the fastest way out of a sales slump

You're taking calls, you're saying the right things, but nothing is actually landing. Your confidence drops, which causes you to overthink and second-guess yourself. And the worst part is, you know exactly what you should be doing, but nothing is working. And the longer that this goes on, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your energy drops more, your confidence drops more, and then your close rate drops even more. It's a spiral. This is what I call a sales slump. So in today's video, I'm going to walk you through exactly how you break a sales slump, the exact things that I teach every single closer I work with. To make sure that we can break out of that slump and start closing the way that we need to. I call it the Slump Protocol. Yes, we're going to actually use the word slump to break out of your slump. Let's go ahead and dive into it. Okay. So when we're talking about dealing with a sales slump, the first thing we need to understand with dealing with it is like, why does it even happen to begin with? If we understand the why, then that will give us some insight on how do we actually deal with it. So understand, when we're talking about emotions and how we feel, this is going to be relative to the person. For example, if we're driving a car, here's my car here. Oh, crushed it. Okay, so if we're driving a car and we're going 100 miles per hour, like, understand what you're really going to feel is the acceleration, like going from 0 to 100. You're going to feel that. But once you're at 100, you don't really feel it, especially if you're in a nice car that has a smooth ride. You're not even going to be noticing like you're going that fast. Like, I feel that all the time. Like I'm driving around the Porsches, like, dude, like I'm going how fast, right? It makes it really easy to speed. So understand human beings are the same way. And just by the law of averages, it doesn't matter how happy you are. Like, let's say, for example, you're 10 out of 10 happy on a normal day, but one day you're 9 out of 10 happy. For most people, being 9 out of 10 happy is like amazing, right? You're really crushing in life. But for the person who's used to being 10 out of 10 happy, 9 out of 10 happy just feels like there's something missing, right? Because again, it's all relative. So with that, you are going to have your top 10% of days and your top 10% of weeks, years. Okay. And then you're going to have your bottom 10%. And this is just going to happen. It doesn't matter how good you are. If you're Elon Musk and you're making $100 billion per year or whatever, however fucking much money he makes, he's going to still have a top 10% of like days he's earning and working in the bottom 10%. It doesn't matter what level you're at. This is just going to be the case. So what we need to focus on is for the top. Okay, how do we systematize that to make sure our bottom doesn't dip below? And when we notice we are dipping, we get back up as quick as possible. Okay, so just understanding that. And the whole reason why I really wanted to make this video, and because I feel like I do run into this quite a bit with people I'm helping, but there is a person that I was on a one-on-one with earlier this week And he was explaining to me about like how he was in a sales slump, like before, like the week before, like he was just smacking back deals. But then this week, like it completely dipped. And just understanding the law of averages, yeah, you got a top 10% and bottom 10%. We had to take a look at, again, how do we systematize the top and then make sure we raise the bottom? And this is how we're going to do it. The very first thing that we need to understand when we're talking about the slump protocol, so we need to go ahead and separate. Okay, so when you're talking about being in a slump, your numbers are down. Is it you or is it the team? So if you're on a team and the entire team sales crash, you're not in a sales slump, right? You know what I mean? Like there's something broken with the offer, with the sales, whatever it is, and that needs to be fixed. You don't take that on personally. Real key example. One of the people I'm training, on average, they close about $200K per week. This past week they closed $84,000 in cash. Okay. So I'm like, dude, what's going on? What's happening? Why are you in a sales slump? But then he explained to me, it's like, oh, their marketing is down. Like, basically, like, their, their ad platform, like, they got kicked off of it. So then that week, like, everything dipped. And then what he had done and what we're planning out right now is like, hey, how do we kick up referrals and all these other things to just make sure we can make up for it on the back end? So you have to understand, are my numbers down or is everyone's numbers down? If everyone's numbers down, it's like, okay, you need to fix what the actual problem is, right? If everyone's show rate shit, everyone's close rate shit, like there is a deeper problem there. But if it's only you, it's like, okay, now this is a personal issue that we need to actually address personally, right? Like, that's what it makes sense. Okay. So then when we go to L, let's say it actually is us. Once we understand that actually is us, we need to go to lifestyle audit. So understand, generally speaking, when we're having those bottom 10% days, weeks, months, generally speaking, something has changed. Like, what changed? I know for me personally, if I look back at any type of sales slump that I've been through where I'm just like, I'm not closing deals, whatever it is, I'm just not able to connect. Oftentimes I stop doing something that I'm just used to doing, either like going out, getting sun, Right? For me, getting sun— like, dude, I'm white, I need it, right? Okay, like getting sun, getting good sleep, like just the basics, taking care of your biology. Also, are there different things that you're taking in, right, in terms of mental diet? For me personally, if I'm sitting there and I'm like scrolling on X, right, I have X blocked on everything, I cannot get on it even if I wanted to. But if I'm scrolling on there and like, and I get into like, uh, the political stuff or different things like that, like I'm a pretty argumentative person. I like that stuff. I like the arguments. I like the fight, right? Like, so I like sales so much. But I notice when I'm putting so much focus into that, I don't show up on my calls as good. I don't show up work that well, right? So I notice for me, I need to eliminate those because those things do not help me overall. And for you, it's going to depend on what really— what your vices are and what takes you away from what you need to be doing in terms of your confidence, your authority, like what's actually changed from your normal weeks? Is there anything you can pinpoint that there's been a deviation? For example, in the person I talked earlier this week, he's in a B2B offer and the B2B offer told him like, basically, we need you sending out like twice as many proposals. And he's a very, very detail-oriented guy and he takes like an hour, 2 hours for each proposal. And like, that's why he's actually able to close deals because he's so detail-oriented and we're really dialing things in. And then this workload hike. Now he's— he was skipping lunch, working late, having anxiety, and not being able to fucking sleep. Yeah, of course we're in a sales slump at that point, right? So then it's like we need to be able to pinpoint that stuff. Okay, then once we understand, hey, what changed in terms of my lifestyle, what I'm doing, maybe even potentially like, is there a certain type of lead? Like, what actually changed? Once we understand like what changed, okay, we need to uncover the peak. So this is you uncover the peak. So if right now you're in a sales slump, then that means you're performing worse than what you normally perform. So what you need to do is you need to look like what are we— we know we're now in a bottom 10%. Okay. We need to look at like the top our top 10%. Like, what were we actually doing then? And this is why it's good to like journal or like really at least have an understanding and like really run by your calendar. So that way, like when you have like a really great week, you can look at, okay, what did I actually do this week? Was there anything like I did differently? And dude, you'd be so surprised. Like, just maybe like I know for me there's like one week where I was listening to a certain audiobook right? And I'm like, dude, I feel good, you know what I mean? I'm just listening to this audiobook. And then I realized that and like for a year straight I listened to this thing, right? I wanted to ride the wave. Eventually it kind of wore off like its luster. But you just got to understand, like, okay, what allows you to feel the best going into calls? What allows you to feel the best in terms of like your confidence, your authority, your sales skills? I know for a lot of people, I know for me, if I'm not watching like training constantly and like really getting in the mentality, the mindset of like being on calls, I'll start to dip a little bit. So I notice that again, that comes back to our mental diet. So we just need to be aware of this, like what on my good weeks or my good months or when I really knocked it out of the park, what was I actually doing? And then once we understand what we're actually doing, how do we systematize that as much as humanly possible in terms of what you listen to, what you watch, what you focus on, even your downtime. Right? Like, you need downtime as well. And again, if somebody says— and somebody tells you, like, no, you have to follow this exact protocol every single time, it's like, yes, some protocols will work more in general for the most amount of people versus others, but the only protocol that's going to work for you is a protocol that has been tried and true and tested and you actually know works for you. Because, like, what works for me might not work for you exactly. I can tell you what my routine looks like, how it's structured and what makes me feel good. But maybe listening to certain things you don't give a fuck about, right? Like you don't care about it. Or maybe it's like, hey, you don't need that much time. Or it's like, hey, I don't really need that much family time. Like, who knows? Who knows like your situation? So you got to understand like, okay, what's allowed me in the past to perform well? That's a pretty good indication that in the future, if we do it again, we're going to perform better. So next, after we uncover our peak, we go into the M. Okay, so this is we need to match our calls. So again, you should have a bottom 10% of calls and then a top 10% of sales calls. Okay, so sales calls where like you crushed should be playing on repeat, like in the morning, especially before you're hopping on calls. If you have a little free time in between calls, right, and you don't have time to do follow-ups or anything along those lines, like listening to calls where you crushed it. Now, why does this work? Few things. Number one, right? When you're in a sales slump, you start questioning life. You're like, dude, am I even good at sales? Right? Should I, should I pack up my bags? You know what I mean? Like, I'm going to be homeless soon, but I'll start closing. Watching back your own calls where like, dude, you knocked that out of the park. Like, you got to remind yourself, like, hey, I'm good at sales. And I don't care, like, what level you get to. Like having that reminder of like, yeah, I'm at this level for a reason. I close. I know what I'm doing. Getting that reminder really helps reinforce it. It reinforces it in your mind. And what you need to be looking at on these calls is how did you show up? What's your energy like? Okay. I'm sure if you review your calls right now, if you're in a sales slump versus then, dude, the energy is wildly different, right? It's like, yes, we want to review like the calls that are doing bad, But once we review the calls that we did bad, we take our notes of like what we need to improve and then we burn those fucking calls. But these good calls, we want to have them on repeat. So you want to look at your energy. How are you showing up next? What are the type of questions that you're asking? What is the tone? How are you asking it? Okay. Is there anything like you're doing differently? Okay. And then from there, like the objection handling, whatever it is, like the conviction you're speaking, you just need to have a good understanding. Like, what did you do differently? And then just remind yourself, like, hey, I'm actually good at sales. And that reminder should be something you're doing most every single morning. Okay. So with that too, once we're actually like reviewing good calls, then we have P, which is pivot your focus. So generally speaking, what will happen when we are in a sales slump our focus, which is what we choose to look at, what we choose to put our attention on, is going to be, you know, did it close or did it not close? Like, did the call close or did the call not close? And on some level, this is outside of our control, the call closing, not closing. And because it's outside of our control, We— that shouldn't be our main focus. Yes, we're in sales to make money. Yes, we're in sales to close deals. But if you talk to 10 homeless people in a row that have missing teeth, they're under a bridge and they have no money, and you do not close those 10 people in a row, are you now bad at sales? Like, no, you're not bad at sales. On the opposite end, if you talk to 10 billionaires that are in an immense amount of pain and they have unlimited pockets and you sell all of them, are you now great at sales? It's like, no, probably not, right? Like, it's somewhere in the middle. So what we need to be focusing on— not did it close, did it not close— because some of that's just going to be outside of your control. What is in our control is, is it a good call versus like not good call? Like, did we have a good conversation or not good conversation? Now, your definition of a good call and not good call should be changing over time because we should be upskilling what we're doing. But with the skill set you have now, there is an example of your top 10%, like you having a good conversation and your bottom 10%, you not having a good conversation. And it doesn't have anything to do with if they closed or not. If you had a really good conversation and you got somebody right on the edge, right, and they're about to pull the trigger and then they did like they fucking hung up, right? I would rather you review that call versus like it was just a lay down. You went through the motions and they bought, right? Like You showing up to the other call and actually doing what was required and pushing that guy to the limit is much more of an actual good thing to review versus, you know, just fucking showing up and taking payment like you had the skill set of McDonald's worker. At that point, you're just, you know, order taker. And really what you also need to be thinking about when we're talking about good and not good is like effort. So did you actually give your all? Did you actually do the things you needed to do? Did you put in the effort required to have a good conversation? If the answer is yes, like, fantastic, high fives all around. But a lot of times when I review calls, especially if somebody is in like a sales slump, their effort is one of the first things to go. They stop caring as much. They stop putting as much effort into it. So the effort should never be something that we really pull back on. And if we put effort and focus into the right things, having a good call, then that's how we don't come across as desperate. What can happen is we'll put effort into, well, can it close or can it not close? And that's going to come across as desperate. Okay. So that's what we need to go ahead and do. So that is the protocol. Now, how do we make sure that we raise our top 10% and we raise our bottom 10%? We just get better overall. I would say a real, real easy thing you can do. Yes. Watching videos like this. I like to think these videos are helpful, hopefully. But a really good habit that we need to get into, we're going to tie it back, is reviewing good calls every day. Okay. And then at least, at least if you could do more, do more. But 3 to 5. Okay. Calls that didn't close. Okay. Per week. Now with the good calls, again, we want to have those on repeat. And if we're focusing and we're doing what we should be doing and we're upskilling, those calls are only going to get better and we want to be replacing those with better calls as often as possible, right? So that way you just have a fucking Rolodex of just sweet, sweet deals. With the 3 to 5 calls that didn't close per week, we also still want to be looking at calls that didn't do too well so we can notice like what were maybe some of the bad habits that we fell into. Now, when reviewing those bad calls, here's what we're not going to do. We're not going to harp on the fact that we fucked up on a call. Nobody closes 100%. Okay, well, somebody tells you that. They're lying. So nobody closes 100%. It doesn't matter what sales call, like even sales calls I'll take, like there's always little things like I can improve on. And the perfect sales call is something that does not exist. It's something we're all chasing. And there's a beauty in that, right? So understand that. So it's purely if we treat it more like a game just to get better so we don't have as much of an attachment to it. And then after we go ahead and we do a review, we sit down and we review those calls. We write down what we need to work on, and then you fucking burn those bad calls and you never think about them ever again. The issue is the issue. Your brain doesn't know the difference between like it actually happening right, right now, or it's just something that happened in the past. So if you had something like you constantly, you only review your bad calls in your brain, like you get so many more bad calls or so many more missed sales than what you actually do. On the other end, if you review your good calls and the calls that actually close a lot more, right? Again, let's trick our brain, right? Like we got some things we can really brainwash ourselves and we'll, we'll fool ourselves into believing like, hey, we actually close a lot more than what we do, which again will help with your confidence, will help with your authority. Okay. So that is how we go ahead and we break out of the slump. Just for a quick quick recap. So the first thing we're going to do, we need to separate. Is it us or is it the team? Number 2, we need a lifestyle audit. What changed over the past, like, week, 2 weeks, whatever, however long we've been in a sales slump? Okay, you uncover the peak when we did have those killer weeks, those killer months, like what we're actually doing, systematize it as much as possible, right? Once we understand what we're doing, we plug in, we just start doing it, right? Don't ask questions, just do. Okay, M, match your calls. Listen to the sales calls where you fucking crush it and just have that on repeat. Okay. And then P, pivot your focus. Focus on not did it close, did it not close. We're going to focus on was it a good call? Was it not a good call? So hopefully this has been helpful. And again, if you get a slump, remember slump and fucking crush it and then start making some more sales. If this was helpful, leave your biggest takeaway in the comments, like, subscribe, all that fun stuff. I'll see you guys next time.