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With the pandemic taking a toll against the world this 2020, risen unemployment rate in the world, and economies crashing down, the B2B market has a different story to tell. Amidst the crisis the world is facing, B2B sales are emerging from the other side. B2B buyers have started coming out of the bunker to some extent which has changed the dynamics of B2B sales after the halt during the pandemic.
This means that all you B2B buyers need to buckle up and step back in the game, the vacation is over. While adapting the B2B sales strategies, one must understand how to fix and curate strategies in the New Normal of life under Covid-19.
Don’t improvise, be solid
The post-Covid-19 world does not allow you to improvise during the sales process. Pre-Covid-19 was a much easier time because every person you called was leading a pretty normal life but Covid-19 has impacted every person you call in one way or the other. You treated every customer in the same way and empathy and complacency were not something you focused on. But with Covid-19 stepping in, the way cold calls should be made has changed a lot. The sales team needs to be solid and properly trained because the person on the other side has to be dealt with with empathy and complacency. As each deal counts more than ever so you cannot afford to improvise your sales process right now.
Communicate the process
You should be clear about the stages of your process and you should make sure that the customer is catered according to what he wants. If he wants to deal with a specific step in a much detailed manner rather than the other ones then the sales team should make sure that his/her needs are met and during the call, they are guided through the process in a way that satisfies them. Different steps that you might want to consider: a preliminary phone call with a sales rep, a product demo, a brief meeting between the stakeholders, and an effective process to close the deal. If the sales representative can guide the customer through these stages of the process with the required effort, it will get the customer ready to buy.
Go hunting, passive strategies won’t help
These difficult times don’t ask for passive strategies. Stick your head out and go hunt for what you want. Sitting and waiting for deals and leads to come to you won’t help you now, these desperate times need desperate measures. Look for different channels through which you can reach your customers and leads can be generated. Whether it be an outbound lead generation (email marketing, cold calls, direct mail) or inbound lead generation (social media, search engine marketing) just go for it with the right and most promising channel.
Do some market research and make sure to ask proactively for referrals from the existing customers. Make some lists of possible prospects from the personal and professional networks of your sales team so that the efforts are being done for the right customer who might be interested in your product.
Uncertainty brings opportunities
All the customers you are talking to are pretty much more uncertain about how they want to go about their business in this day to day changing environment. As the only constant these days is change, and change brings opportunities for your sales team. Your sales team needs to be prepared for your prospects’ constant need for change. Some businesses’ vendors might go out of business during the pandemic and the new vendor can be you, your prospect might run out of business and get acquired by another business that might be interested in your services. The sales team needs to build up the conversation on how this uncertainty in the business environment might just be an opportunity for the customer, this will get them to listen to you and might just crack up a deal for you.
There is nothing as a “cold” prospect now
The New Normal might bring some interesting opportunities for your business. Maybe a business has changed their vendors or amended the procurement process that they follow at their firm. These measures might just be a golden opportunity for your sales team. So just don’t ignore the previous prospects and work on new ones. The ones that were not interested pre- Covid-19 might be interested now as the dynamics of every business have changed over the past few months and many of them might need assistance while adjusting with them. So go and revisit your cold prospects and check in with them as this might just be the time when they need you
Even if the current situation was not there, it is always a good idea to go and visit your cold sales lead because you never know where the opportunity might pop up from.
