If you’re a growing business owner or a salesperson, you may well be wondering: Who’s going to bail me out of this recession? The answer, of course, is no one. Not the government, not the new president, not your customers. You must use smart, effective sales techniques to bail yourself out, says George Ludwig, author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code. “We must participate in our own rescue by not giving up, by refusing to use the slow economy as an excuse for poor performance, by staying in front of our customers, and by continuing to use proven best practices to reach sales success,” he notes.

So what are some successful sales techniques you can use to orchestrate your own rescue plan? Here are five to consider:

1. Put the economy in perspective. The economy is down, but it’s down from the biggest economic boom of all time. That just means the low-hanging fruit of two years ago is a little higher in the tree. There’s still business in the marketplace — just not as much as a couple of years ago. Although you’ll need to rely on more aggressive sales techniques than ever before, sales opportunities are still available.

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2. Replay the crises that you’ve overcome in the past. Virtually every person and business has conquered at least one crisis. Now’s a good time to reflect on how you came through past crises and found yourself stronger. Remind yourself that tough times never last, but tough people do.

3. Keep training to get better. If there’s ever a time to keep getting better at what you do, it’s during a down economy. Continuously learning and improving is the only way to be more effective and efficient and ensure you are doing everything in your power to out-do your competitors. Start reading a sales book during your lunch break, attend a public sales seminar, or take advantage of training as soon as possible.

4. Step up your high-impact sales activity. Recent research confirms salespeople on average spend only 90 minutes per day in high-impact selling activities. That’s a death rattle in a tough economy. Everyone must prioritize their time and make sure they schedule quality high-impact selling time every day and become more efficient in executing all the other tasks they have to perform.

5. Take the modeling-for-success shortcut. One other fundamental for achieving success rapidly in tough and uncertain times is to find a mentor, coach, or colleague who’s achieving the outcomes you desire and model that person’s approach. Or find peers who have experience overcoming past economic crises and ask them what strategies they plan to employ. Spend time with these people so that you can observe the skill sets necessary to achieve success.

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