I’ve decided to write ten consecutive posts during ten consecutive business days, each that will offer an idea that salespeople can implement during this weird time. Manufacturer sales professionals will be challenged with travel bans and system integrators will be challenged with their end-users not choosing to see them or not being there at all. So, what can you do?
Idea #7: Remember your dark days of selling.
Do you recall those dark days after starting a new sales role for a new company? Not the first few months when you’re in the honeymoon phase or the next few months when you were cranking out the activity. It usually happens sometime between the sixth and ninth month. You’ve worked your tail off for a while, learning the systems of your new company, getting to know your new accounts, spending every day in the field finding new business, performing presentations or demo’s practically every day, and generating proposal after proposal. The top of your funnel is packed, but nothing has dropped out of the bottom. Maybe the twenty-year customer that was handed to you ordered a few things, but you’re not close to hitting your monthly number. You’ve busted your tail for months and nothing is happening. You question your ability, your type of activity, your fit with the new company, and whether you’re going to have a job soon. Worst of all, you question and doubt yourself. “This should be happening by now!” incessantly mutters through your head.
Remember that? If you’ve had more than one sales job, you’ve probably been through this scenario. I call this period the dark days of selling. You’ve done a ton of hard work and received zero positive feedback in sales or commissions. Uncertainty creeps in to dominate your thoughts. So, what happened?
Almost every time, the funnel busts open and you start to see the orders flooding into the system. It’s mathematics. You’ve added dozens of proposals to the system. You’ve made more and more touches with your customers and prospects and have closer relationships. You’ve gotten better at presenting and leading discussions about the value of your new company. It’s just simple mathematics.
Well, during this time of uncertainty, I want you to reflect to your dark days of selling. You probably have multiple examples – I have five stories, including Vector Firm. Remember the 24-7 negativity in your head. Feel the knots that formed in your stomach every time your boss asked to see you. And fully embrace the joy and pride you had when the sales started to flow.
We’re in the same situation with our COVID-19 crisis right now. It might seem like we’ve been practicing social distancing or complete lockdowns for months, but it hasn’t even been two weeks as of this posting (Tuesday, March 24th). You might be wondering if the curve will ever flatten. You might get scared multiple times throughout the day. We’re in the dark days right now – we’ve put in a ton of work and have no positive results to show for it. Sound familiar? Of course it does, but just like that sales funnel was about to bust open, we will have some good news soon …
I’m not medically qualified to state any of the below thoughts with certainty or imply that these things will happen. However, I think it’s helpful to think about these four dynamics:
- Since our testing was scarce, we’re now catching up and have a large backlog of people that need testing. The rapid growth rate that we’re seeing is a bit artificial because many of those that are being classified as new cases would’ve been counted as news cases days earlier if the testing was available. Once we catch up with the backlog of people needing tests, the growth rate of new cases will be more accurate.
- Two weeks ago, tens of millions of people filled arenas and theatres for hockey, basketball, concerts, movies, etc. The NBA suspended its season late Wednesday, March 11th (only 13 days ago). We’re not seeing the positive impact of social distancing yet. Just like your initial sales had to move through a selling cycle and most of your sales in month eight were proposed in month five, the new cases over the last week or so were created before our social distancing efforts. All of this hard work will start to pay positive dividends within a week or so.
- The curve that needs to flatten is the Active Cases curve. For this curve to flatten and eventually decrease, two things need to happen: the daily new cases need to decrease, and the daily new recoveries need to increase. The former will happen as statements one and two above take effect. However, since it takes about two to four weeks for active cases to be considered recovered, it’s going take a little longer for this metric to make an impact on the curve. As of this writing, about 42,000 Americans have tested positive, but only about 800 of these cases are closed. Within the next two to three weeks, we’ll start to see thousands per day recover.
- Every scientist will rightfully state that there isn’t enough data to conclude that a warmer and more humid climate slows the spread of coronavirus transmissions. However, there are many articles with reputable organizations stating that this conclusion is very plausible. Click here for an article with tests from MIT, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Utah.
Again, I am not claiming to be qualified to state the above dynamics are going to lead to a near-term recovery. However, that’s not my objective. My objective is to provide some reason to my readers – even if its anecdotal (the left side of my brain is struggling with the concept of “anecdotal reason”). Remember those dark days of selling and more importantly, remember the awesome days afterward. The dark days are here right now, but those awesome days of victory aren’t far away. It’s simple mathematics.
