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Selling in Tough Times: Secrets to Selling When No One Is Buying

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Certainly timely since we've all been facing tough times for the past couple of years, Tom Hopkins' newest book, Selling in Tough Times: Secrets to Selling When No One is Buying (Business Plus: 2010), seeks to help sellers at all levels get back to the top.

If you're a Hopkins enthusiast looking for something new, you'll be disappointed as there is nothing new in the book--but in many ways that's the point of the book. Hopkins argues that a tough selling environment demands sellers return to the basics of selling. Restating and reinforcing those basics--from prospecting to communication to closing--is the heart and soul of Selling in Tough Times.

Easy to read, the book addresses virtually every aspect of selling, each aspect being addressed in a short one to three page section.

Hopkins spends the first quarter of the book discussing the mental aspects of adjusting to a down market and why selling in a weak market demands you return to the fundamentals of selling. Although many will find the book drags a bit in these early chapters, the book's format lends itself to skipping those sections that aren't of interest and focusing on those that you believe are pertinent to your needs.

The second two thirds of the book deals with the various parts of the sale--finding prospects, qualifying them, selling them, servicing them, keeping them. Again, since the book is a series of short treatments of the various points of the sale, you can zero in on those sections of interest to you and ignore the remainder.

If you already have one of Hopkins' other books such as How to Master the Art of Selling or Selling for Dummies, there's no need to purchase this one--unless you simply want a concise summation of Hopkins' teachings. On the other hand, if you're in a slump or are finding your current market difficult to crack, refocusing on the basics of selling is the place to start and Hopkins lays them out in a straightforward, easy to implement format.

I'm not sure if times are especially tough out there or if most salespeople have just become too accustomed to how easy selling was during the boom, but one thing's for sure, there's a rash of books out there dealing with how to sell in tough times. Tom Hopkins latest book on the subject is one of the better ones, primarily because he spends the first part of the book focusing on your attitude, what you believe and how you think. For all the talk about techniques, closing strategies and fancy tactics, sales is largely a mental game. Salespeople need to realize that even in the toughest of times there are people who succeed wildly while others in the same profession are struggling and leaving the business.

Tom stresses that salespeople need to be flexible and observant. An economy becomes a tough economy when things are changing rapidly, the rules governing how you need to approach your market are changing and you need to do things differently. As I've often heard from my customers, clients and peers, "People are working twice as much for half the money." In order to survive and thrive in these changing and turbulent economic periods Tom counsels the salesperson to be aware of their market, to notice how their industry is changing and to monitor the general economy. Salespeople need to adapt in order to survive. People tend to forget that business moves in cycles and that occasionally entire industries and professions simply die. It's not a time to panic and give up, it's a time to adapt and overcome. He counsels against getting caught up in negative thought patterns and advises salespeople to avoid rumormongers and negative people.

The final part of the book focuses on sales fundamentals and sales basics, things every salesperson knows they should be doing but often doesn't do. There is really nothing new here from a sales techniques perspective, especially if you've read Tom's excellent How to Master the Art of Selling, but the book does serve as a great refresher about sales basics...yes, you do need to improve your follow-up skills, every sales person does! The book does have a chapter that covers how to cut costs while still giving the outward appearance of being successful and unaffected by the "tough economy" and while there aren't a lot of groundbreaking suggestions the ideas he does suggest can add up to significant savings.

If your struggling with ways to increase your sales in this new economic environment this is worth a read. If you want to review the sales process; identify where you can improve and refine your game and supercharge your sales this is worth a read as well. I like the way Tom Hopkins writes his books and he has a great depth of knowledge and experience to pull from in order to make suggestions and recommendations.

So, selling in tough times, by Top Hopkins. Hmm.. I received an advanced copy of this book and to be honest I half assumed this would be another bloated business book. I thought this book was going to be garbage, re-hashing the same ol' business junk that publishers lately have a tendency to put out. I was dead wrong.

This book is great, seriously. I read maybe 800 business books total in the past 5 years, and this book is in the top 50 of my favorite books of all time for sure. Real world practical advice, conversational tone, and a fun fast-paced flow. You can even sense an underlying respect for the reader in the context of the book.

If you thinking about buying this book, just do it. It impresses me in the way that it brings forth to my memory the exact thought patterns that I know in need to remember, but that sometimes I forget in my busy life. I don't want to tell any specifics inside the book because any sort of excerpts do not do the book the justice it deserves. So, that's that.

Times are tough. People are watching their budgets and spending less money, which is challenging for people in sales. In "Selling in Tough Times", Hopkins reminds salespeople to look at the reasons they went into the field - new situations, new people, and an opportunity for great rewards - in order to stay focused during tough times and motivated to move ahead. However, doing what's needed doesn't mean resorting to aggressive sales tactics or putting down the competition. It's about knowing your product/service, believing in it, and most importantly, listing to your customers or clients.

Frankly, I didn't expect this book to be particularly interesting. I thought there would be some sales good tips that required digging through jargon and theory to get there. I was pleasantly surprised to have it read almost as quickly as a novel. It was very clear, easy to follow, and had practical take-aways for people in all fields.

Hopkins gets you thinking about the way you approach customers regardless of your role and stresses the importance of personalized service. We need to talk to customers using their preferred method of communication. Don't constantly send emails when customers prefer a phone call. And if you're not really listening to them, you'll never meet their needs. View your job as serving the needs of people, rather than selling to them, and make sure you provide personal attention.

Hopkins refrained from going over-board with the positive self-talk cliches and had a good message about being positive. A negative attitude brings us down and impacts our effectiveness. Hopkins encourages readers to not waste time worrying about the next sale. Some clients simply won't qualify or need what you're selling. Learn from it before you approach your next prospect and focus on finding qualified clients. One of his best lines is "Negativity is nothing more than a way to justify being average."

Whether or not you are an independent salesperson or find yourself in another role working for a company, operate like a business and look back at your motivation for getting in your chosen field. If you don't believe in the product or service you're promoting, it may be time to consider a career change. But if you find yourself in the right place, but just in a tough time, read and apply his principles. Things will begin to look up for you.


Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the Hachette Book Group.

This audiobook doesn't offer anything that is eye-poppingingly new information or techniques. Tom focuses on the reviewing and using the basic skills of sales success and does an excellent job of applying these techniques to the current recession. I've listened to it twice and will continue to do so until I'm actively applying most, if not all of the techniques.

I had to buy the book so that I could quick reference several of the suggestions. If you're serious about being a professional sales person, and spend time in your car, you should purchase this. It's a necessary investment.

Rodrigo Gonzalez
FindLaw