We have been through a major enforced business downturn with the covid19 lockdown. While some companies have been able to maintain and keep going, far too many others have had their business cut down, and are now having to revive themselves as we go back to work in a restricted environment.
All of us are having to look at what it will really take, through sales, marketing, and delivery, to bring ourselves back up to pre-pandemic levels.
Many companies, unfortunately, underestimate what it will really require. It is a natural instinct to gravitate to “we’ve always done it that way.” They engage in the same actions they were doing before, thinking they will bring the same results.
But it is a drastically different world than it was at the beginning of the year, and when those actions do not quite work, companies drop into considerable anxiety.
The thing is, trying to do everything the way it was done prior to covid19 is not what they should be doing. The real issue is estimating the correct level of activity needed to meet and exceed those previous levels.
Rather than simply maintaining the old actions (or pulling back because of covid19 restrictions which is a big mistake—see the last newsletter issue), you really need to take a higher view.
A large part of the reason for the need for a higher level of action is that your prospective client base, because of the pandemic, is far less certain about buying products and services than they were before. They are experiencing the same confusion that we are all experiencing.
Consequently, in order to sell to them, your marketing and sales messages are going to have to convince them that doing business with you is truly the right thing to do in this new reality.
In this confusion in which we are currently living, potential buyers are, understandably, looking for stability. If you, with your company, are able to demonstrate that you are stable, prospects will be attracted.
However, demonstrating that stability is going to take a whole new level of marketing. The care and attention you put into your arriving prospect from a sales prospective must be roughly double what it was previously. And then last, but certainly not least, your customer service following a closed sale must be completely stellar.
Once you have taken the considerable measures to raise your levels of marketing, sales, and customer service, the worst thing you can do is let them lag or drop because you’re “too busy” or there is lingering confusion in the company as a result of the lockdown and remaining restrictions.
Don’t let such confusion spill over onto your prospects and customers, blaming it on the pandemic (which we’re seeing far too much of today—again, see our last newsletter).
No, excuses will not bring you back to the success you might have been experiencing prior to the pandemic. Neither will be assuming the marketing, sales, and customer service levels that you were attaining pre-covid19.
You must take a fresh, new look at all three of these major areas, and do a much better job than you were doing before—and a much better job than your competition!
