We are in the middle of some difficult times. Rather than belabor that point, I’d like to come to the heart of the problem: What do we do? We need to answer that question in an immediate, urgent basis: What do we do right now?
In an earlier article, I shared some suggestions to help individuals navigate these turbulent waters. In this article, I’m focusing on sales forces. So, this is specifically written to owners, CEOs, Chief Sales Officers and other sales leaders.
A Mile-High View
Before I offer some recommendations, let’s take a bit of a mile-high view. We have been here before. As a nation, as individuals, and every level of society in between, this level of confusion and anxiety is not new.
Now, it may be new for you. Depending on your age, this may be your first encounter with life that hasn’t gone according to your plan.
But it certainly isn’t unique for many of us.
We have lived through the oil embargo in the 70s; Jimmy Carter’s malaise and inflation in the teens; the 911 attacks and the resulting tailspin in the economy; the dot com crises, and the 2008 real estate crisis. I’ve seen my business so devastated that I had to tell my staff that I could no longer make payroll.
But I don’t just draw from my experience in my business. As a sales consultant, I have personally and contractually worked with over 500 companies. Their sizes ranged from under $1 Million in annual sales to over $8 Billion – all B2B sellers of some kind.
In all of this, I have learned some lessons and gained some wisdom that may be helpful to you.
I like to think of it as two issues: Shoring up and gearing up.
1. Shore Things up for Immediate Survival
It may be that you don’t need to worry, because of the happy coincidence of being in the right place at the right time. One of my clients sells meat to grocery stores, for example. The demand has spiked as people are not going to restaurants and are cooking at home. He’s had to put his customers on allocation.
However, most of you are likely to be dealing with customers who won’t or can’t see your salespeople, customers who may be teetering on the edge of insolvency, and a pervasive climate of uncertainty and anxiety.
Three recommendations:
Bring the troops inside.
Your salespeople are probably frustrated with their inability to see their customers. Now is the time to direct them and enable them to work inside – probably from their home.
You’ll need to invest a little bit in equipment and software and provide them some minimal training. Once they become acclimated, they should be productive and much more positive. They, and you, will gain a competency that will separate you from the competition, and pay off long-term as well as short-term. You may want to check out our video: How to Sell to Customers When You Can’t Visit Them: Using Technology to Sell Better Remotely.
Install some new management routines.
If you haven’t already, now is the time to install a weekly one-on-one conference between your salespeople and your sales management. The conference should focus on this week’s plans and last week’s progress. Your salespeople are doing something new and will need some high-touch encouragement.
Also, when there is a crisis in the environment, they are far more amenable to change than when things are going according to plan. This is a great time to install some of those management best practices they may have been resistant to before.
If and when they return to outside selling, you can push the weekly conferences to monthly. But for now, the weekly touch can be very effective.
As a side note, you may want to check on their activity from time to time. They should be making their calls via a phone system (not their cell phones) and/or a video platform like Zoom or Skype. You’ll want to have the capability to monitor their activity.
It may seem a little bit like ‘Big Brother.’ But, without exception, every time that I have worked with a client who implemented some kind of activity monitoring, the results were always eye-opening.
You Must be a calm, rational model.
They are all looking for leadership from someone. You are the most likely candidate. Your attitude, your demeanor, and the words you share will go a long way to reassuring people who are anxious and fearful.
