Week 1 to Week 2 of WFH Shutdown - "Iso-cation" to "Work-o-lation"

Last week was quite a unique Spring Break. Many planned for the usual Spring break vacation. This turned into an "Iso-cation" (A vacation in isolation) at the last minute as many cancelled their plans and self-isolated and social distanced themselves to flatten the curve all in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I was one of those, but upon cancelling our vacation plans to stay home, I choose to work from home. As I reached out by phone and video chats I was met with silence. Last week, most people were in shock. The world had changed so dramatically in such a short time. Most people started their adjustment to this new world of Work From Home (WFH) and self -isolation. Week one felt like most people were on Iso-cations. As the week ended and Week 2 started everything seem to change. People were now talking and planning for the end of the lock down. An unknown timeline, but people have started to start to try and draw that picture.

I operate a growth consulting business. Helping business owners grow and scale their business. Included in this I operate a Lead Generation model for my clients. Last week we saw what we expected, a slightly lower than normal response rate and a similar success rate during the spring break period. We are two days into the second week and the response rate we are seeing is higher than any other period since I've operated my model and the success rate of setting up meetings sky rocked too. 

This week I've had the highest level of success in Lead generation ever. My hit rate doubled and my success rate of setting up calls with qualified leads went exponential up 5 times. The conversations have changed from talking about the impact of the shut-down to planning to deal with surge of pent up demand that is expected post shut down. I've been advising my clients the best preparation and best use of time right now is to ensure they have at least twice as many prospects in their funnel as usual. The best strategy in these times is to have more sales. From the conversations I'm having and seeing, prospects are very open to moving along the decision-making process, but there seems to be some hesitation presently to make financial commitments. In some cases, businesses have locked down spending and others are just uncertain at timelines. Either way, moving these Leads through the sales funnel which could take two to four months for most businesses is an excellent use of this time.

It really felt like last week people were in a state of transition and vacation , the week of the "iso-lation" and this week is feeling like everyone is now embracing WFH and are now using this time to network and build relationships and start preparing for the post shut down era .  

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Brian Crew: Managing Partner of BricConsulting. Bring brings 25 years of being an entrepreneur, CEO, consultant, and sales expert to BricConsulting's growth and scaling practice. You can reach Brian at [email protected]