Thanks to the COVID-19 crisis, we no longer buy our milk in a grocery store. Entering a grocery store represents an unnecessary risk.
Call me old school. Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, I had a bit of a mental block when it came to buying groceries online.
Thanks to the COVID-19 crisis, we were forced to use the online option and we LOVE it!
No exposure.
Huge time savings.
How many other sacred habits will my family and I sacrifice next?
The COVID-19 crisis is going to spawn new consumer and business habits.
Many common practices and ways of doing business are going to literally disappear seemingly overnight.
Value is going to reign supreme.
Best get in front of it.
Recently, Giorgio Armani viewed the COVID-19 crisis as, "an opportunity to slow down and straighten everything out."
Armani spoke from his seemingly frustrated perspective of the fashion industry.
Powerful perspective. What are you noticing?
In any given industry, eighty percent of sales come from just 20 percent of the salespeople (Pareto Principle). The top 20 percent who have the capacity to consistently produce 80 percent of the results in an industry are "Sales Wolves".
Do you have any Sales Wolves in your company? How do you really know? How would you quantify them?
Will what defines a Sales Wolf in your industry change as a result of the COVID-19 crisis?
Leave no stone unturned. Better for you to frankly stress test your business model than to have a competitor do it for you.
Review your target personas. Like Sales Wolves - your best 20 percent of your Customers bring in 80 percent of profits.
Who were they?
Are your ideal target personas changing thanks to the COVID-19 crisis?
How did Prospects and Customers view your value proposition prior to the COVID-19 crisis?
How do you project the perception of your value proposition will change?
With the current level of uncertainty hanging in the air, we and our Clients are seeing Prospects slow down their decision-making. Value is more important than ever right now.
For those with salespeople who can deliver value in their counsel when combined with the product / service value, post COVID-19 will be a remarkably powerful opportunity.
Unquestionably, sales teams will be forced to become even stronger at delivering exceptional value. Salespeople who cannot deliver exceptional value will become a liability to your business.
The only salespeople that should be on your sales team are Sales Wolves.
Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, it was common to hear of poor sales systems adoption.
This will change. For those sales teams that adopt best sales practices, the rewards will be significant.
It is time to stop being soft in holding salespeople accountable to activity tracking, script adherence, CRM use and any identified best practice that can maximize sales performance while reducing variance.
This softness historically is due to two realities.
The common fear I heard pre COVID-19 crisis was the concern that key salespeople may leave the company if forced to follow draconian scripting, CRM, activity and other forms of accountability and performance best practices.
Salespeople who choose to not adopt best sales practices are going to become an expensive liability relative to those who do.
Sales Wolves use sales systems and their best sales practices.
Those who cannot or will not adopt best sales practices should be helped to sell for the competition.
You are the guardian of your culture. What you allow/do not allow shapes your culture. All problems start at the head.
If you cannot answer the following with a confident, "YES!" you have work to do.
Iron sharpens iron.
Burn your boats and eat your sacred cows before your competitors do.