Persuasion Article No58
Selling during Tough Times

Anyone can make sales when the economy is booming and the focus of most companies is keeping up with demand. If raw materials and labour are scarce it's a sellers market.

But what about when things slow down ?

What do you do to make sure you make your share of sales ?

The list below comes from the December 1932 issue of Opportunity Magazine, written for salespeople during the Great Depression.

It was a test to be taken to see if you could sell during the depression.

I was lucky enough to find this information re-printed in The Customer Collective Blog.

Take the test and see how you do ?

1. Am I sociable?

2. Do I think in terms of success?

3. Do I really like selling?

4. Do I think of my customers interests?

5. Do I read sales literature?

6. Do I study my prospects?

7. Is my personal appearance a credit to myself and the company I represent?

8. Do I realize that success in selling is a matter of study and perseverance and that the element of luck is small?

9. Am I cheerful in the face of interruptions?

10. Am I always courteous even with unreasonable prospects?

11. Am I always scrupulously honest in my representations?

12. Do I think of selling as a dignified calling worthy of my best efforts?

13. When faced with competition, am I inspired to excel?

14. Do I know that my line of goods is the best on the market?

15. Do I try to make repeat sales?

16. Do I talk quality first and price later?

17. Do I stay with a line of goods long enough to give the line a fair trial?

18. Do I spend sufficient time perfecting my demonstration to make it convincing?

19. Do I take advantage of every modern convenience in selling, such as the telephone, telegraph and letter service?

20. Do I canvas systematically and never skip places because they look uninviting?

21. Do I work regular hours even when the weather is unpleasant?

22. Do I put in the extra time to close a deal when necessary?

23. Do I put extra effort into selling after a poor day?

24. Do I put extra effort into selling after an unusually good day?

25. Am I determined to stick with selling despite the lure of a blind alley, time clock, type of job?

• 25: Star Salesman
• 20: A Success
• 15: On The Way
• Below 15: Need Overhauling

Well how did you do ?

Hopefully, you did well.

If not, get to it and start working on your game.
The time to start is now.

Here's to YourSalesSuccess, Greg
persuasion article no58


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