Over The SlumpIs a sales slump ruining your business? Here's some advice to get you back on track.

If you think you've run into hard times setting up your homeoffice, wait until you hit your first sales slump. Nothing you dowill seem to work. Steady customers will find reasons not to buy.Reliable accounts will say they're reevaluating theirpurchasing decisions. Cold calls . . . forgetit.

Even more frustrating, the more you try, the worse things seemto get. Still, that doesn't mean you're helpless. There areany number of steps a person in a sales slump can take to get outof it--the first being to acknowledge its existence. Just as manypeople would rather ignore a pain than go to a doctor, salespeoplein slumps like to pretend everything's OK. Admitting you'rein a slump is hard on the ego and forces you to face the unpleasantfact that you're not doing very well.