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Selling in a Crisis: 55 Ways to Stay Motivated and Increase Sales in Volatile Times
In an economic downturn, you are going to have those days, weeks, and even months where everything will go wrong. But if you can look up, you can get up. The difference between those who fail in a crisis and those who survive and thrive is when they are knocked down, bruised, and battered, they refuse to stay down. The get back up, dust themselves off, and run headlong back into the game.
In times of crisis, sooner or later we are all going to experience, setbacks, defeat, adversity, failure, and even tragedy. No one is immune. And when it happens, it won't always be easy to maintain a positive attitude, keep your enthusiasm, or see the opportunity in your adversity. When it happens to you, there is a real possibility that you will become overwhelmed, you will feel self-pity, and you will cry out - "why me?" This happens because you are human. But you must find that little voice inside of you that demands that you, "look up, and get up."
In sales, activity is everything. You must be disciplined to manage your time and activity. In a crisis, it's unlikely that you will be consistently hitting your numbers, but you don't want anyone questioning your commitment to daily sales activity or your work ethic. If you are consistently achieving your activity targets, you will engage prospects, you will advance deals through your pipeline, you will close sales, and you will retain customers. Activity is measurable and tangible. When you consistently exceed your activity targets, people can see that you are working hard and a team player. Selling in a Crisis is an indispensable guide that teaches you how to thrive, how to become indispensable, how to turn off negative inputs, and much more.
In times of crisis, sooner or later we are all going to experience, setbacks, defeat, adversity, failure, and even tragedy. No one is immune. And when it happens, it won't always be easy to maintain a positive attitude, keep your enthusiasm, or see the opportunity in your adversity. When it happens to you, there is a real possibility that you will become overwhelmed, you will feel self-pity, and you will cry out - "why me?" This happens because you are human. But you must find that little voice inside of you that demands that you, "look up, and get up."
In sales, activity is everything. You must be disciplined to manage your time and activity. In a crisis, it's unlikely that you will be consistently hitting your numbers, but you don't want anyone questioning your commitment to daily sales activity or your work ethic. If you are consistently achieving your activity targets, you will engage prospects, you will advance deals through your pipeline, you will close sales, and you will retain customers. Activity is measurable and tangible. When you consistently exceed your activity targets, people can see that you are working hard and a team player. Selling in a Crisis is an indispensable guide that teaches you how to thrive, how to become indispensable, how to turn off negative inputs, and much more.
207 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 18, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 9, 2026
Parsed the Blinkist version while on a time crunch, and it was as informative as shorthand notes get. But the neurotic in me couldn't let that be all.
Final verdict — it's worth the entire read. As the title suggests, it's positioned to help one survive tough sales seasons. Blount isn't dishing out radically novel strategies, but rather explaining why we ought to keep best practices top of mind when it's easy to succumb to external pressures. The book glorifies hustle culture — naturally so, he's American —, but most of his advice aims to help you do (and make) more with less.
Takeaways & reflections:
30-Day Rule: The prospecting you do in a 30-day period will pay off for the entire quarter. Regardless of the timeline or bandwidth one's working with, scale it down to a 1:3 ratio by default.
Stop spreading your pipeline so thin. Yes, take that meeting, but trust your instinct and acumen — the opportunity cost of selling ice to an Eskimo just oftentimes isn't worth it. It's a cheap thrill with low ROI. Like everything else, make sustainability the front and centre of your prospecting mantra. A former SVP recently revealed that if one were to pay enough attention, you'd realise that ~70% of your revenue comes from 30% of your client portfolio. Be merciful on yourself and don't drag those lukewarm meetings out — it's just paaainful.
Best practices: Always go back to the basics and ensure they are rock solid, especially in crisis mode. Double down on quality instead of quantity. Volatile times make for tighter purse strings. You can't just cast a wide net. Invest the time and make it a crème de la crème funnel that converts. Proper evaluation of prospects is key here — build a profile of the whos, whys, and whats to pitch from their POV, as opposed to pushing an entire suite of products and praying it takes.
Client retention: Identify pain points of client usage (to upsell), products and services (to tailor for expansion), and competitor threats ahead of renewal talks to dismantle concerns and highlight strengths. Pitch from their POV. Be a sales challenger and thought partner. Again and always.
People retention. The key to surviving in one piece. Preach, model, and exemplify the best practices you want on the floor. Never approach 1:1s or dev. meetings as perfunctory — there's always a meaningful agenda topic, and it need not always be that deep. And refrain from reschedules, at risk of others feeling dispensable.
Delegate, delegate, and delegate. It increases autonomy, accountability, and competence. Loosen the reins with discretion. Future you will thank yourself.
Business needs demand that you single out performers on extreme ends, but as experience has taught you time and again, the manner of delivery changes everything. Take a beat before blind instructional execution.
Don't gloss over camaraderie — it's the thing that keeps the engine running in dire times. Build it substantially before you need to leverage it. Your chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Ruthless prioritisation: Its lack thereof will make or break your target, bottom line, and commission. This also extends downwards to your team, so consciously verbalise your priorities, which thereby rallies the team to emulate that behaviour, allowing course correction in real time instead of waiting until scheduled check-ins.
Final verdict — it's worth the entire read. As the title suggests, it's positioned to help one survive tough sales seasons. Blount isn't dishing out radically novel strategies, but rather explaining why we ought to keep best practices top of mind when it's easy to succumb to external pressures. The book glorifies hustle culture — naturally so, he's American —, but most of his advice aims to help you do (and make) more with less.
Takeaways & reflections:
30-Day Rule: The prospecting you do in a 30-day period will pay off for the entire quarter. Regardless of the timeline or bandwidth one's working with, scale it down to a 1:3 ratio by default.
Stop spreading your pipeline so thin. Yes, take that meeting, but trust your instinct and acumen — the opportunity cost of selling ice to an Eskimo just oftentimes isn't worth it. It's a cheap thrill with low ROI. Like everything else, make sustainability the front and centre of your prospecting mantra. A former SVP recently revealed that if one were to pay enough attention, you'd realise that ~70% of your revenue comes from 30% of your client portfolio. Be merciful on yourself and don't drag those lukewarm meetings out — it's just paaainful.
Best practices: Always go back to the basics and ensure they are rock solid, especially in crisis mode. Double down on quality instead of quantity. Volatile times make for tighter purse strings. You can't just cast a wide net. Invest the time and make it a crème de la crème funnel that converts. Proper evaluation of prospects is key here — build a profile of the whos, whys, and whats to pitch from their POV, as opposed to pushing an entire suite of products and praying it takes.
Client retention: Identify pain points of client usage (to upsell), products and services (to tailor for expansion), and competitor threats ahead of renewal talks to dismantle concerns and highlight strengths. Pitch from their POV. Be a sales challenger and thought partner. Again and always.
People retention. The key to surviving in one piece. Preach, model, and exemplify the best practices you want on the floor. Never approach 1:1s or dev. meetings as perfunctory — there's always a meaningful agenda topic, and it need not always be that deep. And refrain from reschedules, at risk of others feeling dispensable.
Delegate, delegate, and delegate. It increases autonomy, accountability, and competence. Loosen the reins with discretion. Future you will thank yourself.
Business needs demand that you single out performers on extreme ends, but as experience has taught you time and again, the manner of delivery changes everything. Take a beat before blind instructional execution.
Don't gloss over camaraderie — it's the thing that keeps the engine running in dire times. Build it substantially before you need to leverage it. Your chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Ruthless prioritisation: Its lack thereof will make or break your target, bottom line, and commission. This also extends downwards to your team, so consciously verbalise your priorities, which thereby rallies the team to emulate that behaviour, allowing course correction in real time instead of waiting until scheduled check-ins.
January 9, 2024
First finished book of 2024 was for business. Great book. Very easy, quick read (finished in two days). Takes you back to the basics of selling. I wrote down 35 take-away that stuck with me through this book. Some very basic (but a good reminder) and others with more depth. I highly recommend this book for anyone in the world of selling or business development. Sometimes it’s good to get back to the basics.
… And yes, if you’re unaware, 2024 is considered to be a crisis year in commercial real estate. 🫠
… And yes, if you’re unaware, 2024 is considered to be a crisis year in commercial real estate. 🫠
September 26, 2023
I’m a huge Jeb Blount fanboy. This book has gotten me very fired up about building pipeline, not complaining when conditions are tough and trying to be the top rep. Great book to have on your desk so you can reference if you’re ever feeling demotivated!
March 17, 2023
If you are in any type of sales this is the perfect book for you in this shifting economy. My team leader recommended it for our book club and I am glad I read it. Very insightful on what you need to do to get by and not lose market share in this volatile market.
January 1, 2023
Selling In a Crisis
Genius. Great reminder through seasons.
Looking forward to the next read from Jeb.
My library is great reference in my career.
Jeff Edwards
Genius. Great reminder through seasons.
Looking forward to the next read from Jeb.
My library is great reference in my career.
Jeff Edwards
January 17, 2023
The best…
One of the best sales books I’ve ever read that hits the mark especially in this day and economic times. Wow! Quick and pointed read. Thank you Jeb! Thank you!
One of the best sales books I’ve ever read that hits the mark especially in this day and economic times. Wow! Quick and pointed read. Thank you Jeb! Thank you!
March 1, 2023
One sentence summary: Get back to basics, focus on discovery and qualify throughout.
July 16, 2023
Another one of his opportunistic cash grabs during the pandemic.
April 7, 2024
Sales hype. Make cold calls.
November 22, 2024
It pretty much covers sales fundamentals that we may sometimes lose sight of. Very short and succinct.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews