Colleen’s Blog

I’ve been talking a lot about the importance of having the right mindset for uncertain times. And for sellers and leaders alike, I regularly remind you why you must adapt, how you work, and how you connect with customers to survive and thrive in this fast-changing marketplace.

As sales managers, you can’t solve your team and company’s problems if you're not talking to customers directly. Especially during these uncertain times, I know many of you have become comfortable with just sitting behind your desk. However, you need to get out and talk to customers or, at least, talk to them virtually.

The big mistake repeated far too often by sellers throughout the global pandemic—and in any period of abrupt change—is believing that if you wait long enough and keep on working the way you always have, things will eventually get back to normal.

I don’t need to tell you that the 2020 global pandemic was a watershed year for change. But, what gets overlooked far too often is that the conditions for change—especially in sales—were apparent for years. Selling was ripe for disruption because, as the marketplace changed, the behaviours and assumptions of sellers did not.

This year has been all about adapting quickly to unexpected events. And yet, the lessons I’ve learned from that experience have me thinking a lot about how we all need to get better at iterating—steadily and wisely—the one place where we can definitely anticipate change: selling.

Salespeople, business leaders, and shareholders thrive on having reliable and realistic sales targets. Without them, you can’t possibly gauge performance. Setting those sales targets, more importantly, hinges on being able to consistently anticipate the future.

We all know that sellers must close more deals in less time to achieve professional success. However, these days, too many skilled salespeople are struggling with deals that are stuck in what seems like perpetual limbo.

Previously, we looked at how important it is to beware of talk traps. Now let's examine the first big step you must take to avoid those costly pitfalls that kill your time and sink deals: learn how to connect with all the right people in your buyer’s decision-making process.

It’s not a coincidence that the word crisis—borrowed from the Ancient Greeks—meant “the turning point in a disease.” You are at a turning point this year against the literal backdrop of a global pandemic, as well as an ensuing lockdown, crashed markets, and racial divides.

Recently, a Canadian colleague of mine needed to travel out-of-country and wanted to purchase medical coverage for COVID-19. I happily referred her to my business insurance broker. But what happened next sure did not go the way either of us had expected.