Hey B2B Startups — Here’s How to Communicate During a Global Pandemic

As an enterprise startup, how do you get the right message across in the age of COVID-19? Well, it’s complicated. So we asked Galina Antova, co-founder and CEO of Claroty, a cybersecurity startup that counts Fortune 500 companies like Chevron and Pfizer as customers.

Galina sharpened her CEO skills at Siemens, where she created a startup within the billion-dollar company. Today, this global entrepreneur is building Claroty, and like many enterprise startups, they have a high burn rate during these hard times. So she’s finding new ways to adapt.

Galina shares her expert tips on ways B2B companies should communicate to employees, board members, customers, and prospects in our new normal.

First, know how to use your oxygen mask

Before you do anything, you need to think clearly about the challenges and opportunities ahead, Galina advises. Managing your own psychology will allow you to approach the crisis with a clear head instead of being in panic mode.

“There’s a reason planes tell you to use your own oxygen mask in case of emergency. Take a moment and address your own psychology. Realize that there are a lot of things you don’t control. The markets will judge you on the things that you can control.”

According to Galina, if your messages are panicky, that makes the problem that much worse. That’s why it’s crucial to do what you can to stay level-headed.

Now, let’s walk through Galina’s communication tips for enterprise companies.

1. Communicating to employees

No one knows the extent of the COVID-19 crisis, but based on all the indicators, it will be a deep one.

That’s why Galina urges founders to overreact. If you don’t take dramatic measures right away, Galina says, you have to keep changing your story. You don’t want that.

Overreacting means the following things when it comes to your team:

Decide on what you’re going to communicate and be concrete

Be transparent with your team about the measures you’re going to take. If you start communicating externally before the team knows what the situation is, that will create challenges.

Transparency shows employees that you actually understand the severity of the situation and you’re not hiding anything. It also gives your team a sense of ownership.

Make defensive and offensive moves — while keeping the team in the loop

Defensive moves will allow you to stay in business for as long as possible. Cutting budgets, postponing projects, freezing hiring — all of that is defense.

Once you share the brutal reality of your defense moves, bring your team in to help you think about the offensive moves.

Offensive moves put you in a better position. In times of crisis, it’s a good opportunity to rethink everything — additional revenue streams, different segments that weren’t interesting enough before, that kind of thing, Galina says.

“The best defense is offense.”

With offense, you want the collective wisdom of your team. To get that, employees need to know that you’re telling them the truth. Galina says you want the team to think:

“They’re not bullshitting us. We know exactly what the financial situation of the company is. And we know that if we pour our minds together, we’ll be able to come up with ideas that will help us extend our runway.”

Remember that productivity isn’t everything right now

It’s okay to not feel okay right now, Galina says. Everyone has kids and parents and obligations to take care of, so just acknowledge that. Ask the team to really take a pause, and re-establish their priorities.

Galina and her team also have social Zoom meetings to replace the watercooler moments that used to happen in the office.

“It feels like we went out for dinner, we did something social. It really helps bring the anxiety down.”

2. Communicating to board members

Your board is there to work for you, especially in times of crisis, urges Galina.

Use your board as a resource

Because investors manage different portfolio companies, their accumulated wisdom gives them a good perspective on changing situations like COVID-19.

If you’re a founder who has raised at least one round, you probably have board members with different expertise. Reach out to them for an in-depth session on what you’re thinking in terms of offensive moves.

Ask them:

• Do you think these moves will be impactful?
• What are you seeing in your other portfolio companies?
• What would you do?

Paint a clear picture of the numbers and build scenarios

Once you have your board members on a call, it’s important to share as much information as possible about your financial position.

“At the end of the day, your business hasn’t changed. The actual acceleration or conversion might have changed because of market dynamics, but the basics should still be sound.”

You want to build financial scenarios that take the market dynamics into consideration, but also what you can influence on top of those dynamics. Separate market conditions from what you’re doing because you don’t have control over the market.

Then tell your story. What are you doing defensively and offensively to help extend your runway?

If you realize that you won’t have enough runway, Galina suggests asking them upfront whether they’ll continue to finance you during these difficult times. It could be with a bridge loan or a down round, and if they do, it means you have a good investor on your side.

3. Communicating to customers

Crises are much larger in larger companies. Acknowledge that.

“Have the patience and compassion to know that your customers are dealing with other more urgent things.”

Don’t use empty language

Don’t just say, “We’re here for you,” says Galina. Slogans don’t do anything for your actual customer experience.

However, you can proactively think through the bottlenecks of your current business model and if there are any disruptions you can anticipate. And if you notice that you can proactively improve something, do it.

Offer services for free — if you can

For those that have business models that are a blend of a product and service, you may want to provide some of those offerings free of charge.

You can have a customer success rep look at a customer’s usage and see how to optimize it or provide it free of charge for a few months.

“Those types of gestures, especially for large enterprise customers, will keep people wanting to work with you, even when the crisis is over. Remember, the crisis is also an opportunity to build relationships.”

4. Communicating to prospects

How do you drive deals forward without coming across as insensitive? Here are a few of Galina’s ideas:

Map out your sales journey and find the friction points

If you can afford it, work on eliminating the friction points, Galina says.

At Claroty, they used to incentivize salespeople to sign up clients on a three-year contract, which doesn’t work well in this kind of climate.

So her team completely eliminated that requirement. Now, they give those customers the ability to sign up on a month-to-month basis, which is uncommon for Fortune 500 companies. But it allows her team to move those accounts forward.

Ask for a timeline

Say, “Okay, we understand this is what you’re dealing with right now. Just to set expectations, do you think this is going to be a Q2, Q3, or Q4 kind of deal?”

In most cases, prospects will take that approach positively, says Galina.

If you work with large enterprise customers that have a company-wide pause on purchasing, sometimes you just have to wait it out. For other business models, you may be able to remove some of the friction points.

Stop the cold emails

Galina uses a LinkedIn feature called Sales Navigator, which lets her connect with people in context.

“So rather than just sending a cold email, it allows me to say, ‘Hey, you know, we have this connection in common. And by the way, I was talking to your colleague about something else.’ I’ve had good success with that.”

Invest in strategic partnerships

If your sales cycle is disrupted, you might want to consider spending the time to develop strategic relationships, Galina says.

Your partner strategy really depends on your line of business. If you’re selling to large enterprises, chances are your product is one small piece of what the customer uses in a much broader context.

For example, if you’re an extension on top of Salesforce, you want to be friends with Salesforce. Or if you provide an optimization on top of an HR solution, find out who the three biggest players are in that domain.

“It’s very specific to your industry, and it’s very worth it to spend the time to establish those relationships.”

The COVID-19 crisis is impacting B2B companies in unique ways, and it’s important to recognize those patterns without feeding into the panic. By having a plan for each stakeholder, you’ll be able to meet each audience where they are — and help take them to where you want to go.

“Just make sure your oxygen mask works and is on tight.”