Episode #177: Selling To Clients In These Covid-19 Times

Covid-19 might actually be good for sales. It might short circuit some of the dumb things salespeople do, when meeting face to face with buyers. With clients reluctant to hold business meetings because of their fears of the contagion from Covid-19, we need to connect to buyers through either phone calls or video calls. With more people working from home, it might be easier to get hold of buyers than normal. They are bound to be in less meetings and will have ample time on their hands because few buyers in Japan yet know how to work properly from home. A lot of people will have not much to do everyday, but avoid colleagues and the other virus bearing individuals.

Cold calling can make a great comeback. There are bound to be companies you wish to make customers, but have never been able to pull it off because you couldn’t connect with the decision-maker. That buyer is now home alone and undefended. Their stalwart junior office lady who normally answers the phone and swiftly and efficiently dispatches you to the badlands of contact oblivion, isn’t in the office, because she is working from home. Or she may be valiantly defending the office from salespeople like you, but her boss is at home. Either way, the drawbridge has been lowered, so time to start cold calling.

Don’t make the call empty handed. Think of something that you can offer the buyer during these straitened times. It might be on-line industry training or joint advertising or some free services. When you make your cold call, it will be to the company general number. You won’t have the decision maker’s direct number, in fact, you probably won’t even have their name. The person taking the call needs a strong reason from you to pass your number to the buyer or to transfer you to them.

They may not be in a position to do anything at the moment when you do make contact, but you have achieved a contact with the decision maker. Hopefully you now have their name, email address or maybe even their mobile number. You might have been able to get them to set up the industry training or some means to engage their team further.

If they are an existing customer, then certainly product training would be a good way for their marooned staff stuck at home, to while away the time. In this case you will have the decision maker’s name and you may get hold of them at the office because everything is a bit slower at the moment and they are more likely to be available. They know that their workforce are not skilled yet at working from home and that they are not being particularly productive. If you can front up with something that will make the buyer’s team more effective, you will get a good hearing. They will appreciate your initiative and your great customer service. By the way, do you want your competitor calling them making their own offer and you are just sitting around moaning about the business downturn and taking no action?

The client company is still likely a buyer of products rather than services at the moment. So if you are in that category, it is a good time to call the buyer. They have time to talk to you, to be asked about what they need both now and will need post-Covid-19. Don’t bombard them with the on-line version of your catalogue. It makes no sense in the face to face world, until you know what they want. Reproducing the same dopey behaviour on-line is no help. Ask questions first, uncover need and then and only then, introduce your solutions. By focusing on the future it releases the buyer’s mind from the worries of the present and allows them the freedom to focus on the next steps. If they are working from home you may find they are happy to speak with you, as they may have been feeling isolated. There is always a silver lining to every cloud, so let’s find the silver lining.

Free Live On Line Stress Management Sessions

On a separate note, we are running public Live On Line Stress Management classes, which will be free to all attendees on March 19 (English) and 24th (Japanese) and April 16th (Japanese) and 17th (English). We are also offering the same thing as an in-house programme, delivered Live On Line for our existing clients and for prospective clients. This allows us to help our clients and our community.

The registration process for these free stress management sessions is being offered on our website, so please go to this specific page: http://bit.ly/dale_stress_e