Will Your Sales Survive the Long-Term Changes Caused By COVID-19?

Recent research from McKinsey clearly demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes in the way that B2B buyers and sellers are interacting and will do so going forwards.

This article will look at what some of these changes are and consider what changes all of us in B2B sales need to make both now and moving forwards. And making these changes is not going to be optional. As Jack Welch said: “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.”

I have provided the link to the research below but some of the key points stated in the research that must be considered carefully are:

• “More than three quarters of buyers and sellers say they now prefer digital self-serve and remote human engagement over face-to-face interactions—a sentiment that has steadily intensified even after lockdowns have ended.”
• “Only about 20 percent of B2B buyers say they hope to return to in-person sales, even in sectors where field-sales models have traditionally dominated, such as pharma and medical products.”
• Buyers are also reporting that they are now prepared to make significant purchases through remote human interactions and end to end digital self-serve with 32% willing to spend $50k to $500k and 12% willing to spend $500k to $1m.
• B2B buyers are reporting that this new style of selling is as effective as the more traditional face to face approach and B2B sellers are positive about it too.
• Perhaps not surprisingly video and live chat are regarded as the predominant methods for interacting with B2B customers.

And the indications from the research are strong that these changes will become permanent. This means that we all will have to be making further changes in the way we have been operating. The changes we have made to date, perhaps thinking that this was going to be a temporary way of interacting with our customers, may not be enough going forwards.

When I was studying the research, several questions came to mind. I have shared these below. This is not intended to be a definitive list of questions, however I hope they provide some food for thought about areas that you may need to focus on to ensure that your sales teams remain productive, effective and motivated moving forwards.

I have grouped the questions under four categories – Mindset, Skillset, Toolset and Sales Management / Leadership.

Mindset

• What are the current attitudes and beliefs in your organisation about what is possible for salespeople to achieve remotely? Which of these might need challenging and reconsidering?
• For example, it is common for larger revenue accounts to be managed by external salespeople and smaller accounts by internal sales teams. How does this model stack up against the data from McKinsey about what buyers are willing to spend remotely or through self-serve?
• How well are your salespeople coping with working in this way? What additional help and support do they need?

Skillset

• How well can your salespeople transfer their face to face selling skills into this remote reality?
• What changes and improvements will be necessary?
• What help and support will they need? How will you provide this?
• How are you going to provide effective sales training and coaching to remote salespeople?
• What sales coaching cadence will be required going forwards?

Toolset

• Have your salespeople got easy access to, for example, sales collateral that is suitable for use when selling remotely?
• What additional equipment do they need (e.g. high definition cameras, lighting, broadband capacity, furniture etc) to operate effectively, comfortably and safely?
• How well are you set-up to provide buyers with effective self-serve options?

Sales Management / Leadership

• What lead and lag indicators are you currently using to manage your sales team’s performance and are these suitable and appropriate for the new ways of working?
• How are you going to provide on-going coaching to remote salespeople?
• How are you going to monitor the motivation and wellbeing of your salespeople going forward?
• What sales force structure will you need to consider in the future?

 I am sure you will think of further questions to consider. Please put these in the comments section below this article as these will be helpful for us all to consider.

We are all going to have to continue to make changes to meet the challenges COVID-19 has placed before us. Change is not easy, and people often dislike it but as General Eric Shinseki said “If you dislike change, you're going to dislike irrelevance even more.” 

Source: McKinsey

About the author Simon Hazeldine

Simon helps his clients to win more sales, more often, with more margin.

He works internationally as a keynote and conference speaker, sales transformation consultant and as a sales and negotiation trainer. He offers face to face and remote solutions to his clients in all of these areas

?Simon enables sales leaders and sales teams to perform successfully in both remote and face to face environments.

Simon has worked in over thirty countries and his client list includes some of the world’s largest and most successful companies.

He has a Master’s degree in psychology, is the bestselling author of five books that have been endorsed by a host of business leaders including multi-billionaire business legend Michael Dell and is the co-founder of the UK’s leading sales podcast “The Sales Chat Show”

Simon's most recent book “Neuro-Sell: How Neuroscience Can Power Your Sales Success” has been published on a international basis by Kogan Page.

You can contact Simon at: [email protected]

Simon's website: simonhazeldine.com