It wasn’t long ago when everything seemed manageable. We B2B marketers had our plans all worked out. We knew exactly what tactics we were going to use and even had an idea of how many leads they would bring in. That was less than two months ago, although it seemed a world away.
Since then, everything has gone sideways. All in-person events have been canceled, from B2B conferences to trade shows to you name it. If you do somehow scrounge up a genuine lead, your face-to-face salesforce cannot go on site to glad-hand the potential new customer.
Worse, even as some areas start to think about a relaxation of shelter-in-place (maybe the “casual Fridays” version of it), a real question remains: Will people come out to play? If a sales conference was held, would you go? More importantly, would your customers go? Would your customers welcome an on-site visit from your salesperson? Are your customers even going to return to the office anytime soon? Or will people deem the risk to be too great and continue to shelter even when it isn’t required
There were a lot of questions in that last paragraph–and no answers. That’s the definition of uncertainty.
No one likes uncertainty. But the truth is that we are likely to be living in uncertainty for a very long time. Months. Maybe even longer.
So, while we all want to wait this out to be certain that our decisions are based on solid facts, that’s a pipe dream. You can’t remain in suspended animation waiting for certainty. (Even if you are willing to do so, can you be sure that your competitors will, too?)
So, what can you do instead? How can you make decisions with the ground shifting under you with every step?
It reminds me of something Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once said:
I very frequently get the question: “What’s going to change in the next 10 years?” And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question: “What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?” And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two — because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time. … [I]n our retail business, we know that customers want low prices, and I know that’s going to be true 10 years from now. They want fast delivery; they want vast selection.
It’s impossible to imagine a future 10 years from now where a customer comes up and says, “Jeff, I love Amazon; I just wish the prices were a little higher.” “I love Amazon; I just wish you’d deliver a little more slowly.” Impossible.
And so the effort we put into those things, spinning those things up, we know the energy we put into it today will still be paying off dividends for our customers 10 years from now. When you have something that you know is true, even over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it.
This concept is even more important now. Because it isn’t about what will change in 10 years–more like 10 minutes. What would happen if we focused on the things that will not change?
- Customers will have problems that need to be solved.
- We need to reach those customers.
- We need to drive leads to the sales force whether we have trade shows or not.
- We need to close deals whether our sales people can visit or not.
- When we can’t connect with people in person, we can connect digitally.
What are the things that you can be doing now? How do you pivot to digital? How do you pivot hard? Because everything you do in digital will still be a good idea when and if we return to what once was normal. Digital is the only game in town now, but it will still be a really important game no matter what happens. Will you take advantage of this tragic crisis not just to survive but to improve?
Ask yourself what you can be doing right now despite the uncertainty:
- Can you add deeper content to your website?
- Can you beef up your email list?
- Can you shift to webinars instead of in-person events?
- Can you post videos or slides instead of live events?
- Can you shift your B2B sales funnel to digital?
- Can you attempt a digital transformation for sales?
- Can you increase your use of data-based decision making?
- Can you finally fix your site search?
- Can you recommend related content?
What should you be working on that makes sense now, but will also make sense in the future, no matter what happens? What can you be certain will remain a good idea? Whatever the future of B2B sales and marketing, that’s how to move forward confidently in a world with no answers.
