Sales Leadership 101 in the times of Corona

People talk about how this time of lockdown is for nature to take a break. We see instances of peacocks, civet cats and elephants moving on the roads freely, mountain ranges visible from miles away , the water of the Ganges apparently potable in certain parts. All this is great for Mother Earth! 

Customer First Always

However this article is a refresher on the basics of sales leadership and of course unfortunately for us there is much amiss in these times of lockdown. There is very little to be achieved if we continue with the same guiding principles and strategies we have been using so far. Necessity is the mother of invention. Imagine the shopper to be at a point A and yourself at another point B and identify every single lane that exists in these circumstances that can allow access. To repeat my often used hyperbolic example , if the shopper wants to reach us via sea, air, underground, road whatever - if that is a route that they wish to take and it is viable for us to enable- let's try to. Just re-imagine business in ways you would have never thought of!

Experts say it is important to make the most of this crisis - Never let a good crisis go waste!!! That sounds very insensitive. But take a pause to internalize what they mean – rethink business goals and focus further more on the specific needs of the shopper contextual to these times Many brands have come up with relevant business products within and outside of their current framework- Brands like Nivea, Dabur , Emami etc have come up with sanitizers, popular juice brands like Del Monte have come up with more immunity amped products, Tata Sampann has come up with Haldi Doodh- the list goes on. And this is exactly what it means. Be even more relevant to your loyal customer at these times- Either with new & innovative products or engaging with them with the existing products in the new circumstances. That’s all that is there to it!

People Matter

Adapt or perish will be the rule of the day. With digitization, the world has come closer and things move faster than ever before. Agility and adaptability is critical to success. But at the end it boils down to the people- the leaders and the teams. The kind of leadership we demonstrate today will really create the foundation for the next rung of leaders & have a say in the how their leadership style evolves. This is your chance to make a difference and an impact. Over the next 6 months, companies would be on the cash savings mode. My thoughts- what we need to save on is avoidable expenses, be more frugal. People are NOT expenses but long term assets and should not be seen as disposable. Heartening to see actions by brands like Asian Paints standing by their employees with salary hikes proving once again that their strength is their team. The reset button that we need to click is for the legacy business models. NOT the employees. And the sooner we internalize this, the better.

 One thing that really stands out for me as a positive is the grit of our country. The resurrection of the affected cities in the immediate aftermath of calamities and disasters have been remarkable- Surat after the Plague in 1994, Kerala after the floods of 2018. The way the people here bounced back stronger than ever before shows what we are made of. We are a resilient bunch and this can instill in us the confidence to tell our teams that what is happening now is temporary and at the cost of being repetitive - “This too shall pass". These reassurances may seem small to you, but believe me it will make a difference in their lives.

 My conclusion- I am very positive that the consumption is here to stay. Yes there maybe shifts- upsizing in some, down-trading in others etc. The growth rates, while diminished will continue. Rethink and restart with a fresh perspective without being bogged down by the past is a critical takeaway for me. Continue the good work with the same focus on data and insights, always sensing the pulse of the customer. Making a fresh beginning each month, with the drive to deliver much better than the previous. Now that’s a realistic goal to set for ourselves in these times.

Looking forward to your thoughts below