Catch it; Bin it; Kill it is a slogan that’s being used a lot right now. But, don’t let the latest panic kill your business. In large organisations, employees are being advised to stop travelling and, in some cases, stop going to meetings. Events are becoming something that companies and employees are wary to attend for fear of infection. People are seen wearing masks in the street and on public transport. The media is awash with stories of global panic and measures being put in place to mitigate likely spread of the virus.
This is all bad news for business. Many remember the paralysis of the last recession. The inertia of Brexit and pre-election worries is fresh in the mind. Neither large nor small businesses want further disruption. Few can afford a period of stagnation and inactivity. Business must go on. But, how does that happen when everyone is fearful of shaking hands and meeting face to face?
There’s one obvious answer. Nowadays we have a proliferation of software available for carrying out meetings via video call and so on. With some employees consigned to home until the panic is over, why not think about other ways to interact? The use of the humble telephone won’t result in you catching anything. So, perhaps for the short-term at least, consider switching your face to face meetings to phone meetings when running prospecting exercises. It doesn’t all have to stop. Businesses must plough on and transact. Things need to be purchased and projects mustn’t be allowed to stand still. At the heart of all of that is communication since most business gets done in a person to person manner.
So, if you’re concerned that your customers aren’t getting the attention they need though lack of visits and if you’re concerned about sending sales teams to prospect premises, consider the use of telemarketing to do the grunt work to set up phone appointments, web demos, webinars and the like. Outbound calling can have a range of uses from:
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- Prospect calls to new targets: There will inevitably be prospects that will never have considered you for their needs since they are simply unaware of what you offer.
- Event support: Where you are running webinars or need to set up online demos
- Inbound Enquiries: A system of triage for inbound enquiries
- Customer Care: Ensuring that customers with potential don’t forget about you due to the absence of face to face visits
- Cross-sell and Up-sell: There will always be opportunities to position new products and services to segmented audiences within your database to increase average spend etc
- Research amongst customers and prospects: to provide insight for new opportunities
- Lapsed customer resuscitation: calling those with whom you haven’t traded for some time
These are just a few ways you can keep your business going while the current situation persists. It’s likely that large organisations have measures in place for staff homeworking and to ensure that those individuals are accessible through diverted calls to mobile and through switchboard extensions and transfers.
So, it’s important to be proactive. Business shouldn’t remain passive even in this uncertain time. Be decisive and ensure that your business doesn’t catch a cold!
