By Todd Duncan

Everything changes, all the time. Therefore, to overcome the fatal mistake of stagnating, so must you.

To avoid the stink of a stagnant sales career, you must learn to grow with change. In other words, you must learn to keep a finger on the pulse of the market (something we hear quite often) and on the pulse of your clients’ needs and values, the pulse of your product or serv­ice, and your own pulse. It’s a good thing you have so many fingers.

Over the next four weeks, I want to show you how to do away with stagnating and how to use an anti-stagnation strategy to ensure that you remain on top of your selling game now and in the years to come. Here is the first step that you must take in order to remain apprised of the constant changes in your sales industry and retain a lead on your selling competition:

STUDY YOUR PRODUCT LIKE A CONSUMER.

There are so many product and service choices for consumers these days that there is now an entire industry dedicated to helping consumers make the right choices. There are Fodor’s travel guides, Zagat’s restaurant guides, the Robb Report for your expensive choices, and Consumer Reports and Consumer Digest to help you with just about every other product or service choice under the sun.

Of course, there are also the “top tens” of numerous other products or services every year in a number of popular magazines. All are dedicated to helping consumers make the perfect choice. And if you are to maintain a selling edge with your product, you must know what the consumer world is saying. Find the magazines, news­letters, websites, and books that provide surveys and guides about your partic­ular type of product.

Take a look at what they are telling your customers to buy. Read about the trends that are predicted for your product. Then do some shopping to determine how your competi­tors are positioning your product.

All these things will help you empathize with your customers’ wants and needs, and they will also help you constantly position your product in a unique, relevant manner. And that’s the point. Don’t fill your head with quality research and then waste it. Use it to position your product in such a way that pleasantly surprises your customers every year.

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