Selling in a Time of Corona – S1E4 – Never Waste a Good Crisis

Rahm Emanuel:         You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that, it's an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.

Intro:                           So, someone ate a bat apparently and the world turned upside down. Hi, I'm Elliot Epstein. And I’ve spent the last 20 years of my life coaching, consulting, training, and speaking about all facets of sales development, pitching, presentations, negotiation, the C-suite sales calls and all of the various components in the sales cycle in between. And now we find ourselves in a world that's very foreign. Welcome to Selling in a Time of Corona.

Elliot Epstein:             That opening clip was Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to Barack Obama and former long-time mayor of Chicago. No doubt, he borrowed the same quote from wartime hero, Sir Winston Churchill, who in turn most probably repurposed it from none other than the Prince himself, the infamous Niccolò Machiavelli, who said “Never waste the opportunity offered by a good crisis.”

In this episode, we'll discuss why the world has extensively changed forever. And while your role is not going to be the same now, and when we finally allowed to touch another human being, in an appropriate way of course. If you have living grandparents or even a great-grandparent, I hope they're safe and protected right now. No doubt you'll have family stories of them doing quirky things like getting up early to scrape the mould of the cheese, reusing tinfoil, or keeping $500 in the mattress, or even in the undies drawer.

These are all the everlasting behaviours of the trauma of the Great Depression or World War 2. Even when prosperity dawned, and they didn't need to walk an extra kilometre to the cheaper fruit shop, they still did it. Their world had changed so dramatically that there were subconsciously always preparing for its return. Our world has changed. We now know our business plans, earning capacity, leadership behaviours, client relationships are not as fool proof as we might have imagined. In essence, we now have proof we are no longer invincible. Do you think your managers will go back to the same behaviours as pre COVID-19? Do you think your clients will act the same way as they did just a few months ago? Will their budgets be intact? Will yours? Will your targets and commissions be the same? If they are, I'll be more shocked than a premier league player being asked for a 30% pay cut.

What will not change is the adage “Revenue is for vanity; profit is for sanity and cash is reality.” Just this week, a company who was in business for 17 years shut down its entire Australian operation, because all that lay ahead was long streaks of red ink. They might as well have recreated that famous scene from the movie Chopper when Neville Bartos says, “There's no cash here. Here, there's no cash.”

They asked me to advise them once on the pitch strategy, but every suggestion was met with the defence of the immovable. After evaluation of their sales approaches. I said,

One - You're too reliant on your biggest account.

Two - The business value offering is the same as what you were delivering five years ago, not better

Three - Your relationships at C-level are 10% of your engagements. And you rely on your buddies you have in middle management and

Four - The amount of money left on the table by poor negotiation is quite astounding.

It appears all 33 salespeople are offering significant discounts on renewals and maintenance every month. That's an average of 15% less profit on every re-contract of the account. Now I'm lucky most of my clients pay me to tell them the truth, but in this case, I was as popular as a man with a coughing fit on a crowded train. They ran from change faster than morons can pick up a 10 pack of two-ply Kleenex off a supermarket shelf. They wasted their opportunity to get ahead.

So what can you do right now to ensure you don't waste yours, ask yourself who really needs you right now and who is going to need you as soon as the offices and baristas open up again. The important point here is not who might buy your products and services again, but who really desperately urgently needs you. Then move heaven and earth to build the infrastructure, to service the people who will be crying out for you when you deliver it.

Nice to have is now dead. In the words of Monty Python,” It has ceased to be… it is no more, it's expired.” Nice to have is an ex-strategy. Secondly, based on who needs, you target all your energy into marketing and selling to them now. The LinkedIn messages cold calls, referral calls, outbound campaigns, inbound, all of that should be laser focused on companies and industries who need you like SCOMO needs a press conference. And thirdly, use this time to coach your teams. And I mean coach not catch up over a video conference just to see how cute your team's two-year-old is with a face full of peanut butter. It's a skill issue, re-skill them, prepare your people for what is needed now, and in the coming months. It's understandable that you may want to cut people some slack in an uncertain time. But you can carve out some time to say “Right, Wednesday morning, we're all working on our post-Corona pitch” or “Let's look at our fees. What do we charge? Are we charging the right amount? Is there a way we can improve that? Or maybe we can remodel all of our solutions in a sales leadership session to make sure they're really targeted at the people who need us most. “

I can help you, or you can do it yourself, but not to do it is, well….wasteful.

In one of my next episodes, I'm going to talk about this further with Australia's leading futurist Morris Miselowski, who knows exactly what's coming around the corner for all of us in business. So, stay tuned.

I'll leave you with a note. I received from a business development manager who sent this to her sales manager, after he resigned before approving her quarterly commission.

“At first, I was afraid I was petrified, kept thinking I could never live without you by my side. But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong. And I grew strong and I learned how to get along.”

Thanks for sharing Gloria. I'm sure you will survive.

Stay safe, stay positive. Your ears are safe. I recorded this entire podcast in a hazmat suit. Take care of yourselves till next time.