{"id":305,"date":"2020-05-04T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/?p=305"},"modified":"2022-09-12T15:21:53","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T19:21:53","slug":"six-tips-to-help-enterprise-tech-sales-in-a-bear-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/six-tips-to-help-enterprise-tech-sales-in-a-bear-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Tips to Help Enterprise Tech Sales in a Bear Market"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The job of the tech salesperson has suddenly become a lot harder, despite a great recent run of healthy demand and innovation. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life\u2019s been pretty good for the past few years, as the Brookings Institute reported<\/a> in 2019 that the digital economy is worth $11.5 trillion globally and has grown two-and-a-half times faster than global GDP over the past 15 years. In a very short time, the lens has changed dramatically. Forrester<\/a> has adjusted its projections for U.S. and global tech market growth, predicting it will slow to around two percent in 2020, while S&P Global<\/a> predicts global IT spending will decline three percent year over year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had a long career in this business \u2013 selling hardware, software, and services through downturns and bull markets, with even a few successful exits along the way. I\u2019ve been thinking about how to get through this unprecedented phase through the lens of opportunity. Many enterprise tech sales are understandably being put on hold to better support spending on essential activities for remote workers and business continuity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, before we know it, businesses will re-open and quarantines will end. IT leaders should continue having discussions now around IT modernization and digital initiatives; otherwise, they won\u2019t be prepared to ramp back up quickly and meaningfully when the economy restarts. Don\u2019t be afraid to take an assertive stance with your target audience. Being proactive now can deliver competitive advantage and financial health to your organization while others are still spinning their wheels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are my suggestions for selling and relationship building during times of uncertainty and thereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Adjust your outreach for COVID-19. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every brand is producing COVID-19 messaging right now and, frankly, it\u2019s not all great. Most marketing and public relations experts are recommending using empathy and avoiding capitalizing on the pandemic or what\u2019s often referred to as \u201cambulance chasing.\u201d As sellers, we can do our research by monitoring the news closely \u2013 especially local news, where your prospect lives \u2013 and tie communications into whatever he or she might be experiencing at the moment. But don\u2019t try to force-fit your solution into every challenge right now; seek the touchpoints that are relevant to your solution(s). Above all, don\u2019t be self serving by asking for a demo. You might simply send out a personalized email to prospects with a simple message: \u201cHi, how are you? How\u2019s your family doing? What are you working on right now, and can I help in any way?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Adjust your outreach for COVID-19. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every brand is producing COVID-19 messaging right now and, frankly, it\u2019s not all great. Most marketing and public relations experts are recommending using empathy and avoiding capitalizing on the pandemic or what\u2019s often referred to as \u201cambulance chasing.\u201d As sellers, we can do our research by monitoring the news closely \u2013 especially local news, where your prospect lives \u2013 and tie communications into whatever he or she might be experiencing at the moment. But don\u2019t try to force-fit your solution into every challenge right now; seek the touchpoints that are relevant to your solution(s). Above all, don\u2019t be self serving by asking for a demo. You might simply send out a personalized email to prospects with a simple message: \u201cHi, how are you? How\u2019s your family doing? What are you working on right now, and can I help in any way?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Adjust your outreach for COVID-19. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every brand is producing COVID-19 messaging right now and, frankly, it\u2019s not all great. Most marketing and public relations experts are recommending using empathy and avoiding capitalizing on the pandemic or what\u2019s often referred to as \u201cambulance chasing.\u201d As sellers, we can do our research by monitoring the news closely \u2013 especially local news, where your prospect lives \u2013 and tie communications into whatever he or she might be experiencing at the moment. But don\u2019t try to force-fit your solution into every challenge right now; seek the touchpoints that are relevant to your solution(s). Above all, don\u2019t be self serving by asking for a demo. You might simply send out a personalized email to prospects with a simple message: \u201cHi, how are you? How\u2019s your family doing? What are you working on right now, and can I help in any way?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Adjust your outreach for COVID-19. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every brand is producing COVID-19 messaging right now and, frankly, it\u2019s not all great. Most marketing and public relations experts are recommending using empathy and avoiding capitalizing on the pandemic or what\u2019s often referred to as \u201cambulance chasing.\u201d As sellers, we can do our research by monitoring the news closely \u2013 especially local news, where your prospect lives \u2013 and tie communications into whatever he or she might be experiencing at the moment. But don\u2019t try to force-fit your solution into every challenge right now; seek the touchpoints that are relevant to your solution(s). Above all, don\u2019t be self serving by asking for a demo. You might simply send out a personalized email to prospects with a simple message: \u201cHi, how are you? How\u2019s your family doing? What are you working on right now, and can I help in any way?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Adjust your outreach for COVID-19. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every brand is producing COVID-19 messaging right now and, frankly, it\u2019s not all great. Most marketing and public relations experts are recommending using empathy and avoiding capitalizing on the pandemic or what\u2019s often referred to as \u201cambulance chasing.\u201d As sellers, we can do our research by monitoring the news closely \u2013 especially local news, where your prospect lives \u2013 and tie communications into whatever he or she might be experiencing at the moment. But don\u2019t try to force-fit your solution into every challenge right now; seek the touchpoints that are relevant to your solution(s). Above all, don\u2019t be self serving by asking for a demo. You might simply send out a personalized email to prospects with a simple message: \u201cHi, how are you? How\u2019s your family doing? What are you working on right now, and can I help in any way?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Adjust your outreach for COVID-19. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every brand is producing COVID-19 messaging right now and, frankly, it\u2019s not all great. Most marketing and public relations experts are recommending using empathy and avoiding capitalizing on the pandemic or what\u2019s often referred to as \u201cambulance chasing.\u201d As sellers, we can do our research by monitoring the news closely \u2013 especially local news, where your prospect lives \u2013 and tie communications into whatever he or she might be experiencing at the moment. But don\u2019t try to force-fit your solution into every challenge right now; seek the touchpoints that are relevant to your solution(s). Above all, don\u2019t be self serving by asking for a demo. You might simply send out a personalized email to prospects with a simple message: \u201cHi, how are you? How\u2019s your family doing? What are you working on right now, and can I help in any way?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in uncertain times like a global pandemic and lockdown, I still love this job. There is a short distance between your deal and their direct top and bottom line. If you\u2019re selling the right product, you can have a powerful impact on an organization and how they run their business \u2013 cutting costs and speeding their time to market. Always strive to develop a unique value proposition for your customers, one worthy of discussion during both challenging and booming market conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Headshot<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Jim Lampert is vice president of service provider sales at <\/em>OpsRamp<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before we know it, businesses will re-open and quarantines will end. IT leaders should continue having discussions now around IT modernization and digital initiatives; otherwise, they won\u2019t be prepared to ramp back up quickly and meaningfully when the economy restarts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":784,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions\/784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}