Covid has changed many things this year and some of them are not so obvious. It’s a good time to look at your contact list, especially for critical accounts and prospects, because you will probably find some changes. In difficult financial times, companies often change the approval process and authorization levels. This means that some of the people you were talking with a few months ago are not the people you need to be talking with tomorrow. Worst of all, many of them won’t volunteer the fact that they no longer have the approval power that they had in the past. Sales teams that do their homework and move up a level will often find success ahead of those who pursue the old track.
As a manager, this is a difficult issue because your salespeople, like most of us, like to take the route of least resistance. They won’t want to risk ruffling the feathers of the old contact to get to the new one. I try to help my clients find an approach that makes it a win for everyone and still gets you up the ladder. The bottom line is that living with the status quo can sink your sales results.
Make 2021 a great year with a contact update today. I’m happy to talk with you if you need help finding an approach that works.