The superstitious among us are not going to be happy with me for bringing this up, but I feel like it’s my duty to talk about sales slumps.

I dislike them. I try hard to avoid them, but they sometimes happen.

I met with a good friend this morning over coffee and a doughnut. She’s a respected sales professional and has amassed an impressive record over 20-plus years selling high-value products in a handful of different industries.

She told me she had been going through a mini sales slump this summer and had just shaken free of it.

“How did you beat it?” I asked.

The Way Out

As it turned out, she simply phoned her best friend, another longtime sales pro, and asked her for advice. They had an in-depth conversation. Friend-to-friend. Salesperson-to-salesperson. Two professionals helping each other be more successful. Two people who understand the challenges that come with selling goods and services for a living.

Actually, this phone conversation was really nothing new. These two sales pros have been helping each other for many years. They once worked for the same company, but now they sell entirely different products. But what they sell really doesn’t matter. To one another they are counselors, coaches and cheerleaders.

You could call them “sales accountability partners.”

What an Accountability Partner Can Do for You

Any professional working in any industry can benefit for having an accountability partner. In sales, a profession that requires you to work independently under heavy competitive pressure, these trusted confidants are particularly valuable.

Sales accountability partners lift you up when you need it and call you on the carpet when you haven’t accomplished what you said you would. An effective sales accountability partner sometimes plays the role of the supportive friend and other times acts like a results-oriented boss.

Do you have a sales accountability partner?

If not, it would be worth your while to find someone who understands what you do for a living. Often the best sales accountability partners come from a different company or an entirely different industry segment. The key is to find a high-quality person who can help you while simultaneously profiting from your advice.