You cannot ignore COVID-19 and keep prospecting and selling as if nothing has happened. You will come across as self-serving and frankly a bit weird (or very ‘businessy’ and boring).

Before you launch into your prospecting or sales pitch, you need to address ‘where your customer is at.’

And COVID-19 is where they will be at:

Their business is being impacted by it
They may be working from home
They might know people who are sick
They may be fearing for their job and livelihood

Jumping straight to business will come across as plain weird…as if you’d not been listening to the news.

Human beings are social creatures…even those in the corporate world. Hard to believe sometimes, I know…😊

I’ve just been reviewing some prospecting emails and existing customer requests for meeting emails from clients of mine that aren’t generating any responses. What’s missing?

The emails jump straight from canned pleasantry—“[Name], good morning. I hope this finds you well”— to a request for a meeting to discuss business objectives. There’s no mention of COVID-19 and humanities’ shared struggle at this time. And it is highly conspicuous in its absence.

Do you really think they are concerned about where they are in the sales/buying cycle with you?

Empathize with them. Share a virtual water cooler moment with them.

“[Name], good morning. Hope you’re managing to stay positive and productive at this challenging time for all of us.

Personally, I’ve been able to enjoy some extra time with my kids without the commute and hope that you’ve also been able to find a silver lining in your situation.

If you’re like your peers at XYZ, they’re sharing that they want and need to (challenge to address/goals to achieve). Are you finding the same?

….”

There. Easy. Empathy.

Your recipient will feel like you care. So they will care in return.

With human beings “slow is fast and fast is slow.”

Spread the love.

Two heads are better than one. If you’re looking to weather the storm and are looking for a sounding board to bounce ideas off to drive sales growth during these turbulent times, then give me a call.