An article about #salesprocess and #salespitch during the pandemic.

When people say #empathy is the new currency in sales, I think what we’re really trying to say is:

“We’re willing to slow down our pipeline speed for you during the crisis.”

The amount of emails or #linkedinmessages I’ve received from people ensuring my family is safe and healthy before they pitch already feels like an ancient family ritual you did before you sat down to eat dinner at family gatherings:

— You’re just waiting for it to be over so you can start eating —

Slowing down the process is what we are doing at Superhuman Prospecting. Not only for us when we engage new clients, but also for our clients when we prospect for them.

Let’s look at what has happened. The economy has almost come to a screeching halt. Traditionally 1 month sales cycles will now be 3, 3 month sales cycles will be 6, and so on. How in the world do we not understand the pain our potential clients are going through?? We are feeling it too!

See empathy isn’t always in the form of an emotion or pleasantry, but also in a mindset and process. When buying cycles slow for our potential clients, so do our sales cycle. In between those cycles are new touchpoints, conversations, and new levels of relationship that we haven’t encountered before. Empathy is in the new process, not in the pleasantries.

In the same vein, the messaging has changed too though, but not like what you see above. While empathy might be interpreted as a pleasantry “first and foremost,” it really has to do with how you position yourself to help you prospect. If I am an IT company, maybe my messaging is more focused around remote work transition than it is around a new office infrastructure. That’s #salesempathy.

If someone brings up the pandemic in a conversation, the new process and sales cycle strategies are geared up for these challenges, concerns, objections. All you have to do is be a human accordingly.

Change the process and messaging to empathize and the rest will follow.