After “X” days the impact is undeniable. Day in and out your team goes into an unpredictable environment, one that requires they are resilient, adaptive and resourceful. This may sound like a challenging and fulfilling environment but to a sales veteran it’s a nightmarish ordeal. Never diminish the comfort in knowing the obstacles and objections in advance. Think of it as boxing, when the punches are telegraphed the fight is easy, almost boringly predictable.

Patrick Bateman’s internal monologue in American Psycho captured it perfectly. The emphasis placed on the design and tactile experience of a business card during that era (circa the 1980s); “Look at that subtle off-white coloring, the tasteful thickness of it.

The question was simple; the answer was simpler, No! They never knew how to sell in the first place. The common misconception is order taking and sales are the same thing, they most definitely are not. Prior to Covid19 your pipelines were filled with highly engaged customers who were educated on your product by advocates, exceptional market/lead nurturing or their own interest.

Evolution is more often than not a matter of necessity as opposed to convenience. New changes in the consumer landscape are ushering in the next iteration of sales. Factors such as perception, digital advancement and consumer behavior are shaping the new ecosystem.

Expectations are based on data analysis, week over week or year over year, are terms that are all too familiar. Seasonality becomes part of predictive analytics as the synergy between marketing and sales provide context for your business intelligence. Then it happens, the disruption, the occurrence that impacts demand levels or the development that destabilizes your process. This could be in the form of new competitors, technological development, in the case of 2020 a pandemic. Now nothing is as it was, expectation regarding output seems impractical. Sales divisions are one area significantly impacted by this year’s disruption.