Change Is Coming; Take Advantage Now

Create News

Most of us, including myself, are going to be glad when this pandemic is over. From a sales perspective, it has been difficult to adjust to all of the changes we've all been faced with.  However, as we have been teaching our clients over the last seven months or so, we have been in a situation that may never be repeated again. That is, the ability to have access to individuals we may not have had before, the ability to reach people on their cell phones more frequently, the ability to have uninterrupted time with people and the ability to bond more closely with the people that we have been doing business with or would like to.  In some cases, there are also more willing prospects that perhaps were considering changing who they used for services and now, finally, have time to change from their current supplier.

Thus, it may be a good time to take full advantage of these temporary changes in the way we do business.  At some point, it will return to times that are more difficult for us to reach people once again. Many will be busy with more projects, be interrupted by coworkers or urgent requests from people they are working with and even those that are distracted by people walking into their office, speaking with them in the hallway or dropping something on their desks.

Furthermore, your competition will begin, if they already haven't, knocking on the doors of your good customers. Trust me, it will happen, and it is already happening. Hopefully, many of you took advantage of this situation to get closer with your good clients and to bond with them in different ways. If you have not, it's not too late.  As the weather breaks, each one of us can find events and situations to further our relationships with our good clients. Retention will be a key strategy for 2021. In order to do this, we can start up strategies that perhaps we were working on in the spring and summer months of 2020. Looking back, we saw great success with companies that adjusted quickly and held meetings and events with clients and potential clients outdoors and on-line to further their relationships. We saw tailgate parties, happy hours, meals at outdoor restaurants and establishments, wine and cheese tastings and even a tequila tasting party on-line.  Use your time wisely, spending as much as possible between now and summer with your good customers while you still can.

Although it may be hard for some to believe, we also have clients that professed that they had the best year in their company's history! Not just one, as an oddity, but several in several different industries. On the contrary, I have over-heard conversations where people were complaining about their business and that very same week, I heard someone in the same industry share about how many successes they were having.  It really starts with your mindset and the decisions that you make with your time. Each of us needs to decide what we want the remainder of 2021 to look like; It's entirely up to you. If you truly want to have a good remainder of the year, you may have to change your mindset and start thinking differently. In a recent company blog I reported the positive reviews related to habit changes, tracking bad and good behaviors, and going out of our comfort zones. Once we have made the decision that we will make the positive changes in our life, we are on our way. If you are having a difficult time getting started, start looking at small changes you can make in your personal life. Changes that will tell your mind to get ready, that things are going to change. In other words, change your morning routines, drive a different way to work, do something different with your evenings, do things in a different order than you normally would do them. It might seem small, but these small changes can actually create new neuron pathways in your brain and that is growth. Remember the adage that was once created by Einstein: the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.

If you are looking to grow sales in 2021, I recommend changing the small things to have big results.  Take advantage of the situation we are still in to position yourself for when we come out. Ramp up your prospecting efforts, doing different things than you ever would have done before, like asking for proactive referrals, utilizing LinkedIn as a major prospecting tool, look at your marketing messages, your website, everything.  I'll say it again, once we return to “normal” the difficulties we once experienced with reaching people and getting time with them will be potentially more difficult again.  Your ability to reach people, have uninterrupted time, your ability to create urgency and even to spend quality time with people may change.  I’ve already heard three times just this week that companies are getting contacted at a more frequent rate.  Budgets are being considered, projects are being analyzed and considerations are being made.  If you can continue to stay creative, to utilize the tools that you still have at your fingertips, like LinkedIn and even texting you can get a head start on the competition and be the frontrunner in your prospects and customer’s minds.  So, change is coming; take advantage now.