There used to be a Public Service Video of how to spot somebody drowning.
It was "tongue in check" with people standing by the sea, waving back at this man who was clearly drowning and therefore waving his arms.
These onlookers said "oh look he's waving at us" "oh look, he's shouting at us". "Wave back, they said".
Watching the world of sales and marketing in a covid_19 world, it's a bit like watching somebody drown.
Let's rewind to January of this year
A friend of mine is a BDR (Business Development Rep) for a "super duper" start-up.
Things were going well until Covid19 struck. What do I mean?
My friend is a cold caller, but he left his cold calling role as, he couldn't see a future in cold calling. It was more and more difficult to get through to people and he got more and more people telling him to "go away". The iOS13 functionality was the final strew, he said he spent his day leaving voicemails, that people never returned. In the end he said, it became like the film "Boiler Room".
While he is happy making cold calls in this new role, they have found that the best way to get through to people are emails. Not marketing automation emails where you carpet bomb people and pray. He's has been writing, targeted emails. He sells to the CFO (Chief Finance Officer). (He would never get through to a CFO on the phone.)
As you can imagine, it's a number game, you send so many emails and pray.
The Covid_19 came along.
Now nothing works.
So Management have them doing everything "how many calls have you made?", "How many emails have you sent?" and "What Have you posted on social?" Thrashing around, like somebody drowning.
This is the sign of a business with no direction, no leadership and no idea. Hoping, just hoping that something will work. If you throw enough shit at the wall, something will stick, right?
The problem is, hope was never a strategy.
In fact, it's just like the public safety video of the person drowning. Thrashing around, hoping that their foot will touch the bottom, or they will suddenly start being able to swim.
Sales and marketing Leaders you need a strategy and you need one quick otherwise you will burn through your cash.
We know that nobody will go to a conference in 2020, petri-dishes I've heard them called. Like my friend as found out cold calling is at the end of its life cycle. It worked, but it's over. The same with email.
You have to generate business somehow.
We all know that social media has changed the world, this article from Simon Kemp points out that there are 3.81 Billion people now on social media.
You will have heard of social selling, you may have even tried it, but have you tried a social selling methodology?
Our program is not a "masterclass", how many of these have you attended and then gone back to your desk and didn't implement anything you have been taught.
Our program, provides your sales team with the change management techniques so you as a leader get the mindset change and habit change you need to meet this new normal.
In terms of business case?
A very conservative expectation from us is that each sales person can generate an additional meeting a week.
That's 4 additional meetings per month.
Let's assume that you close one of these per quarter.
Let's assume you average deal size is $100,000.
That means, each salesperson will sell an additional $400,00K per year.
10 sales people will sell $4 Million additional revenue.
Now is the time to stop thrashing around in the water and to show some leadership.
You need a strategy, you need a strategy that works and you need a strategy that is fit for purpose for this new normal.
Might be worth a call? Contact me here on social.
“Without empathy, nothing works.” 1 1. Sean Gregory, “ ‘Without empathy, nothing works.’ Chef José Andrés wants to feed the world through the pandemic,” TIME, March 26, 2020, time.com. That quote, from José Andrés, a celebrity chef who also founded and runs the nonprofit World Central Kitchen, highlights the reasoning behind the organization’s mission: to feed the world by being the first food responders in devastated areas. In the COVID-19 crisis, he has quickly mobilized field kitchens to provide fresh and nourishing meals to those in need in stricken parts of the world.
