With Labour Day over, B2B organizations start ramping up sales for the fall. This summer more than most, I feel that people prioritized vacation due to Covid-19. As we start into September many companies are beginning their quarter and year end push. In North America, and especially Canada, things are not quite the same as pre-Covid. Things are moving to being more normal, but we are not there yet. Here are some thoughts on things sales leaders can do to start ramping up for the fall.
Customer meetings
Have you planned out your strategy for customer meetings? Most companies that had meetings went remote during the pandemic. Some companies have implemented policies of only having vaccinated employees meet with vaccinated customers. We have a client with an industrial solution that often needs to be seen in-person. We had meetings outside and/or with masks and physical distancing. Things are changing so make sure you have s strategy in place for your team.
Decision making timelines
If your targets are based on the calendar year-end, then the next few months are key at getting business closed. This isn’t especially new to times of Covid, but budgets and timelines have been affected. Making sure the rep understands the internal decision-making process and timelines is more important than ever.
Sales team working remotely
Does you company have a return to office plan? Many companies are keeping everyone remote and others are slowly having employees return. Communitech has some great information on returning to the office. Understanding the short, medium, and long term plans is important for performance, employee satisfaction, recruitment, and retaining your employees.
Hiring
Hiring always takes longer than you would like. Finding the candidates, the interview process, and them giving notice all takes time. On top of that, the time it takes for on-boarding and training of new employees further prolongs the time it takes before they are a contributing salesperson. There are lots of priorities, but getting your new sales hire in place is one of the most important.
If you are interested talking about how VA Partners can help in ramping up sales please contact me.
