Navigating Challenging Times

by Steve Jensen
8 min read

As the global effect of coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to evolve, Xvoyant is firmly committed to the health, safety, and ongoing success of our employees and our customers.  We are in a time, unlike any other in any of our careers.

It reminds me of another time several years ago that was “unlike any other” at that time.  In 2008 I was running sales for a large, publicly-traded financial institution.  I had a lot of salespeople, and we had aggressive goals.

And then the Great Recession hit—a crisis unlike any other.  People were losing their homes.  Companies were shutting down almost overnight. The availability of credit was disappearing.  More banks shutting down that year than in all the years since the Great Depression combined.  For a financial institution, all the rules seemed to change suddenly.

Our customers were business owners, CFOs, and controllers.  And they suddenly had “new normals” that they had never had to deal with.  The #1 question everyone had was around the “soundness” of our financial institution…were we going to make it?  And our employees needed answers so they could effectively engage our customers with confidence.

It was a hard, hard time.  But we made it.  And we made it successfully.  It took some changes.  It took great leadership.  And most of all, it took a willingness to adapt.  I found that those that adapt best…win.

I’ve thought a lot about that experience of helping a team through a challenging time.  I believe there are a few lessons that apply today.  I hope these lessons are helpful as you lead your teams through this time of great uncertainty.

• Choose Customers over Contacts.  We made a decision to put our current customers first.  We wanted each customer to know we had the capital for our current customers, and we were committed to helping them get through this crisis.  They had committed to us, and as a result…we would commit to them.  And we didn’t just have capital…we had preferred rates for them as well.  Our customers needed to know that we were there for them and would help them navigate these challenging times without fear of price-gouging, unreasonable terms, or new considerations.  Since they worked with us… “business as usual” would apply as much as possible.

What this means today: Double down on the customers you have.  There are a lot of new normals emerging quickly.  For example, most sales teams are now 100% remote.  For many organizations, this is a pretty big change.  At Xvoyant, we’ve had several companies tell us they need to make sure they don’t lose their coaching cadence or the development of their people just because they work remotely now.  There will be new challenges as a result of companies having a new Go to Market.  How you lead will be more important than ever before.  Take the time to understand how you can “Double Down” on the customers you have.  I’ve made changes to our pricing, to our support model, and nearly every part of how we engage our customers so we can make sure we are there for our customers.  Be the partner that helps your customers go through this time of transition as smoothly as possible.  Done authentically, this will help you move from the status of a “vendor” to “part of the team.”  So find ways to double down first on the customers you have, not the contacts you’re chasing.  This is an easy way to show empathy and be genuine with these organizations who have bet on you.

• Choose Clarity over Certainty. Everyone wants certainty in life.  I’ve found that certainty becomes a big challenge and can become a limiting factor.  We’re in a time where there is no playbook on how to handle this time of the global pandemic.  So don’t pretend to.  There’s no telling what we’ll learn tomorrow, or even in an hour.  You’ll have reps that are turning to you for leadership right now.  And you can’t really give them certainty.  What you can do is give them clarity.  When we navigated the recession, there were questions we’d never faced before.  There were answers that sometimes we just didn’t have.  But there were things that we could make clear:  1)  We had the staying power…we were an institution they could count on.  2)  If you were already our customer, we would have what you needed to get through this difficult time.  3)  We were committed to our communities and would do all we could to help businesses survive and recover.  4) This included a commitment to our employees and their families.  5) If it could be done…we’d do it.  Things like this empowered our front line team members.  It helped them know what conversations they could…and should have with our customers and other prospects.  It was a difference-maker and took our team off of the sidelines and got them actively engaged.

What this means today:  Help each rep on your team understand how to best navigate this crisis.  For example, #1 is Health and Safety.  #2 might be helping existing customers navigate new normals.  #3 might be changing the conversation with people already in the pipeline.  And #4 might be taking a more empathetic approach with any “top of funnel” conversation.  Right now, you don’t want to be opportunistic with B2B professionals.  In addition, you don’t just want to have “business as usual” be your approach when empathy is so desperately needed right now.  So work with your team and help them have a clear approach to how they take care of themselves, how they help current customers, and how they engage prospects at different stages of development.  Your historical success parameters will likely need to be different…and that’s OK.  Help each member of your team have CLARITY on how to move forward.  Certainty is impossible at a time like this.  Clarity needs to be set on a day by day, week by week basis.  If you take this approach, your reps can have much more confidence in how they engage people each day, and they can create a positive impact with each person they speak with.

• Choose Progress over Perfection. When I helped navigate the great recession, we were one of the early “data-driven” sales teams.  My “magic spreadsheet” was legendary.  Today I’m a little embarrassed that I relied on it to the degree I did back in the day.  I had salespeople so concerned about their conversion metrics and volume metrics that it created a monster for me to help overcome as we moved into this time where more empathy was required.  It was at this time that we really came to understand that Perfection was a limiting mindset.  Progress was one with no limits…ever.

What this means today: Throw away your benchmark data that is “pre-virus.”  Now is not the time to be banging out more cold-calls than ever before.  Now is a time to be more personalized than ever before.  Look for ways to find progress.  Progress in existing relationships.  Progress in how we connect.  Progress in how we find what problems a customer cares about.  Progress in how we find what results matter most to a customer.  Make no mistake…we need to sell our way through this crisis.  But the metrics are going to be different.  Now is not the time to be having your sequences just rolling.  Now is the time to focus on connection.  Connection with your reps.  Connection with your customers.  Connection with their challenges.  You should be able to find ways to measure progress every single week.  You’ll be surprised how much progress you can make when you search for it.

• Choose Consistency Over Comprehensiveness. I found that the more consistent our leaders were in the leadership approach during a time with challenges we’d never seen, the more successful our team became, and the more appreciative our customers were.  I found that we needed to update our team weekly at the very latest.  In many cases, there were daily updates.  It was so important to have each member of the team speaking the same language.  This built confidence and led to a team that was able to be a helpful resource to the communities we served.  At first, some of our team felt like this was “overkill.” But very quickly they learned that things were changing so fast, that consistent communication trumped a “comprehensive” data dump every time.  As a result, our salespeople became a critical, trusted part of our client teams as they stared down challenges as business owners that they’d never had to consider before.

What this means today.  Overcommunicate.  You likely have created a 100% remote team at this point.  At the very least, more are remote than ever before.  Create more opportunities to communicate than you might need.  Now is the time that your leadership needs to be both seen and heard in order to be felt.  Consistency will do more for you than having all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed ever will.  Be consistent in having your 1:1 conversations.  Be consistent in team communications.  Use your cameras when you have conference calls.  Re-humanize the remote process as much as possible.  But don’t fall into the trap of having your “manifesto” where everything you need is in “that document” or “that email.”  Err on the side of more human interaction and more personalization.

Don’t be afraid of feeling “redundant” in your communication.  Right now, people need to be led.  And people lead people.  Don’t forget that.

To each of you, Xvoyant is committed to helping you navigate these new challenges.  Our company was founded on the belief that how you lead is your most important, most defensible competitive advantage.  If we can have conversations and share best practices that we see drive success around the world…we will gladly share what we’ve learned with anyone wanting to create their path through this new challenge.

If you’re already our customer, we’re here for you.

As a member of the sales community, we’re here for you.  Our community is an important one, and we stand ready to help however we can.  Whether it is having an open conversation or if it is helping lead in a completely new environment, we’re here.

There are more questions than answers right now.  But what I’m very sure of is now is the time for the leaders to step forward.  Now is the time where teams need to know they are being led.  Now is not the time to hunker down, cross your fingers, and hope “this too shall pass.”

---

Steve Jensen is VP of Marketing at Xvoyant