The current economic climate is going… to coin a phrase… sort out the men from the boys… or the women from the girls.

Those sales reps that, in a buoyant market, have a poor sales record will be down and out in this current climate. Those with a mediocre sales record will look rather poor in this current environment and will equally be down and out if the economy gets significantly worse. However, the good will look even better.

So what’s the evidence?

Let me see… we are in an economic melt down that has seen the flow of money in the economy reduce to a trickle… the banks are wary of lending to each other… consumer spending is being reined back and the profile of the spending is changing… consumers are dumbing down and even stopping the more frivolous purchases. The housing market has stagnated and the values have plummeted… lower house prices have removed the piggy banks from many households… many used to borrow against the increase in house prices to fund their lifestyles.

When consumer spending stops every business will eventually feel it. Look at the drop in the price of oil… consumer demand is down… leading to a reduction in manufacturing output… therefore demand for energy is down… oil price falls… oil company revenues fall.

So, without writing an economic paper the upshot of all this is that companies are going to conserve their cash. Many will still spend, they will spend less and they are going to be a lot more careful. The business case is going to have to be bullet proof. The risk of buying has to be reduced to marginal levels. Trust in the supplier will have to rise to unprecedented levels. The ‘walking talking brochures’ are not going to be able to cope. The good guys will know what to do and will up their game.

If you are a sales rep… there has never been a more important time in your career to differentiate yourself… and you do that by the way that you sell… in fact stop selling rather help the customer to buy… this is the first step to differentiation.

If you are a walking talking brochure – start changing now, or head for the hills… you are on a rough ride to nowhere.

I’ll write more another day about the second step to differentiation.

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