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It must be true. It’s all over the news. The economy is in BIG trouble. Stocks, mortgages, banks, insurance companies, the Yankees. All falling or failing.

Falling from where? The biggest economic boom of all time? The biggest housing boom of all time? The easiest loan requirements of all time?

Business is not down; it’s different.For example, when you hear on the news that home sales are down 33 percent, it actually means that FIVE MILLION homes will be sold this year. The question is: Who will get that business? The media portray gloom when actually there’s still PLENTY of opportunity – just not as much as before.

Businesses are adjusting to current market conditions, and your company is no exception.

How’s business with you? Flat? Dipping a bit? When will it begin to get better?

In times like these, leaders must do what they believe is in the best long-term interest of the company. You can help by doing your best every day. Adjust to whatever decisions are made without reducing your level of service to your customers, your loyalty to your company and your fellow workers, and your effort or belief.

But cutting expenses or laying people off are not the only answers. The best answer is more sales – and more profit. This is where you can help.

Below are 8.5 critical elements in your ability to help your company and yourself in these times. These 8.5 elements, when combined and mastered, will gain more sales now and keep your customers loyal as economic conditions improve.

1. Ease of doing business with you. The availability of people and product. Have more Web offerings, easy access to more people, less voice mail, fewer automated attendants, more human-to-human contact and no excuses. Get me what I need when I need it.

2. Error-free order processing. When I get an invoice, the easier it is to understand and the more correct it is, the faster I pay it.

3. The quality of your relationships with customers. How strong are your relationships? Are they transactional or interpersonal?

4. Service excellence. You’d think this was a given, but often slower times mean slower service. Fewer people, more work. BIG mistake. BEST PRACTICE: Double service offerings.

5. Your attitude. The way you dedicate yourself to the way you think. If you can’t be positive for yourself, you can never be positive with and for others – both co-workers and customers.

6. Your belief. Belief in your company, your product, your service and yourself, AND belief that the customer is better off having purchased from you.

7. Your loyalty. The best way to get loyalty is to GIVE loyalty. In these times, giving won’t always breed receiving, but the seed is planted and the roots are deep when the economy rebounds.

8. Helping your customers whenever possible. Understand how they are hurting, and meet their needs as BEST you can. Offer to assist with anything from manual labor to unparalleled service – from brainstorming ideas with them to making connections for them.

8.5. Your extra mile. What are you doing above and beyond the ordinary? What are you doing to outsell, outserve and outvalue the competition?

If the economy is down, you have to be up. You have to be ready to help, ready to serve and ready to be your best. This will not only help others survive, it will also ensure that you thrive.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2008 Jeffrey H. Gitomer