When Mickey Mantle was in the minors, he hit a slump. It was so bad that he called his dad and told him he wanted to quit baseball.
Lucky for him – and for baseball fans – he didn’t. In fact, he went on to become one of the greatest players of all time.
Almost everyone in door to door sales will experience a sales slump at one point. These are much like batting slumps in baseball. Both the baseball player and salesperson play the law of averages and, from time to time, those averages can be skewed by a period of poor performance.
Here are five tips that differentiate the greats from the countless people nobody remembers.
Get back to your fundamentals
When we’re flying high, it’s easy to think we’re somehow special, rather than following a good process. In many cases, slumps start when we stop following parts of the process we once relied on – and which made us successful.
Sometimes, our old message hasn’t managed to sustain its old impact.
Regardless, when a pitch isn’t working anymore, you have to get back to the basics and ask where the process is broken. Are you accounting for a clear value proposition, a powerful story to get them hooked, solutions that speak directly to their needs, and proofs of your pitch? If not, it might be time to go back to basics.
Work with the right coach
Just as baseball players have coaches who have experienced their share of trials and tribulations, a mentor might have the same experience to offer you. The ideal mentors is both familiar with your work and can bring a new outside perspective that allows them to audit your pattern. This allows them to spot what’s not working when you can’t. Finding a mentor can take time, but few recover from a slump without one.
Keep on swinging
It’s important to remember why you love the game, though that can be difficult when you’re having a tough time with it. Recent whiffs can lay your confidence low, but you do have the tools to build it back up again.
One of the keys to this is remembering your past successes. Take the time to write down your achievements. When you’re feeling the stress of a slump threatening to darken your mood, review your past success log.
Ask yourself the question: “Can I do this? Can I convince people to buy what I’m selling door to door?” If you have had past success, then your mind will instantly call up all of those times you did well and remind you “I can do it again.” (By the way, this is WAY more powerful than just telling yourself “I can do it, I can do it.” Try it, and see for yourself).
Re-establish the new normal
Your performance before and after a slump might not look the exact same. You might find yourself succeeding, but not at the rate you once were. Don’t compare yourself to “yourself back then;” accept the new normal and acknowledge that progress is progress. You can get there again, so remind yourself you don’t have to be there immediately.
Stand up straight with your shoulders back
Working your way out of a slump takes dedication and effort. To ensure that you don’t fall into one again any time soon, it’s important to stick to the principles that helped you climb out of it in the first place. Keep working with your coach. Keep reminding yourself of the love of the game. Keep reminding yourself of your successes. Stay in touch with your new normal.
When you have all those down, then, stand up straight with your shoulders back and go knock on the next door. Your physical posture has a significant impact on your success. If you present yourself as someone successful to the next door, regardless of what happened at the last door, your odds for making the sale will go up dramatically.
Hope this helps you break through your next sales slump! If you have any other slump-crushing tips that have worked for you, I would love to hear about them in the comments below.