The Tribune

By D’Arcy Rahming

It has been my personal experience that a bad salesperson cannot even give away money. I’m not kidding with that one. One of my clients was giving away money just for persons to sign up. This was not some tricky discount; this was money that the client could spend on any product they desired. Yet the salespeople were disinterested in getting off their butts and asking people to sign up for this excellent promotion. Sales quadrupled immediately when the lazy salespeople were called out.

January is a time when everyone is broke, or so the myth goes. Actually, some businesses have their best month in January. For example, the Gym business. By mid-December you could have fired a rocket through my gym and not hit anyone. However, January will be standing room only. I will have to open more classes and arrange more times to keep up with the demand.

Yet the myth of January being terrible persists, especially among salesmen. However, the truth is that bad salesmen have an excuse for every month of the year. It sounds like a litany when you roll it off. Some of the more popular ones are common to training sales persons: We already touched up January; everyone’s broke. In February, the excuse is that everyone is recovering from Christmas, so they are not spending any money. In March, the excuse is that the economy has dipped because Spring Breakers don’t spend as much as the more “mature” tourists.

April rolls around and they say people are going, or have gone away, for Easter and therefore they do not have any money to spare. May has an interesting excuse. It is too late in the year for people to really spend too much money; they are already set in their routines of what they are spending. June, of course, is that people are preparing for their summer vacations. July, no one’s buying because they are on their summer vacations.

In August, they are preparing for back to school, that’s why no one has any money. As for September, they just pay tuition and buy more books or school supplies. In October, they are recovering from September. In November, the excuse is that people are preparing for Christmas, so they are not buying much. In December, of course, people are spending only for Christmas.

So, there you have it. Regardless of time, most salesmen or women will find any excuse to not sell. These salesmen believe that it is because of their customers they are not selling, when in reality it is them. Don’t let excuses shape the profits of your business. Now get out there and sell. Make 2013 your best year ever for your business. I know you can do it. I’m certainly going to in my personal businesses.

NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds a Masters of Management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Mr Rahming has clients in general insurance, retail, the health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. To receive his marketing newsletter FREE go to http://DArcyRahming.com or contact him directly at darcyrahmingsr@gmail.com