The news is starting to be filled with ‘return to work’ messages. Consulting firms and academic institutions are sending out advice. Many of the reports give high-level ideas about recovering and thriving in business.
But let’s face it. They are saying what you already know in your gut. The sales game has changed drastically with COVID-19. The question is: What can you do to thrive in this new reality?
Here are 5 actions to take as you restart, recover, and thrive.
01. Care More Than Ever
Keeping your customer at the center of your focus has never been more important. This is not truly a ‘strategy’ in the sense of actions to achieve business goals. It’s more about doing what matters most. It’s an issue of personal integrity and human values.
Deloitte emphasizes the importance of putting people first. This is a higher priority in a world where it is harder than ever to achieve. It makes sense, really. We’ve just gone through an unprecedented tragedy. All of us. There’s no way around the pain, suffering, and difficulty.
In the wake of this, we want to live our values and do what matters. This is why caring is at the top of the list. It’s an immediate way to take action.
How can you achieve this? Make it a priority.
The way that you personalize this will become your unique trademark. Perhaps you’ll check in with a personal note or call. Maybe you’ll share resources that you believe your client will value. Or, you may find that by making time to listen deeply, you’ll build a new level of trust.
Yes, we continue to feel intense turbulence, chaos, and change. Yes, it’s time to care.
What steps can you take to show you care? How else can you put people first?
02. Commit to Data
Let’s switch gears for a moment. Think about the person you love. Recall the moment of knowing. You know the moment. That feeling when you realized: this is the one. You knew then. It was not just a crush or a short-term relationship. It’s the person you want to be with. Forever.
That’s called commitment.
You want him or her. You’re passionate. You are all in. You feel it and it’s an undeniable force. Well, take that feeling to the heart.
This is the level of commitment to feel for data.
It might sound funny or odd at first. But, data is the seed of insight. Data is where you find out what is truly working. Data is juicy and alive. Not what you planned. Not what you forecast. Not what is written in quarterly projections. The raw and real truth of what’s going on.
When you commit to data, you’ll build strategies that work. It’s that simple. You won’t be working in the dark. You won’t be waving a magic wand. Most importantly, you won’t be in a snow globe thinking of doing things the same old way.
Data is not something to tack on as an afterthought. Data is the beginning, middle, and end of successful selling.
Where could you use data more effectively in your sales process?
03. Crush It With Sales Enablement
There’s a weird thing about sales enablement. It’s often the last thing on the To-Do list for sales teams. Why isn’t it first?
In the post-COVID-19 environment, sales enablement tools are designed to help your teams win.
With a suite of tools, sales reps can focus on increasing sales and boosting revenue. Without the right technology, reps lose time on mundane tasks and busywork.
If you don’t have Sales Enablement in place, now is a great time to create a set of tools. Design one to personally fit the needs of your team. Interview your top performers. Pick their brains. Organize a suite of tools to position your sales reps for success.
As a shortlist, be sure your sales enablement tools include:
• A CoSelling software for warm introductions
• CRM
• Email sequence software with sample templates
• Video conferencing tools
• Slack channels with partners
• Electronic signature gathering
• Easy-to-understand reference guide
• Stories and tips from high performers
What ideas do you have for Sales Enablement? Share in the comments.
04. Connect Across Functions
In reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s clear that there is no room for silos. The old games are over. Your ears may still be ringing from hearing the competitive fights between marketing and sales. Yet, it’s not going to fly in this new world.
“Mapping the Journey” is a way for everyone in your company to understand how things work in your company. Gather input from sales and marketing to fully understand the picture.
A journey map explores and charts how prospects find you. Identify the problem prospects want to solve. Look at their hopes, dreams, wishes, and fears. Track their activity to know how they find you. Are they finding you via LinkedIn? Are they researching independently? Are they finding your website? Are they responding to social media ads? Are they reading articles in industry journals?
Explore the journey to find out how prospects become customers.
Along the way, look for opportunities that cross functions in your organization. Marketing teams will have insights that your sales team can leverage. Sales teams will get requests that can drive innovation and inspire new offerings.
Connecting the dots reduces friction between marketing and sales departments. With a coordinated approach, you can identify key opportunities and move forward together.
How can you support cross-functional connections?
But don’t stop there.
05. Collaborate in Partner CoSelling
Collaborating starts with dialogue. One way is to customer mapping with your co-selling partners. You’ll get to see how your partners’ company connects with prospects, nurtures clients, and grows repeat customers.
As you familiarize yourself with the landscape, you’ll discover overlaps and opportunities. This may be along lines of business, target markets, geographies, or products.
A regional sales position in your company may interface perfectly with a global one in your partner’s company. Without open dialogue, you might have missed this fact.
Creating a roadmap together builds rapport and grows trust. At the same time, you’ll get fresh ideas that are mutually beneficial.
How can you foster collaboration in partner co-selling?
Sum Up
With COVID-19, successful sales teams are reimagining sales practices. This includes caring about clients, committing to data, crushing it with sales enablement, connecting across functions, and collaborating with partners. Partnership CoSelling is key to thriving in this new environment.
Using a platform like CoSell is the simplest way to position your sales team for success. CoSell is a robust platform that is easy to use. It’s the fastest way to automate and scale co-selling across sales teams.
If you’d like to explore how this can help you and your team boost sales and win major clients fast — please reach out to us. To learn more, check us out.
