ACTION STEPS


3 Ways to Drive Growth Through Frontline Sales During Inflationary Periods


Your frontline sellers have the power to grow your business in difficult times—here’s how to help them do it


THIS ARTICLE IS A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT BY STEVEN LUBOW, A PARTNER IN MCKINSEY’S ATLANTA OFFICE, AND CHRIS LANGLOIS, AN ASSOCIATE PARTNER IN THE MIAMI OFFICE, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM MICHAEL HARNEY AND ANDY EAR- NEST, REPRESENTING VIEWS FROM MCKINSEY’S GROWTH, MARKETING & SALES PRACTICE.


With inflation in the United States hovering at around 7.7 percent, frontline sellers are under pressure to keep orders coming in, while customers are trying to minimize expenses. But combating inflation goes beyond hoping your organization (and frontline) will prove to be resilient—it requires concrete action to reset priorities and change selling behaviors that will ensure profitable growth.


In fact, our research shows that consistent growers ramp up expansion or capability- building efforts when others are battening down the hatches to weather the storm. Resilient organizations don’t just bounce back


from misfortune or change; they turn shocks into opportunities. And the most resilient invest in their talent. This may be a good time to invest in your frontline sellers, build new capabilities, and empower them to help your business thrive in difficult times. The Brazilian Formula One winner Ayrton Senna famously said, “You cannot overtake 15 cars in sunny weather... but you can when it’s raining.” The current economic conditions and inflationary pressures provide a unique opportunity for companies to reposition themselves.


Here are three concrete actions business leaders can take to do so:


ACTION 1:


CLOSE THE INFORMATION LOOP The days of simply selling a product are gone. Frontline sellers need information and market insight to do their jobs well. Considering the last bout of hyperinflation was in the early ’80s, most of today’s sales teams have not sold in an environment with the competing pressures of quota attainment, internal margin protection, and external client uncertainty. While sellers may understand inflation at a conceptual level, they may not fully grasp its impact on the business they represent, the implications to their client base, or the role they can—and must—play to adjust their own selling behavior in response. The first step is to ensure your frontline teams


are equipped with all the facts. This requires establishing the right touchpoints to discuss what’s changing in the current operating environment, as well as how inflationary factors are affecting your business. For example, many top-performing companies create forums to educate frontline teams on the holistic health of the business, headwinds that may be emerging, how targets and priorities may need to change, and how to adjust interactions with customers. If frontline sellers understand the bigger


picture, it enables them to think as a business partner in their client interactions. Armed with the right contextual information, your sales teams will be better equipped to move beyond mere pricing discussions to deeper communication about shared business concerns.


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