I read this article by Dave Brock on The Customer Collective a few days ago. Since then, I've heard the President's address and a daily dose of bad news from my TV, Rush and Glen. As a sales professional, I don't want to ignore the facts. I need to help my customers navigate this storm and the storm is real.

I do love the idea of not using the economy as an excuse. I thought I'd share the approach a sales leader shared with me last week. He told his team at the beginning of the year that they "would not be participating in the recession". From there, they set up a plan to succeed and they are exceeding their growth goals. They faced the reality that they would lose some business as some of their customers actually went out of business. They expected that to happen and made a plan to make up for those losses in other areas. I like the approach of facing reality, executing a plan for that reality and "not participating in the recession".

Try this on your team!