How to Build Confidence with Your Clients & Sales Team During Difficult Times

During difficult times, it can be easy for salespeople to lose confidence. With so much of the news devoted to dire forecasts for business and industry, it can seem like all we can do to keep ourselves together, let alone inspire confidence in our clients or customers. However, this is exactly what salespeople need to do during the current economic crisis. This is an opportunity to position yourself as a trusted advisor, someone your customers can rely on during difficult times. Those salespeople who can inspire clients during the tough times will have an advantage and reap the rewards of stronger relationships when things return to normal.

Use Your Personal Brand to Differentiate Yourself Against the Competition

In order to inspire confidence in others, you must first be confident in yourself. Although this can seem difficult during challenging times, it is something you can overcome. If you lack confidence, work on improving it step by step. Focus on the positive and build on what you’ve been able to accomplish. If sales are sluggish, stay engaged in the things that are important to your customers. Remember, a key component of being successful in sales is your ability to offer value and, in times like these, one of the most valuable things you can offer is yourself. Ask what you can do for clients and present yourself as someone they can count on.

Your personal brand defines and differentiates you from the competition. This is more important now than ever before, and it’s essential for B2C sellers. During challenging time in the economy, your competitors will likely be swarming with deep discounts and good deals to lure customers, so your brand and reputation are vital to highlight your expertise and experience. No matter what you sell, your sales and service skills must be at an all-time high. These days, consumers want reassurance, so it’s vital they can easily to get ahold of you and feel comfortable dealing with you.

Use Active Listening to Establish Yourself as a Trusted Advisor with Your Clients

In difficult times, consumers need professionals they can trust. This means someone more eager to help than to make a sale. Recently, in a supermarket, I came across customers looking for an item not on the shelf. The sales associate said they were out, but she had just seen the item at a competitor. This is a simple example but one that displays how genuine helpfulness establishes you as a trusted advisor, which is something customers need more now than a quick sale and is something they will remember. And this isn’t limited to retail. It’s essential to keep the sales process moving and provide as much information as you can about shortages, alternative product options, and expected fulfillment.

Most importantly, be as transparent as possible. While many businesses send impersonal emails on policy and updates, you are the face of your company. Personal communication goes a long way to establishing trust and instilling confidence in your clients beyond mass emails from the marketing department. Let clients know about procedural changes, such as which team members are in the office or working remotely, as well as the status of outstanding orders. If you’re experiencing delays, let them know you’re working as hard as you can to meet deadlines, and be open about additional time it may take.

Proactively reaching out can provide value and boost confidence. Let clients know you are thinking of them. Express confidence in your tone of voice on the phone and in written communication. If you sound all gloom and doom, that’s what you will inspire. On the phone, your active listening skills are vital to pick up on the subtle cues they send, whether they’re anxious or upbeat. In email, think about word choice and the connotation of your words in addition to their literal meaning.

This will play a pivotal role in helping to ascertain your customer’s needs. Remember, customers are still concerned about the fragile economy. Many are worried about their job security, and many will be operating with strict budgets. Use your active listening skills to determine their hidden feelings. If they are hesitant about price, show empathy and build value in how your product or service will help mitigate their problem rather than resorting to discounting. After all, we are all consumers with the same concerns during these difficult times, and we can all relate to feeling anxious about making the right decisions.

Use Social Media to Stay in Front of Your Clients with Helpful Information

When much of the news is negative, use social media to post relevant items about business that are useful to clients. Target specific clients with a brief note that an article or post made you think of them. The important thing is to be a voice of value, offering insight your clients can use. Remember, too, that others will see your posts, so it’s important to build your personal brand as you inspire confidence in clients.

With so many people working from home, the use of social media is significantly up. For the B2C seller, that means their customers are likely more active on social media as well. Leverage the power of social media to reach out, follow up, and network with customers to see how to best meet their needs. While you might be limited in what you can do, it’s still vital to maintain open communication and show yourself to be an honest and value-added partner. More than anything, when the difficult times pass, your clients will remember you were a steady and inspiring presence, which can go a long way to building the relationships that are vital to business, regardless of the economic times.

Use Psychology 101 to Understand What’s Driving the Purchase and Buying Habits of Your Customers

While you don’t need a degree, a little psychology helps you advise your customers. Learn what’s driving the purchase. Engage them and share your own buying habits. Maybe you’re upgrading your phone or extending a warranty. Remember, just thinking about businesses reopening will excite and inspire some customers. Buying could feel like a return to normal. After so much time cooped up in their homes, a good old-fashioned impulse buy could be just what they need now that spending money on anything other than groceries and stockpiling nonperishables feels almost nostalgic.

There is no doubt that there is an understandable impulse to be excited about the positive changes in the economy. For B2C sellers, this can be a great time as customers ease their inhibitions on spending. However, it’s important to remember that many customers have legitimate fears for their personal and financial well-being. That’s why it’s essential for B2C sellers to approach relationships with potential customers with thoughtfulness and care. Though we’re all eager for the economy to once again return to normal, the most important aspect of sales has always been helping people. That’s truer now than ever, and those B2C sellers who show themselves to be empathetic trusted advisors will be best positioned to kick start their selling when the time is right.

How to Support Your Sales Team During Difficult Times

Sales managers should remember that team members and clients need to, once again, adjust their lifestyles and processes in order to stay productive. This requires a thoughtful transition into what will feel similar to what we remember but will, in fact, be quite different. Here are six ideas to help support your sales team during challenging times:

Hire a Sales Training Company to Support Your Team with New Skills

Enable your sales team by providing the coaching, training, and support needed. Through individual and group coaching, team members can share their success in virtual selling and build on their unique experiences. Sellers may see value in receiving training for selling in a all different kinds of environments, especially in virtual ones. Consider small meetings or one-on-ones where your team members can discuss how these changes may be affecting them personally and reassure them that you welcome their thoughts and concerns.

Create a Desirable Work Environment for Your Sales Team to Thrive

Provide a clean, welcoming, and comfortable work environment Make your staff feel safe and comfortable. Be transparent in communicating with your employees. It’s better to err on the side of overcommunication during any challenging time than having any lingering doubts. This allows you and your team to stay informed and focused on staying productive.

Revisit Your Lead Acquisition Strategy

Having team members in the office, working remotely ,and independently, your team members, including your marketing team, probably found new and unique ways of prospecting, connecting, and networking with potential clients. Review and measure traditional and recent lead acquisition trends (even if data is limited based on time) to make educated decisions and encourage your team to share their discoveries and successes.

Revisit and Adjust Your KPIs

That same notion applies to other KPI’s – track and measure your efforts closely, and revise your sales strategy, processes, goals, and metrics based on what works and what doesn’t. As a result of the shift to virtual selling, changes in the B2B sales process could produce different outcomes, and it’s important to understand these in context of the new selling environment.

Identify Needs That May Have Changes for Your Customers

Identify needs that may have changed for your customer base, and adjust your elevator pitch, value message, and offerings (where possible). As a sales rep, don’t be tone-deaf and try to sell them the same products or services in the same way you did in the past. As an example, don’t offer a long-term solution when what they may need most is a solution to overcome an immediate challenge. Read the situation, be aware of the issues the customer faces, and be a Trusted Advisor for them.

Make Your Sales Team Aware of Messaging and Branding Changes

Align your sales team with your marketing message and branding that may have shifted as a result of any recent changes. Don’t forget to let your customers know this as well. In addition, consider incorporating these messages into your marketing efforts. Share your enthusiasm with clients as this can rub off and generate excitement.

 Just as sales has always been about building relationships, understanding problems, and providing solutions, challenging times for businesses often requires a disciplined and thoughtful approach. Always remember the human touch when it comes to sales and how focusing on others in our sales process goes a long way to maintaining the trust of our clients.

Tough Times Never Last But People Do

Seasoned professionals know that difficult times are part of the business cycle. How your team responds makes the difference between those that thrive and those that fall behind. Managers with positive outlooks can use their experience to motivate their teams and prepare them for when the tides change and business picks up. The old saying, “Tough times never last but tough people do,” can be the perfect mantra for a struggling sales team. Managers with the foresight to see downtime as an opportunity to refresh practices and renew team relationships can help ensure a more successful future for their team members and clients.

Updated 08/03/2024