(Now more than ever) “A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste”​

Originally attributed to economist Paul Romer, this phrase comes to mind every time there is a calamity or a crisis. Be it infrastructure improvements after a hurricane, or retraining employees when you pivot your business direction after a disastrous year, there may be a silver lining beyond the immediate tragedy…

And the tragedy du jour, as you know, is CoronaVirus!

Obviously it is nothing to downplay — hundreds of thousands infected, thousands of deaths, and an enormous impact to global economy is nothing to scoff at. The social distancing, cancellation of sporting events, bans on group gatherings, and lock-downs are bringing industries like travel and entertainment to their knees. If we thought social media was making us lonely, guess what social distancing and Self Isolation are going to do…

Yes, there are some silver linings — reduced pollution, increased family time, a lasting change in the way you work, etc. But there are a few professions which are not ideally suited to work-from-home, social-distancing, including mine — Sales!

Let’s take a pause here and talk a little bit about modern day sales. A few years ago, a ground-breaking sales model was proposed — the Challenger Sales model. In a nutshell, after an enormous amount of research, five profiles of salespeople were identified, the Challengers were found to be the high performers.

The model goes on to describe the best practices Challenger salespeople follow — Teach (bring new ways of solving a business problem), Tailor (customize to the needs of the client), and Take Control (of the sales cycle and the associated objections).

All this was great till recently. Sure, there were bumps in the road, good and bad years, industries in and out of favor — but not this!

Now salespeople have to deal with fluctuations in supply chains, uncertain budgets, stalled innovation, and a remote workforce. Sales is already a high- stress profession — how can sales leaders be successful in today’s work-from-home, travel-restricted, videoconferenced world?

Now salespeople have to deal with fluctuations in supply chains, uncertain budgets, stalled innovation, and a remote workforce. Sales is already a high- stress profession - how can sales leaders be successful in today's work-from-home, travel-restricted, videoconferenced world?

Some digging led me to read about Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Behavioral Economics. You can read more about the EI model proposed in the mid-1990s, but it talks about five main competencies, including self-awareness and empathy. Research also found that “people would rather do business with a person they like and trust rather than someone they don’t, even if that that person is offering a better product at a lower price”.

The key, I realized, is that the potential customer is facing even more uncertainty than you. Their industry, their job, their reputation or their livelihood may be at stake. If we can develop our self-awareness and empathy to connect with them on an emotional level, understanding what they need and expect (even on the phone or web), we can both be successful!

Now, more than ever, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste!

Update: Read a great, pertinent article in @HBR today (April 8th) on how companies have to look long-term, but make short-term decisions for #cashflow: “Companies need to resist the temptation to stay hunkered down on defense during these difficult times. Instead, go on the offense by using radical generosity and thoughtful aggressiveness as guiding principles. Dark times are when legendary companies and leaders are forged”.

How does the outlook for technology business during this situation? Per Goldman Sachs on April 7th, “The big tech companies are likely to remain relatively unscathed — and may even emerge stronger than ever — as they benefit from the work-from-home, play-at-home and deliver-to-home tailwinds. With millions of people sheltering in place, they’re deepening their reliance on services from the tech industry’s largest companies”.

This validates the need for smart investments, “radical generosity” and “thoughtful aggressiveness” (at least today!).

Please watch this space for further updates.