Selling in difficult (Covid) times

(4 minutes read)

According to a survey conducted by EY*, 72% of US companies operating over 1bn$ in revenues had a negative impact on their supply chain, therefore facing significant difficulties on their deliveries.

COVID 19 pandemic indeed disrupted all levels of global trade, and the global supply chain is on top of the list.

Companies in almost all sectors are negatively affected by this disruption. On the other hand, demand has been strongly increasing since august 2020, which causes enormous backlogs in the deliveries. From production to finance, all departments and layers are struggling to cope with this situation. To respond to the demand, companies are putting their best efforts at all levels. However, as of today, the tension is even higher. Despite high demand, many automotive companies had to stop their production due to a microchips shortage.

Being in the front line, sales teams are the ones who feel the pressure on a real-time basis. Most sales teams are entering the last quarter with unprecedented backlogs and big order books. Meanwhile, they keep looking for new opportunities, but they are unsure if they can honor all the agreed-upon deals. Due to supply chain issues, many deliveries are postponed, and given delivery dates are highly dependent on the suppliers’ capacity and logistics availability at the global level. Therefore, sales teams have to operate with unreliable delivery lead times.

This situation puts sales teams in front of unprecedented challenges with their customers. Many of them live this period with huge frustration due to canceled/postponed orders, long lead times, unsatisfied customers, and missed opportunities. 

For many companies, the last quarter’s performance will mainly depend on the production and delivery performance rather than the commercial performance. So, as a salesperson, how can you cope with the increasing pressure?

Acceptation

It starts with accepting the situation. The difficulties in the global supply chain are not under your control, and therefore it is useless to take the responsibility on your shoulders. Instead, you can focus on the things you can control. You can control the way you read the situation. It is essential to remind yourself that this is a natural result of what world trade and business went through during the last year and a half. Although the current situation is not normal, it is customary to be in this situation after all. Make it clear that your company cannot live like this and have any other option than to go through this challenging period.

Transparency

Do not promise your customer anything you cannot deliver, even though they are ready to put massive pressure on you. Patiently explain the situation with the following steps:

  • Under current circumstances, you cannot commit to any delivery dates which are subject to potential changes.
  • Yet, your company is fully aware of those difficulties at all levels, from the CEO to COO. (Do not hesitate to prepare an official letter signed by the top management of your company)
  • Assure your customer that the current situation is not sustainable for your company neither. Therefore, all teams are putting their best efforts into overcoming it as fast as possible.
  • You will keep informing your customer on a real-time basis so that they do not feel forgotten.

Cooperation

Yes, you may lose some key customers and important deals because of the production issues, which will hurt. However, it will not help anybody if you choose to put additional pressure on your colleagues. It is clear that you did all the job to book the order, and because of supply issues, you lost the customer and your commission. And in the current context, it is obvious. So, you don’t have to prove anything to anybody regarding your performance. Instead, you can work with the operations even closer to have the latest updates to provide accurate information to your customers. Additionally, you can work on prioritizing the orders of most strategic customers. 

Selectivity

As your sales numbers will depend highly on the production capacity, you can consider this period to review your customer portfolio. Who are your best customers? The most profitable ones? The one with the highest potential? The ones with the highest purchase amounts? The ones with whom you share the same vision and values? Look for the answers and give them a priority. In other words, choose the customers that you are ready to lose. It will become your leverage once things go back to normal.

And finally, consider this period as a learning experience. A learning experience for managing high pressure, for a better understanding of the cross-functional roles, for reinventing the way you sell, the way you communicate… Become an intentional learner, and when you see it as overall learning, you will discover many other things that you will decide to do differently. Therefore, you will grow.

After all, if you see your job only as an income resource and despite your efforts, you cannot overcome your frustration of lost commissions, maybe it is time for you to reconsider why you are doing what you are doing. Ask yourself hard questions, look for the answers, and move forward. Businesses have been facing different difficulties along with history, and even after COVID, there will be other crises in the future.

*https://www.ey.com/en_gl/supply-chain/how-covid-19-impacted-supply-chains-and-what-comes-next