There is No Better Time for your Company to be Communicating, Educating, and Differentiating
So one moment the phone never stops ringing, you’re backed up on completing proposals and
turning away work because you don’t have the time or resources to get to it all done. The next
moment the phone stops ringing and you don’t know what to do with your Team.
No one knows what the coming weeks and/or months are going to look like in this ever-
changing environment but one thing is for certain in good times or bad businesses should
always be selling.
True selling is not receiving another project from a current industry partner,
value engineering a proposal to win the job or having an existing Client request upgrades. True
selling is performing activities that gain new Industry Partners and Clients by establishing
credibility, understanding the client’s needs and wants by asking questions and listening and
ultimately providing a great solution through education and performance.
In many ways, this could be one of the best times ever to be marketing and selling.
People are looking for interaction, the ability to learn something new and take a break from the
challenges of the current environment. Integrators should be reaching out to:
– Current Clients
– Current Industry Partners (Builders, Architects, Interior Designers and Others)
– New Clients
– New Industry Partners
What can you be doing and/or offering?
– Job sites – When’s the last time you went to a job site you weren’t told about? In
today’s environment practice social distancing and follow state and local laws by
canvassing your local area for new job sites. Take down the information from posted
signage and follow up remotely by phone, video, and email.
– Virtual introductory meeting – Whether it’s in the near term or the new normal Clients
and Industry Partners will become more accustomed to meeting initially by way of video
conferencing. Make sure whoever is responsible for sales at your Company have
perfected their video presentation and meeting skills.
– Virtual Lunch and Learns – This has always been a great way to educate both existing
and new Industry Partners. Focus on topics that are important today like a well-
connected home office and human-centric technologies. Make sure you are proficient at
using your video conferencing technology including how and when you screen share.
Are you, or someone in your Company, capable of successfully performing daily and weekly
results-oriented sales activity?
How many job sites should you visit, how many phone calls and
emails do you need make/send, how much work do you need to propose/bid in order close
enough work to meet your revenue goal? If your answers to the above questions are yes and
come with specific numbers then congratulations you’re business is positioned to transition
into a successful selling organization.
On the other hand, if you don’t have a salesperson in your
organization and are unsure of what metrics you need in place to be successful then you may
want to engage a recruiter who is not only knowledgeable in filling this position but who also
can provide sales consulting and coaching as well.