I’ve watched with interest the many different strategies employed by organisations to engage with their customers during the lockdown and as we come out of it. To most of us, before March it would be almost unthinkable that you would attempt to forge a long-term relationship with a new client, never physically meeting them. Of course, transactional business has been taking place from afar for years, but unless you’re are selling commodity items, the reality is that the process from initial discussion to the first order being placed, is a long and complex one, traditionally involving several face to face meetings.
For sales and marketing teams, this has added complexity and difficulty to the sales process, but how can we adapt to the situation? Covid-19 has entirely changed the way we interact with each other. Even if a vaccine is approved and a mass vaccination program implemented, will companies immediately open their doors again? Will we go back to how it was immediately? I don’t think we will, certainly not at first.
Industry is still turning out there, in fact some businesses are experiencing incredible results, whether that’s just short term or not will remain to be seen, but one things for sure, we have to keep working today to find new clients to ensure that whatever tomorrow looks like, our pipelines are healthy and can provide the new customers to sustain the future.
I am a huge believer that people still buy from people. High performing sales people have the ability to quickly build a relationship with a prospective client during that first face to face meeting, by reading their body language, judging when to ask the right question based upon a myriad of different things, knowing when to stay quiet even though you are bursting to speak, spotting signs of interests and important beliefs and much more. Not being able to do this has made the process so much more challenging.
However, there are still ways to prepare and to get that edge, so that its not only is it possible to get that first conversation, but also when you do, to ensure that the engagement process happens as quickly as possible, giving you the best change possible to connect professionally and emotionally, enabling you to get past the part where the client is deciding whether they like you and the company you represent. If you can do this, then you can get to the stage where you start talking about the product or service you have to offer them.
If you are trying to get into a new client or are struggling to engage with a particular customer, get in touch, I’d love to share with you some ways you can engage with new clients at a pace and level of detail you never thought possible before, even better the processes and work you can implement now to help you during this tough time are just as relevant when we get through the other side.
At The Clay Partnership, growth and building relationships is not complicated, it should be simple, we work in the background, with our customers to make them the heroes, not us.
Get in touch to see how we can help you.
