While I don’t think there’s anything that can be considered positive about an event that wreaks havoc on the world, two items I read this morning were semi-uplifting and worth sharing — sort of like a how-to on making lemonade from the lemons we’ve been handed.
The first was that, in 1665, the University of Cambridge temporarily closed due to the bubonic plague. Isaac Newton had to work from home, and he used this time to develop calculus and the theory of gravity. (And, if you follow @AriannaHuffington on LinkedIn, you already knew that.)
The second was an article from @MichaelLieberman, CEO of Square2Marketing. His point was that since at least some modicum of change is inevitable right now, why not go all in and make the changes we’ve perhaps been gun-shy about or haven’t gotten around to implementing — specifically, technology-based changes.
If you agree that this could be an opportunity for some significant transformation, here are some quick and dirty sales and marketing-related suggestions I picked out of Lieberman’s article for you to kick around.
Are you no longer hosting warehouse or office tours for recruits and prospects? Consider putting a virtual tour in place.
Are you no longer able to visit prospects? Start looking into technology that allows you to meet through video conferencing tools (many of which are free!)
Can’t drop off those price sheets, flyers, and brochures? Devote a page on your website to making the information available electronically. Borrow from your in-person scripts to write relevant content to promote the benefits to be found in each item.
Shortage of leads from poorly-attended trade shows? Add interactive lead magnets (webinars, product and service demos, live FAQs sessions) to your website and on your social media channels. DON’T FORGET TO CAPTURE AND TRACK THE LEADS YOU ATTRACT!! Another solution to a significant drop in leads is to implement some account-based marketing strategies (aka ABM.)
Got a robot manning your website’s chat capabilities? Change the chatbot technology on your website to live chat. Live chat can be manned from anywhere with wifi access.
Speaking of your website . . . with people spending less time in their offices and less time commuting, they’ll have more time to read and search the internet. Make sure the content on your website is relevant and up to date. And again … track those leads!
Need to get the word out about changes taking place in your business? Publish that information at the top of your website, and pin it to the top of all of your social media channels.
So while none of this is a cure for COVID-19 or the shortage of toilet paper in your local grocery store, it can be helpful in keeping things rolling along in your business (no pun intended — honestly!)
I hope you find this helpful!
Let’s do this … Together!
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