Episode #186: Salespeople Should Start Preparing For V-J Day

At what point will things get back to some semblance of normality? It is a bit like trying to pick the bottom of the current stock market drop. We won’t know until after the event, but it will happen. The Covid-19 numbers in Tokyo are gradually coming down, the lockdown in most prefectures has already been partially released. We are not talking aeons here. Actually, we are now talking days until the official lockdown will end. Yes, there will be restrictions, but for all of us, it is that great feeling you get when you stop bashing your head against a wall. Okay, none of us has ever bashed our head against a wall in our entire lives, but we all get the general idea. The pain point has either reached peak or must be close now for a lot of companies. That means that the sleeping giant that is the Japanese economy will gradually tear off the thethers that have enveloped it and we will be able to get the wheels of commerce driving forward again.

As salespeople, are we going to wait for the all clear siren to sound or are we going to get going now, in anticipation of Victory Japan Day in our war with the virus? Our clients are gradually emerging from their fetal positions and starting to look around them, wondering how to get things rolling again. Guess what? We are right here to help them do that. There will be pent up demand, there will be fresh demand, there will be no demand. We need to be talking to our buyers to determine which category they fall into. I would guess that nothing will be done on our timetable based on what we desire, as far as rebooting revenues go, but that is definitely the light at the end of the tunnel which we can see.

The broad commercial downturn will have either mortally wounded some of our competitors or at least given some of them seriously debilitating flesh wounds. We may be carrying a few of those ourselves. The survivors though, are self-selecting to serve clients and clients themselves are going to be happy that we have survived, because they like dealing with companies which are reliable and dependable. Basically, they like winners.

We should get the entire sales team charged up to hit the phones, pound hard on the keyboards and get cracking contacting all of our clients to get a pulse check going, on how far out of hibernation they have emerged. There will be early, middle and late contenders for celebrating V-J day, but the point is we want to be the one having that celebratory conversation, not our competitors.

One of the downsides of this process of emerging to fight another day, is our own mental framework. We may be scarred ourselves from the lack of commissions, mental stress, the grinding pressure, the moronic beatings handed out by idiot bosses or demonic buyers. We will now be unleashing the equivalent of a massive cold calling campaign, as we get in touch with inactive buyers. They haven’t been available or ready to speak and here we are, all preppy and bristling with desire to do a deal.

For many buyers that won’t fly, as they may be emerging very gracefully from their industry chrysalis. However, by casting a broad net, we will pick up those beautiful butterflies ready to move or those who at least are ready to make a plan for a move. Japanese companies love the intricacies of the planning function and for many months, their planners have left their favourite weapon in their holster. They may be getting ready to do a quick draw and get back to work on their responses for navigating this U-shaped recovery. We need to be at their side to help them do just that.

Perhaps things won’t spring back quickly, but they will come back. Are we ready to go? The game may have changed in many industries. What was possible before is now out of bounds. Alternatively, what wasn’t considered kosher before now gets a look, as the world has changed for them. The key is to know what they are thinking, what they are seeing, what they are planning. If you are not doing this, your still extant competitors will be doing it. Make sure you, not they, are the one gorging on the business feasts to be had, following V-J day.