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It’s Only Common Sense: Not Making Sales? There’s an Excuse for That

Friends, let’s gather ‘round and just feel a little sorry for ourselves. Sales is a hard business and lately it hasn’t been going so well.

Now, as I always say, great salespeople find a way to succeed. They take advantage of weaker competitors who are busy coming up with creative but mostly fictional reasons for not making their sales—tantamount to not doing their job. Successful salespeople use their substantial creative juices to find innovative ways to sell successfully in all conditions. They keep their heads about them and show grace under pressure.

But enough about them. I’ve come up with a list of 20 reasons (excuses, in my book) for why you’re not getting sales. I wonder if any of these sound familiar?

1. News reports say the economy is down and we’re headed for a recession. Everyone is scared to buy my products.
2. The war in Ukraine has caused a major slowdown, and it’s affecting the way my customers buy from me.
3. China is threatening Taiwan, so I’m unable to make my forecast.
4. With the Democrats in power, all defense contracts are on hold. When the Republicans regain control, the Department of Defense (DoD) will get contracts started.
5. With the Republicans in power, all defense contracts are on hold. When the Democrats regain control, the DoD will get contracts started.
6. No one will buy anything until the election is over.
7. Now that the election is over, everyone is in wait-and-see mode, so no one is buying anything.
8. Many companies are still not open post-COVID, so I can’t sell to customers in person.
9. The “granola eaters” won’t allow oil exploration, and it’s holding up business.
10. The shipping industry is all screwed up; nobody is unloading the ships, so no one is buying anything.
11. Millennials don’t do business like before, so I can’t sell to them.
12. The groundhog didn’t see his shadow, so that means three more months of lousy sales.
13. People are taking too many vacations. The Fourth of July practically shuts down the whole country for the entire month.
14. People don’t want to work anymore. The government gave them too much money and now they just stay home.
15. The Chinese government supports its own their industry, so we don’t stand a chance in there.
16. Our competitors are giving away their products. All I can do is wait for them to go out of business before I bother visiting that customer again.
17. The other day I read in The Wall Street Journal, or maybe it was Mad Magazine, that the Chinese are using up all the world’s concrete. It is affecting all aspects of the economy, and that’s why I can’t see my customer right now.
18. If I can’t take my customer on a golf outing, I don’t stand a chance of making my forecast this month.
19. Greedy entrepreneurs are cutting down trees in the 60,000-acre rainforest every day and it’s really messing up my ability to make my forecast.
20. Last month in the Amazon, a butterfly flapped its wings. No chance of making my monthly forecast now.

Now, some of these might have sounded a little familiar, while I definitely took some liberties with others. But you get the idea, right? We have made it through world wars, recessions, and a pandemic. Throughout all these challenges, the cream of the crop—namely, the best—always find a way to rise and stay on top.

When I hear excuses, my mind goes to Bill Murray in the movie, “Meatballs”: “It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter …”

Times are tough and that’s part of life. There will always be some reason why you can’t make sales, but that has nothing to do with how well you do your job. That’s up to you, regardless of what’s going on in the world.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.