How to make the best out of a challenging situation, learn, adapt, and evolve.
With plenty of headlines focusing on the negative impacts and the challenges of the virus, it is more important than ever to share how, as a business, we are moving forward with a positive common cause in mind.
Here are the five key things sales-i have learned so far, with the purpose of ensuring the stepping-stones are in place for when things return back to normality:
1. Getting the most out of new, and existing technology
We are no strangers to technology, but we, too, have had to adopt new ways of working, from video communication between teams to virtual meetings between customers, prospects, partners, and colleagues. Having to rely on innovative technology to overcome the challenges, keep business moving forward, and recognize the value it brings means that sales-i users have taken this time as an opportunity to further investigate the system, building a deeper understanding of how it can truly help their business during lockdown.
Outside of the sales-i family, interest has been sparked in our sales intelligence software in businesses that are preparing and planning their future with the insights that are delivered. From identifying their customer spending patterns and taking advantage of the new sales opportunities to tracking their sales team’s performance and activity, the functionalities and capabilities within technology has the ability to power your business to the end of lockdown, and beyond. By introducing new technology to the business, it has allowed us to grow both as a team and as a company.
2. Learning together, but staying apart
Whether you are a visual, auditory, reading or kinesthetic learner, online webinars are an engaging and informative way to absorb information, interact with the host, and get the most value from the time invested, as you can implement as you go, pause, rewind and enquire.
As we continue to move through the weeks of isolation, sales-i trainers continue to hold weekly webinars that explore how to best use the software. With thousands of viewers each week, it’s proven that learning together while staying apart really does help us all improve our skills whilst working on our business.
3. Building relationships, old and new
Some days, you might appreciate not being pulled into ten different meetings before ticking off your to-do list, and other days, you might miss the conversation and buzz of the office. But it would be fair to say many of us now have more opportunities to pick up the phone and get those building blocks in place to maintain (or create!) strong and trusting relationships with our customers.
At sales-i, we have taken advantage of the extra opportunity to nurture customers, introduce ourselves to prospects and connect with people that we believe would benefit from our product. What we do now will determine how quickly we come out of this pandemic and the challenges it brings, and you can do the same. By dedicating time each day to touch base with your customers and showing empathy and understanding it will help you build those relationships. By using the sales-i Campaigns feature, it is easier than ever to identify which customers to speak to first.
4. We’re a family
Going into an office or workplace each day, it’s easy to under-appreciate or overlook the skills and knowledge of our colleagues, but when separated and having to work from a distance, it highlights how well we all cooperate as a team.
Having technology by our side certainly helps to fill the space, but knowing we already have the foundation of a strong unit has made adapting to this new way of working much easier. Every business will face challenges, especially during this time, but if we continue to communicate and move towards the same goal, we will all come out the other side together and stronger. Our recent article on how to really manage your team will explore different ways to bring departments together whilst working remotely.
5. Having a routine and sticking to it
Distractions can often happen; when you’re working from your spare bedroom, a home office, or for those who have young children… anywhere where they are occupied, but having a scheduled and set to-do list helps us battle through the disturbance and keeps us on track to success.
Having a structured day also gives us more time for the admin that we often don’t get a chance to complete, such as updating customer lists, customer information, cleansing data, and anything in between that will help prepare for the recovery.
Using sales-i, it’s quick and easy to locate and analyze your customers’ health and information within a few clicks. This data includes spending patterns, what they’re buying, what they are not, how often, and whether their spending is falling. With this, you can also extract new sales opportunities, and gives you a reason to touch base and build those relationships.
The Snapshot reporting functionality within sales-i will help to structure your day, as it runs a detailed review of your customer accounts by analyzing their behavior over the last two years, and with this information, you can get a head start and determine who to contact and what to say – structuring your day and time for high risk or opportunity customers. You can also explore various strategies and adopt the best one to prepare your teams for a remote sales call.
These are the five key takeaways that sales-i have learned from Covid-19, which will benefit our business both short and long-term. The things we have implemented will shape how we work when we return to normality.
