Revenue Journal®

Well, it's that time again. Elections. Always causes a bit of a dip in productivity, and a slowdown of the buying process, while everyone waits to see how the election will turn out.

Welcome to Distraction City.

In our news-dominated culture, distractions interrupt buying patterns. The larger the distraction, the larger the interruption. I tend to think of these periods as distraction-driven mini-dips. If there are a number of them in succession - especially those involving armed conflict or a terrorist attack - the dips can turn into a recession.

During these distraction-driven mini-dips, it's more difficult to generate revenue. Everyone still goes to work, meetings are still held, contracts are still signed, but if you're on the selling side, it always feels like the world is sliding sideways. As you attempt to finalize a contract, it's like talking to someone who is talking to someone else on a cell phone. Or who is pretending to be paying attention to you while simultaneously watching a movie. Sure, they will answer your questions, but they're not "all there." People are no where near as adept at multi-tasking as they think they are, especially if they have an emotional stake in the other task.

It's not just the buyers who are distracted. Sellers are distracted, too.

Major opportunity for you

What's interesting about these distraction-driven mini-dips is how you can use them to your advantage. This is your big chance to yin when the rest of the world is yanging! Instead of getting stranded in Distraction City, you can ignore the hysteria and take some positive action that will put you in a stronger position when the distraction passes. Here are some of the proactive things you can do to move your business ahead while the rest of the world is distracted.

1. Assume your competition's salespeople are distracted and anxious. That means you should be focused and calm. Continue to make calls, but don't be upset when the customer seems distant or anxious. Go with it. Be friendly, comforting, empathetic. Remember that your customer is on edge right now. Being the soothing voice on the other end of the phone, during an anxious period, can only help you when the customer focuses back on work. This is not the time to be an anxious salesperson. Red-state people and blue-state people all feel the same right now. They don't want the other side to win. They feel very strongly about this. These passions are seething right beneath the surface. If you approach them with a high-energy pitch right now, they will unleash those passions on you. They don't want to be pitched.

2. If you're selling a business-to-business product, this is a great time to interview customers. They're at work, but they don't feel like working. They would be happy to talk about work, however, if someone nice were to call them and ask them questions. If the boss walks by while they are answering your questions, the boss will think, "Ah, good, they're working." So you will get nice long answers to your questions.

3. This is a perfect time to clean up your administrative act. Attack those tasks you have been putting off because you were too busy selling. Fill out those forms, make those calls, clean up your physical and virtual desktops. Work with your IT people to improve a system. Clean up your website content. There are dozens of tasks like this that tend to get put off during the busy times. This is a great time to get them done.

Don't get stuck in Distraction City. There's very little money there - unless you are a political analyst. Do your duty by voting November 7, but in the meantime, take advantage of the fact that your competition's sellers are distracted and your customers are in the mood to be interviewed by a distraction-free, empathetic listener. I've conducted some wonderful interviews in the last few weeks.