Shift - Part 2 (Diversify or Diminish)

At the height of the United Kingdom’s first lockdown I received an unexpected call. It was from a client who asked me a simple question.

What do we do now?

He’d spent the previous few weeks canvassing his senior colleagues about how they should adapt their sales activity and approach when most of their clients were either on furlough, trapped at home or worrying about their own businesses. They drew a blank and, sensibly, my client decided to seek some external advice.

At the time of his call most of my energy was being consumed with the writing of a novel and finding new ways of sitting comfortably after herniating a disc in my back. I’d weighed up the options for maintaining my own consultancy business in the face of an enforced isolation - and the fallout of my biggest client going bust in the largest fraud case in European history - and made the decision to suspend all business activities temporarily. The pandemic forced me to take stock, as it did for most people. Twenty years of training, travelling and selling had taken a toll on me and I wanted to turn my attention to other projects. So when I received my client’s call my first reaction was one of ambivalence. Then it got me thinking. What would I do if I was in his position? They had an ageing, techno frightened, and old-fashioned sales team who revelled in coffee calls and acting busy.

They had to change. I’d been pointing it out for years but now they had no choice. I set to work summarising the challenges and solutions. Here’s a summary of my recommendations. I broke it down by the three key levers a sales person has in their control.

1. Competence

In my opinion the pandemic should not change the key knowledge and skills that sales people require. This in my view is the same for every industry. Ultimately the sales person's job is to identify need, build rapport, present solutions, handle negotiations and gain commitment. Buyers will still need guidance on what they should buy. The essential skills of questioning, listening, communication, presenting, objection handling etc…remain the same. Albeit this may need to be driven by different mechanics than has been done previously and here there will be a training need.

2. Volume

I’ve argued for some time that sales people in this industry use ‘how busy they are’ as a measure of success. It’s not a valid metric. I know because I’ve attended hundreds of calls with your people. At least half of their calls are no more than a chat and a coffee. I have suggested that the level of volume should be driven by purpose not arbitrary call rates. Segmentation of your customer base is crucial for deciding where time spent will be most rewarded. Small to medium sized customers do not justify monthly visits and should only be contacted by phone (inside sales or external sales.) The pandemic may just force this to be the case. It is much more profitable to have regular phone conversations than driving miles to see them with minimal chance of increased business. Buyers aren’t loyal in this industry but they will act like it when you see them face to face. Future volume targets should be driven by the number of activities rather than the number of physical sales calls. Of course we must not forget that some customers will not want physical calls until government advice is issued. I would be talking to my customer’s about their views on this and looking to plan alternative means of contact.

3. Direction

Direction is about; who they talk to (decision making levels), what they talk about and how they do it. It is in this area that Covid will impact most. Who they talk with shouldn’t change. They should always be looking to widen out their contact base across multiple buyers and influencers. How they talk to them will.

A) Whatever video-conferencing tools you use, most people will need technical training and support on how to use them properly.

B) Those who are already good at it can support those that need help. This will add motivational elements too.

C) They should use the skills they already have in the sales process, but they may need to adapt these. Sharing their screen to show products or other proofs for example.

D) Good planning, objective setting and purpose for these virtual conversations is also important. If the customer sees no value in them they won’t want to be involved in future, or if they just feel unloved they’ll steal time. Call structure principles will be the same as a physical call. They may need to brush up on this.

E) Having multiple people on virtual calls is a challenge. I’d be looking to issue some guidance on how they manage this. However it could enhance cross selling and make it cheaper. Organisation is essential.

The biggest challenge is going to be with prospecting. They didn’t do enough of this in my opinion before but it’ll be more difficult to do it via a zoom call. Still possible by phone though. Hard to build those relationships only using those and most potential customers will have limited energy for changing suppliers at this time.

It’s interesting to look back at this email one year on. Yes, some of the old ways of selling have thankfully returned, but the pandemic has highlighted the value of hybrid working, virtual conferencing and much more off line selling. Going back to exactly how it was before would be a mistake. Reinforcing the gains that have been made and equipping our people with the skills and tools to maximise these may well be the next step in the process. We can choose to look backwards and pine for how things were, or we can look forward and accelerate towards the future. As usual, the first there will get the best seat.

One thing is for certain, most people have had to work it out for themselves. Now we must get back to developing best practise and improving competence….whether offline or online.

If you’d like to discuss your own objectives and how selling has changed for your organisation get in touch to book an exploratory discussion. tonymoyle@in-sell.co.uk