The Practice for Prospecting During a Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has created unprecedented circumstances for most companies and their sales teams. To be effective during this time, you must remain calm and focus on what you can control. As the current sales landscape continues to change, sales teams and their leaders must develop an action plan to support the sales process regardless of the environment. However, that does not mean it will continue. It's about using the proper sales prospecting techniques and following the key rules to maintain respect and relevance during this time.

1. Provide value. Salespeople must offer value during this time to build trust. They are serving as brand ambassadors for their company and the products or services being sold.

2. Reach out only if you have something to offer. A prospect may ask for an interview to talk about the new product or service in detail, but it is important to understand that just because a prospect contacts you, it doesn't mean he or she has a solution for you. A salesperson should never create a need for a potential customer. Instead, a salesperson should simply be available to answer any questions a potential customer has.

3. Be visible and consistent. Consider this: in a high-volume emergency, can you reach your lead customers or new clients while you are out? There are countless distractions.

Practice 1 - Find Your Voice

One of the biggest challenges during a pandemic is the overwhelming voice of all the voices. Clients or prospective clients all have an opinion and if they are passionate, it could be discouraging and can completely drown out the message that you want to share. To counter this, you need to develop a voice that resonates with your prospective client. This is an opportunity to utilize your background in the industry, company values, and unique selling proposition (USP). Without a compelling USP, a sales team cannot differentiate their sales approach and be unique in a crowded landscape. Your first opportunity to really influence a prospect is in the value that you are trying to communicate.

Practice 2 - Empathize with the Customer

As you're communicating with a potential customer, you may not know if the customer is affected by the pandemic. Maybe they don't have family or friends who have been affected, or maybe they aren't in contact with anyone who has been. At the very least, you'll need to understand their concern by asking for an understanding of the customer's situation and their perspective on the situation. If you're in a sales meeting, or you're talking with someone in your personal life about the current situation, you'll need to give them your empathy. At the very least, you should consider the way the customer feels and offer any support they may need.

Practice 3 - Look for Opportunities to give Value

Communicate value when you have established rapport with a potential customer and understand the goals of their sales process. Whether you're trying to establish trust or sell a product or solution, your value-based conversation will help move the process forward. Be sure to take a genuine interest in who the buyer is, their company and industry, their short-term and long-term objectives and the pain points or value created by their current solution. However, you must also remain objective and do not get trapped into solely focusing on value. Because if you're wrong in your analysis or you don't have the right solution in the market or industry, you're not going to create that much value.

Practice 4 - Don't Give Up! Keep Prospecting

During this time, you must remain calm and focus on what you can control. Don't forget to focus on the job at hand. Even though you may be unable to answer your phones, still be productive. Call prospects. Don't give up, even if it feels like you are reaching few prospects. These customers will want to talk to you in the months and years to come. Your only task is to be present with the customer so they can make their final decisions.

Practice 5 - Use Technology to Stay Connected

Remember that communications are still vital. Phone, email, and instant messaging can still be very effective at this time. Make it a point to stay on top of your prospecting conversations and adjust the way you approach prospecting if an individual says they are not interested in talking. Prioritize all prospects and assign a few to each person to follow up on. It's a huge time-saver and will save your team a lot of time. You can then focus on the most critical prospects and push through those most necessary to your sales process. 

Practice 6 - Have a Clear Idea of What You Want

Gather information about what your company needs at this time. From there, develop a clear strategic plan. Having a clear vision of the end goal will make the strategy much more effective.

Practice 7 - Be Ready for Anything at Any Time

Because of the lack of available resources and panic around the pandemic, some companies are willing to sacrifice relationships, suppress sales and even tell prospects the truth, especially regarding their products. Make sure you have a well-structured sales process, whether you want to be lead generation or top-of-funnel. Also, understand that just because you see a cold lead, it doesn't mean they are ready to buy.

Practice 8 - Use Predictive Analytics to Adjust Sales Opportunities

Sales reps need to be predictive of their opportunities and goals. They must use analytics to evaluate their customers' needs and opportunities in order to adapt their marketing programs and tactics and drive incremental sales.

Conclusion

The reality is prospecting during a pandemic can take place very differently than it would in normal times. However, that doesn't mean you can't become a more valuable prospect, get your message out and even meet with top-level executives. As the leader of your sales team, it is up to you to develop the skills and strategy to stand out during this time. You can and should prepare and look at strategies you've been working on to meet your sales goals. However, you must stay focused on your overall goals and use each day as an opportunity to test new strategies and practices to see how it fits