. Slump period visitors to my LinkedIn profile typically dropped by 15%. It appears that despite all the vacation time being taken right now, somebody is still there. This should tell you that out there someone is still working. Someone is still busy. Someone is still buying.
And right now the number of organizations helping out all these still-working individuals is lower than the rest of the year. Because they believe in the myth of the summer slump.
Do what you always do!
Therefore you should keep on doing what you always do:
Go out there and find them. In your search use communication channels you usually would not and get engagement.
Tell them something they don’t know. Provide value. Help them.
And just maybe: Sell something.
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