March 31, 2020

How to stay connected to clients and still make sales during the COVID-19 crisis

During a crisis such as COVID-19, the industry landscape can be changing daily, so how can we best equip our teams to communicate regularly with clients and still generate sales? We share some practical tips.

Encouraging sales teams to make calls can be challenging in the best of times. Any sales manager knows that the importance of a high volume of calls, coupled with quality, in-depth conversations, are key sales activities. Even the best products don’t sell themselves, and a disengaged sales team can devastate a company’s prospects in both the short and long term.

In times of crisis, salespeople can be even more reluctant to pick up the phone, and in-person meetings aren’t practical. However, there has never been a more important time to communicate with the market than in times of crisis. Companies who remain active on the sales front will be the ones who come out the strongest, and marketing teams are more important now than ever in supporting the sales process. We offer these five tips to supporting sales teams in times of crisis:

1. Generate additional marketing collateral: Give your team an excuse to connect with key and potential clients with some new material. Now is a great time to refresh a company brochure or update your web content. Not only does it take advantage of some company downtime, but it gives a great talking point for your sales team to reach out to the market.

2. Bring a product launch forward: It may seem counter-intuitive but rather than delaying a launch until the crisis passes, consider bringing the launch forward. Engagement across digital and print platforms has never been stronger, with people working remotely and taking the time to connect with media. It’s highly likely that in this environment your product launch will attract even more market and media attention.

3. Support your current clients with case studies and industry news: Use your own company newsletters and databases to communicate positive news, and consider partnering with a leading industry magazine to offer opportunities for your clients to tell their stories to the market. It’s a great way to keep them connected, and your sales team can use those success stories with other current or potential clients.

4. Offer a webinar or other educational industry resource: Show your support for the industry by offering a complimentary resource, such as a webinar or whitepaper. The content is a great way to show your company’s thought leadership. By hosting it on an industry publication platform, you can generate publicity and lead generation beyond your own database, giving your sales team a quality list of leads to follow up.

5. Look for alternative marketing opportunities to events: Many companies find themselves at a loss when shows get cancelled or postponed. You can rework collateral you have prepared for a show by partnering with an industry publication on a product showcase, or organising a webinar for a missed speaking opportunity.

In addition to being a leading B2B Publisher, Prime Creative Media offers a variety of Marketing Services. Our team can help you from concept planning through to delivery and lead generation, all with one team. Because we are experts in the industries we serve, we are best placed to deliver on campaigns that generate results.

Our services include:

  • Multiple-platform advertising, print, digital and content: By partnering with us on our print and digital magazines, we can not only support you with advertising your brand, but our industry journalists can write and distribute content to spread your message to a wide market, on a trusted platform.
  • Whitepapers and Case Studies: Our experienced Content Marketing team can support you with concept planning, research, writing and delivery of your own branded whitepapers and case studies.
  • Lead Generation: Partner with our platforms to distribute your content across our trusted mediums as gated content, where anyone reading it needs to input their email, and phone number. At the end of the campaign, you are given a list of quality leads your sales team can follow up on.
  • Solus EDMs: We have the country’s best industry opt-in databases and can deliver your custom and branded emails to the market. Limited sends available per month.
  • Webinars: We work with leading companies to deliver webinars featuring your team as experts, with optional hosting by our Editors, to secure your position as thought leaders. Offering complimentary registration, and distributing the webinar after the event on our platforms, creates a strong list of leads for your sales team.
  • Ecommerce and web site design: If you need to make the quick switch to ecommerce, our team of web site designers and developers can deliver a quality product, catered to your industry.