An entire “During a Pandemic” how-to series could be published that is aimed at the business community—hiring during a pandemic, growing sales during a pandemic, maintaining corporate culture during a pandemic. As much as anything, COVID-19 has elevated our ability to construct workarounds and establish new performance parameters while attempting to maintain benchmarks that will likely not be met, at least from a technical service perspective.
As we look at the business world through the office dealer lens, one of the greatest challenges for salespeople to reconcile is prospecting for net-new business. Anecdotally, we’ve heard tales about how end-users are loathe to reassess their product and service vendors during the pandemic. Similarly, however, COVID-19 has acted as a UV light for poor service, illuminating the minds of customers to the notion that, pandemic or not, their business is ripe for a new vendor that can better serve their changing needs. And that’s where you, the dealer, can find an opening to net-new opportunities.
As we continue our State of the Industry overview of elevating sales, our dealer panel provides insight into how they have approached the subject of finding new pockets of business in a most challenging environment.
Is it possible to add substantial net-new business during a pandemic? For Scott Whitt, vice president of sales for Hendrix Business Systems of Charlotte, North Carolina, the answer is an unequivocal “yes.” Year to date, Hendrix counts 63% of its hardware revenue as being net-new, down just 2% year over year—impressive in this climate.
The company operates on a net-new business model, but it’s important to note how Hendrix measures it. Net-new placements are tallied whenever the dealer supplants a competitive device within a client, which may already be using Hendrix’s gear in other facets of its business. When peripheral devices such as interactive touch screens are placed with a current account, it too is considered a net-new placement.
“This is an important distinction, but the right one in our opinion,” Whitt said. “It pushes our salespeople to continually try to expand our footprint inside current client environments, as we pay the highest commission percentage for net-new business.”
New business is always viable, even during a pandemic. But Vincent Colaianni, director of sales development for TGI Office Automation of Brooklyn, believes it is important for dealers to be realistic when setting expectations.
“We eliminated in-person prospecting and replaced it with digital meetings,” he noted. “Although we are not at pre-pandemic success rates, we are showing steady growth by taking the time to ask, ‘what do you need help with?’”
Laying Foundation
For a company like Pearson-Kelly Technology of Springfield, Missouri, net-new business can be tough to measure, as many of its product offerings tend to have long sales cycles. What the pandemic did allow was greater access to decision-makers. Lee Flood, executive vice president, noted that about a month into the shutdown, many of its clients and prospects saw their business activity hit a nadir. As a result of this inactivity, the key decision-makers were more readily available for conversations.
Tact was critical here; when business is at a near standstill, decision-makers obviously do not want to be inundated with hard sells. Thus, the ability of Pearson-Kelly reps to allow clients and prospects to talk about their imminent needs and long-term objectives enabled them to lay the foundation for future business.
“We were able to plant a lot more seeds during that time and we’re starting to reap the benefits of that today,” Flood said. “It goes back to just being human and not trying to sell someone on something during the pandemic. I think we’re going to continue to see success from that.”
Chris Falzett, president of Topp Business Solutions in Scranton, Pennsylvania, points out that cold calling is very difficult under pandemic circumstances. But reaching out to prospects within Topp’s CRM, buoyed by marketing initiatives and lead generation, has helped keep the dealer busy.
Warmer Reception
Cold calling under normal circumstances is not for the faint of heart. Mix in a pandemic, and reaching prospects at their desk line or via email can be even more problematic (though in general, most people report getting fewer phone calls, anyway). Steve Gau, president of the copier division for Marco of St. Cloud, Minnesota, notes the reduced level of calls is actually prompting more people to pick up, and that opening provides the perfect segue to ask prospects if their current vendors have provided reviews of their changing business needs.
The reason why many dealers aren’t providing reviews is obvious—if volumes are down sharply, a review might call for a reduction. “Dealers, in general, don’t like doing that in the first place, and they certainly don’t want to do it now because once you adjust it, when do you get that volume back, if ever?” Gau posed. “The client will say, ‘I’m not doing as much volume, what can you do to help lower my payments?’ You need to be proactive, empathetic and reasonable in those requests with your customers.
“What helps in trying to prospect with new customers is asking if their current vendor has reviewed their changing business needs, and see if they’ve made adjustments to address those needs. That gets people’s attention. It’s the perfect time to look at how much they’re using and paying.”
