Cheer Up! Downturn got your sales team down? Turn their frowns upside down.

Capitalism is a mercurial master of fates-smiling and generousone day, cruel and miserly the next. Many of you, after a rousingride on the New Economy wave, are now facing hacked budgets,equivocating clients and possum-playing prospects. No wonder yoursales force's esprit de corps is looking a tad shabby.

As the economic Geiger counter of an organization, salespeopleare first to take the hit when times go from rah-rah to ho-hum, soit's crucial to pay attention to morale when the economycools.

There are myriad signs that sales-force confidence may be headedsouth. "Complaining, grousing, negativity, cynicism, closeddoors, arriving late, leaving early and generally not seeming tocare are symptoms of slipping morale," says Bob Nelson, aspeaker on management, employee and sales motivation and author of1001 Ways to Reward Employees (WorkmanPublishing).

While it's easy to get caught up in the doom and gloomheaped on nightly by network TV Chicken Littles, remind your repsthat the United States (and the rest of the globe) is still openfor business-even during a slowdown. "Markets seldomdisappear," says Steve Waterhouse, president of WaterhouseGroup, a Scarborough, Maine, company that consults, trains andspeaks on sales topics. "A decline of 20 to 30 percent canseem like a disaster, but the reality is that a significant numberof orders are still being written," adds Waterhouse, whoencourages sales teams to get aggressive when the order ratedrops.

In fact, your sales team may be able to turn the tables on aslowdown. Think about it: Your competitors are running scared.Capitalize on their paralysis by courting their clients.

Consider the marketing industry: When times started to slow,agency owners and independent consultants beat feet to get back tocozy corporate positions. Simultaneously, companies pared backin-house marketing staffs, though their marketing needs didn'tevaporate. As the independent talent pool withered and fewer marcomprofessionals were on payroll, agencies and independents who heldfirm got even more business after the slowdown.

Just make sure a declining economy doesn't pull your salesstaff's morale down with it. Consider these attitude-enhancingtips from Waterhouse:

Stay positive. Ifyour salespeople smell fear, they'll start to worry.

Have a plan. Whenthe economy takes a dive, sales are tougher to find, and your salesteam will need new ideas. Plan promotions and specials to getthings moving. Investigate new markets or launch new products.Active people are positive people.

Get out in thefield. Schedule ride-alongs with salespeople to visitkey clients. Use this time to hear their problems and ideas. Intough times, we all need to be heard.

Rev 'em up!In a soft market, salespeople are getting beaten up every day.It's your job to inject a positive attitude into their lives.Leave them encouraging voice mails or pager text messages.

Be a cheerleader.Make a big deal out of every sale. Celebrate successes to motivateyour team to keep on
winning.

Set realisticgoals. Reset your goals to reflect the tougher market.Consistently missed goals lower morale.

I'm not recommending an economic downturn as abottom-line
enhancer-that's too much Tums-taking to be advisable. But youcan guide your troops through the rough spots by assuring themthat, given the right attitude, just about any negative can beflipped.

Kimberly L. McCall is president of McCall Media &Marketing, a business communications company in Freeport,Maine.

Contact Sources

• Nelson Motivation Inc.
  (800) 575-5521, www.nelson-motivation.com

• Waterhouse Group
  (800) 57-LEARN, steve@stevewaterhouse.com