A New B2B Playbook for the Rest of 2020
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We’re more than halfway through 2020 and four months and counting into the pandemic. It’s time to dust off 2020 business plans and update them based on our best predictions for how the rest of 2020 will unfold.
Until adequate testing and a vaccine is widely available, we predict that organizations will ask their employees to continue to work from home. This has implications for sales, marketing, enablement, and partners, the likes of which we have not seen in our careers.
A recent New York Times article highlighted insights from 8 CEOs. Of course every one of them (and the rest of us) want to get back to “business as usual” but until safeguards for consumers and employees are in place, we need to continue to adapt to the situation we face for the foreseeable future.
We also need to use this time to figure out our New Normal. I’ve also heard this be referred to as our Next Normal, and our New Abnormal. No matter which term resonates with you, it’s time to take action to shape it as best you can with the knowledge we have today.
Embrace Selling Virtually
Sales calls will need to be done via video and phone. The silver lining here is that your customers and prospects are in the same boat, so they should be understanding.
Since we don’t envision business travel coming back any time soon — either across town or across the country — you need to be creative in how to stand out and stay top of mind when you can’t show up in person.
Our advice:
Go above and beyond for your customers. Know your customers and know how you can add value to them. Share relevant information and news they need to succeed. Have your executives reach out to them to convey their strategic importance and to strengthen relationships. Consider which solutions they need to know about and what ROI modeling you need to prepare for them.
Customize your meetings for the customer. Make a point to know your customer stylistically: Do they appreciate a few minutes of personal chat at the start of each call, or do they want you to get right to the point? Do they always want to use video, or would they prefer a phone call?
Be prepared for every call. Dial in a few minutes early, share an agenda (and follow it), and manage your meeting time. If you can end early, even better since many people are jumping from one meeting to another.
Set the scene. Take a moment to examine the background of your workspace. What does your audience see when video chatting with you? Remove as many distractions as possible from the frame so they can focus on you and your message. Your space should be clean, professional, and an extension of the brand you’ve worked hard to build.
Follow up. The best sales reps are disciplined about following up and following through with their customers, including trial closes.
Get Creative with Your Digital Marketing to Drive Demand
We expect all in-person marketing events to be cancelled for the remainder of the year. While we anticipate CFOs will request some of those marketing funds be returned to the bottom line, we see at least a portion of the marketing budget transitioning over to virtual events and digital demand generation.
It’s important to remember that business will eventually turn around, so you’ll want to keep your marketing running at some level to stay in the awareness and consideration pools of your customers and prospects.
Our advice:
Don’t go dark. Prepare a budget for digital marketing to generate awareness and demand for your solutions and services.
Get creative. Your prospects are probably in Zoom-overload, so give them a compelling reason to mark time on their calendars to attend your sessions. What call-to-action or insights can you offer to make your virtual event stand out?
Show your work. Be disciplined about documenting each marketing campaign along with the owner, budget, and goals for each. Share your plans with your partners so they can amplify messages when appropriate.
Get ready for “go” time! Start preparing now for the inevitable uptick in interest. Have a bold plan ready to go when you and your advisors see the upturn is happening. Catch that curve early with a plan ready, funded, aggressive and executable. Be ready to go!
Double Down on Training and Enablement
Training and enablement will also be done 100% remotely for the rest of 2020. While virtual training can be done via video, we expect this pandemic to accelerate the use of AR and VR in enablement.
It would be short-sighted to cut back on training. In fact, we see enablement as a key to success. Our experience tells us that people follow their trainers. So if you’re the person training partners or customers about your solution, you’ve already set yourself apart from the competition.
Our advice:
Use this time to improve your training. Generate playbooks and battlecards for your team and partners so everyone is promoting accurate messages consistently and frequently. Invest in gamification or other consumer-like interactions to make your content memorable and sticky.
Include training in your business plan. Document how training will impact the business. Assign owners, timelines, and success metrics. Answer questions like: Who needs to be trained? Who will do the training?
Make training your industry differentiator. If your salesforce and channel partners are trained and ready for the upturn, ready to serve customers, you’ll be miles ahead of your competition when the economy turns around.
Anticipate the Impact on Industries
A direct consequence of Covid will be temporary and permanent cutbacks — or even closings — in various industries. You can read McKinsey’s report on the industries they expect to be most impacted and when they anticipate their recovery here.
For some companies, Covid will precipitate a complete transformation. Other companies will be better poised than ever to succeed.
A few examples where we see opportunities include:
Retail is accelerating to omnichannel.
Healthcare is accelerating the adoption of telemedicine.
Cybersecurity needs are increasing with remote work.
Supply chain management is more important than ever to get food, medicine, and other essential goods from point to point.
Our advice:
Know your coverage by industry. Do you have partners who are over-weighted in industries which will not recover quickly, if ever? If so, how will you make up for the lost revenue? How can you help these partners transition to future-proof industries and services? What mitigation plans can you put into place?
Plan for an Impact on Partners
Finally, since our work experience has always revolved around partners, we need to take a moment to consider the impact that the pandemic is having on them.
The challenges in transitioning “traditional” partners to the cloud have been mounting. Now, Covid is creating the perfect storm.
With people not going into offices anymore, partners who sell and service printers, copiers, office phones, office networks, etc. will take a major hit for months to come.
We predict some channel partners will close their doors as a result of slowing business. If partners have been building retail point of sale solutions, relied on events marketing, or depended on inventory which no longer exists in the supply chain, they may opt to close their doors instead of transitioning to new solution sets.
Our advice:
Know your partners. And even if you know them well, ask them what they need. Some may need more lenient terms, some may need pre-sales help. Don’t assume to know, and don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach.
Mitigate risk for your partners. As we’ve said many times before, partners are looking for empathy, leadership, and communication. Can you double rebate programs? Can you create a predictable go-to-market strategy so their investment is protected? Can you match demand generation funds? Can you sponsor a Selling to the C Suite training for your partners?
Adjust your business plan to anticipate potential scarcity in your partner base. Don’t let major shifts in your partner landscape catch you by surprise.
The good news is that with every challenge comes opportunities. We strongly believe that individuals and organizations who consider their future, plan for it, and take action will come out stronger. Don’t wait or wonder how long a crisis will last; proactively shape your future and prepare for when the upturn inevitably arrives.