Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

14.2. Figure Out What's Changed

When you find yourself in a slump, it's usually because something has changed. Perhaps when you were first starting out, you were making 200 cold calls a week, but once you had plenty of customers, you stopped making those calls. In many cases, you simply need to get back to what you were doing when you were more successful.

When I coach agents, this is usually the first thing I discover—what they were doing opposed to what they are doing now. It really isn't rocket science. Many times, we get so busy working in our business that we forget we should be working on our business. What that means is you get caught up in the tyranny of what's urgent instead of focusing on the big picture.

Ask yourself, "What has changed?" If you can figure out what changed between the time when sales were brisk and when they began to slump, you usually know what you need to start doing. When asking, "What has changed?" consider changes in all aspects of your business:

• Have you changed anything in the way you prospect for new customers?

• Have you changed anything in the way you serve your clients?

• Have your products or services changed in any way?

• Have prices gone up?

• Is your competition doing anything different?

• Is the entire industry in a slump? If so, why?

• Have your customers changed the way they shop for your products and services? If so, what are they doing differently?

Once you have a fairly clear idea of what has changed, you can begin to formulate ideas on how you can ...