SALES STRATEGY


How Sales Can Thrive During an Economic Disruption


HARRY DATWANI


Companies across industries have taken quick action to make challenging decisions as they weather the unprecedented effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact. With all the turmoil, many sales leaders are experiencing disrupted revenues, workforce displacements, and fundamental changes to the very way work is done.


To better navigate this swiftly evolving crisis, sales leaders can organize their actions around these three key phas- es: Respond, Recover, and Thrive.


RESPOND TO THE CRISIS Sales professionals may be fearful for their financial well-being as deals potentially fall through and markets


continue to react with volatility to the economy. It is critical that the full sales team feels support for their emotional and mental needs, just as they would cater to the human consequences and emotions of their customers.


Many companies have already started the process of response by


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implementing support programs for their teams and assessing the impact of the crisis on their busi- ness. From there, sales leaders can identify actionable steps to support high performers, recalibrate sales incentives, and effectively commu- nicate the path forward to the entire organization. It’s important that sales leaders understand specific business vulner- abilities and remodel quotas with more realistic scenarios. This will help calculate projected impacts to rev- enue and comp and empower better grasps on areas that are particularly vulnerable to the downturn, includ- ing contracts with small businesses, retailers, and other businesses whose workforces are directly impacted by shelter-in-place orders. Then, develop a clear set of priorities so sellers can be as productive as pos- sible, building a corresponding plan to understand and address buying process disruptions.


During planning, leaders should work closely with finance, engineering, and other teams to chart the new land-


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