A recession creates unique conditions for you -- really clarifying where problems lie and amplifying the impact any actions or interventions you make.  And any changes you make during a recession set the stage for even better performance during a recovery.  Consider these four key leverage points for improving sales:

1. TALENT: A recession exposes the winners and the non-winners in your team that good times hide

Use it to weed out mediocre talent and upgrade your team
• Grow your team with star talent from competitors
• If budgets are too tight, upgrade by replacing the bottom quartile

2. COMPENSATION: A recession is a great time to link your comp program even more heavily to performance – this change has maximum impact and visibility in a downturn. 

Use comp as a strategic tool to motivate your winners and improve your team.  Three compensation tactics that can improve results in a recession:
• Skew structure more toward rewarding performers (retains only the best) 
• Raise the level with special incentives (rewards extra effort)
• Use performance-based comp to raid the teams of sleeping competitors

Remember: Great reps are have supernatural powers; finding and keeping them pays off big!

3. SALES PROCESS: A recession exposes a bad sales process because there are fewer new prospects to hide process mistakes and the team is more motivated to change.

Use it as an opportunity to eliminate the distraction of poorly qualified prospects.  And improve your sales process by asking questions like:
• Do reps get a sufficient supply of leads?  (Keeps team objective on funnel quality)
• Are you penetrating at the right level?  (Helps pry budget loose, qualify quickly)
• Are sales calls well executed - do they advance prospects toward a close?
• Is the funnel tightly managed to focus on prospects that will buy? (Be harsh!)

4. MANAGEMENT ROLE IN SALES: A recession makes the management team more receptive to change; people know it’s all hands on deck. 

Use it as an opportunity to improve your management team’s support of sales:
• A downturn is the best time to establish a no-excuses culture. 
• Streamline your sales operations processes. 
• Revisit your allocation of resources – time to emphasize different products?
• Increase the engagement of the CEO with the sales team and customers.
• Fully leverage the management team in creating new and deeper relationships. 

So what are the reasons companies miss these opportunities to substantially improve results? Primarily I've found that they:
• Worry about changing staff (layoffs hurt, hiring is hard)
• Believe the learning curve is longer than it is
• Are prone to accept excuses – the economy, product, competitor actions – to explain away results
• Focus on cutting; don’t want to spend…even for performance!
• Or they take action – but they do more of the same (work harder! faster!)

So ask yourself these questions during this downturn:
• Am I really satisfied with my sales?  Or am I making excuses for poor performance?
• Am I willing to do what it takes to fix my issues? Or am I happy with incremental sales?
• Am I willing to invest the time and money to make the needed changes? Or am I going to cut my way to growth?

(Disclosure:  These notes were part of a presentation that was made today at an offsite for Lore Systems customers by my consulting partner, Chris Bolster, and me.  Our business, Ascend Sales Partners is helping progressive companies create winning sales teams, effective sales compensation programs, and powerful sales process in a no-excuses sales environment).