How to sell during COVID-19 By Emmanuel Kwabena Abrompah

If there will ever be a time to dig deep into our core as Salesmen to sell, then it is now. And If there will ever be a time to handle great objections to sell, it is now. Lastly, if there will ever be a period of time to experience rejections and delays in closing, it is now.

2020 is certainly a turning point in modern human history. The impact of the pandemic is having a ravaging effect on businesses across the world.

Here are some suggestions that you can apply as you sell during the pandemic.

You are on the frontlines.

Sales professionals have always been onthe frontlines. Do not be afraid toapproach prospects and clients to offer solutions. There are many people, and organizations out there thatneed solutions to their problems. Step out there and offer that solution. Front liners are brave despite the obvious odds.

Use the soft approach

With the avalanche of information at the disposal of the client, the days of pushy sales are long gone. This is not the time to do pressure selling – it has never worked and will never work. You must be a sympathetic and empathetic sales professional. Some of the accounts and pay points are dealing with dwindling revenues and escalating overheads. Don’t add to their headaches. When you get in touch ask about the welfare of their businesses and their families. When the situation improves, you will be rewarded.

Do not be a lamenting Sales professional.

Ask the average sales person why he missed his imperatives. He will blame everything except himself. The economy, exchange rate, the competition is offering something better, the weather, inflation, poor customer service, no selling literature, our prices are in the roof, commissions are low, no training, management bureaucracies, etcetera etcetera. 

And now we have the novel and mother of all excuses – C19.Do not try to write another version of the book of Lamentation of the Bible. Instead explore ways you can become better. Sales is scientific, with no short cuts. The only way to stop lamenting is to follow the rudiments of sales.

Be positive minded

I dare say that our minds are under siege. We have been arrested by the barrage of negative information propagated by mainstream and social media. It is as if there is a trophy to be won for the media house that will be first to break C19 story. Social media is the worst culprit, where a lot of fake news is being circulated creating fear and panic. The effect of all this on the sales professional can be damaging. We have to be mentally strong to handle objections and deal with sales related issues. We cannot allow our minds to be damping sites.

Denis Waitley in his book – Safari to the Soul talks about the placebo effect. Volunteers are treated with experimental drugs whose effect is tested by measuring the difference in response to the powerless placebo and to the drug. Some group of volunteers who had just had their wisdom teeth extracted were given morphine to alleviate their pain, the others swallowed a placebo they believed to be a powerful pain killer. Many of the placebo recipients said they experienced dramatic relief from their pain, believing they had been given morphine too. However, when a drug that blocks the effects of the natural endorphin was given to them, the pain returned almost immediately. That test, and many others, have confirmed something very important: When a patient believes he has been given a pain reliever, the brain releases chemicals to substantiate their belief. In short, the placebo effect is an act of faith.

Feed your mind with positive things. Read the books that will make you strong. Listen to country or jazz music to calm you down. Everything starts from the mind, and so be positive.

Maybe we are in for the long haul, this is the time that all frontline sales professionals must rise up to deliver.

Go make it happen.

THE WRITER IS A SALES CONSULTANT

+233 (27) 339 7717

Kwabena.abrompah@gmail.com