TO BE OR NOT TO BE, IS THAT A QUESTION?

The role & performance of sales in a post-pandemic new normal setting.

As we go about out daily abnormality we can’t help but contemplate our future. No easy task given that like ourselves there are others who are likewise doing the same thing. Some have already started morphing into the new conceptualized being. Others are still in the embryonic stage of finding ones self against yet another variable, the every changing roles in employment. There are NO immunity from change as a result of massive wide spread disruptions. Even crawling under a rock will find someone who will turn the rock over and expose you the sunlight of reality.

Most recently we reported on the ever changing complexion of employee roles. What once was is no longer a sacred normality, but rather an element subject to the ravages of change.  In this writing I want to explore the revenue generating role of sales.

In the pre-pandemic period there was a structural separation between the role of sales and that of marketing. Often the line was blurred and what was the responsibility of one became the obligatory duty of both. This included,

• Promoting the business and products,
• Focusing on specific markets and types of industries,
• Establishing strategic partners, and
• Forming durable relationships.

 All well intentioned and purposeful pursuits, or so it would seem to the selling organization, but how did target customers and partners feel? To answer this question better we need to examine the types of sales. This includes sales,

• Generated by direct customer invoked engagement,
• Pursuits resulting from customer initiated contact,
• Cold calls as a part of a campaign effort, and
• Follow up to exposures that created interest.

In each case sales success was the result of two essential skills, listening and consideration. The conflict that stood in the way of sales success emanated from a self-imposed agenda that relied on rigidity as a means to minimize costs associated with variable message inconsistencies. Another fatal element was schedule driven quotes that discouraged active listening about the needs, pain points and interests of the target enterprise. Combined with this is placing pricing first and yet failing to achieve mindset parity in so far as the utilization of the solution.  Many may not be sales professionals, at least as a job, but we all have the need for selling (and even marketing) ourselves and our work on a routine and regular basis. Possibly for that reason the objectivity of sales criticism hits a bit stronger than for those that have been immersed for decades.

Life has a wonderful laboratory for testing, challenging and exploring. As a person sitting across the table (metaphorically because of isolation) one cannot help observe just how much the other party is missing opportunities. It’s not because we feel righteous, needed or even special as much as it about how deeply off track they are with us and most likely with others. What I have observed since the onset of Covid-19 is that the drive for sales has intensified. Some companies have even abandoned their products to sell direct virus mitigation and support products. Others have embraced the popularity (if I can refer to a virus as popular) by offer special and even free product services, mostly with the hope of maintaining visibility which is a marketing tool and not sales. Then there are those, and it is my observation that allot are sustaining their sales models, approaches, tools and dialog. Catch anyone on a wrong day and you will become incensed by the lack of adaptable flexibility.

As stated earlier sales has some pre-pandemic issues in so far as failures to,

• Listen,
• Put pricing further down in the sales cycle,
• Communicate beyond an agenda,
• Re-examine the value of face-to-face and phone call as a mean to make sales (in some cases it's more about timing and proper contextual use),
• Acknowledge enterprise knowledge, preparation and understanding,
• Be flexible and adaptable, and
• Properly utilize the sales scripted dialog and storyboard.

But it’s not all about sales being the evil empire. It’s also involves the need for target customers (and partners) to be more respectful of the sourced solution business. In short a bit of maturing is need by all parties.

The Now

We now know that we have some cleaning up to do in order to reshape the relationship behavior of supplier organization (sales) and the business enterprise (customer/partners). But how has the pandemic forced a reshaping beyond the obvious?  In some ways it has changed significantly, but at the same time it has elevated the importance of communications and a primal understanding that funds for procurement have been thrown into a state of disarray. What might have been a priority has not be dispensed to a hold or temporary frozen status. Finances have been earmarked for immediate survival measures and business continuation. Unless your solution fulfills one of those two goals it is likely that a sale, in the traditional sense, will become unlikely. So does that end the viability in the pipeline of opportunities, not necessarily.  It then shifts our efforts from selling a solution to being a compassionate supporter. Sounds a bit weak but if you are putting yourself first, which we do because we also need to survive, as an imperative than the door will slam shut. But if you engage a captive audience with focused listening and engage appropriate creative dialog within your area of specialization the welcome mat will remain for some time into the future. Some of you may be wondering how this time spent will be paid for?  Largely because of the low cost value of time, and in this case in the context of marketing and public relationship services. If they are an existing customer there is also the good will produced though producing an atmosphere of not being alone in this societal struggle. Downstream, is the potential for sales success. As any sales professional tells you that the foot in the door is the most difficult thing to overcome, keeping it there becomes dependent upon putting the target ahead of your agenda and self.  One of the prevalent issues is mental health and while we might wish to be tough and capable we are challenged by a shockwave of emotion as a result of isolation and disconnection. Returning a bit of compassion for our mutual wellbeing forms a lasting remembrance. It’s takes us from a commodity to being humane. For some, your impression might produce the emotion of being soft, or losing control or even unilateral compromise. But sales in the post-pandemic period is more apt to be about real relationships and cooperation, and less about a pay-for-product situation with relationships being a matter of words and not reality.

Conclusion

Now is the time to start the transformation. Time that passes is time lost and with that goes opportunities. Feelings will become jaded as a result of practices applied outside of context. For those sales leaders who are setting the personality for the future it will require mindset and framework changes.

• Scripts become guides and not rules,
• Overcome the belief that face-to-face sells and adapt your sales contact to electronic/digital solutions,
• Research first and then listen,
• Acknowledge and appreciate customer/partner knowledge (about needs and also about you),
• Make time use critical,
• Shift from words to advance reference materials,
• Solution packaging in affordable smaller commitment pieces,
• Pricing model changes and alternative payment programs,
• Reassess your human capital given new persona priorities (marketing, customer relations…), and
• Don’t be afraid to be innovative in how ‘engagement’ takes place.

I once suggested to a colleague who was heavy into branding that it really was about selling it was about engaging. In some way even our own label may need a bit of a face lift to promote our purpose beyond the obvious of generating revenues.