THE AFTER COVID EFFECT

Is sales dead? Or taking a power nap?

PART 1 OF 2

I call them ASK. They are three friends, all in their late 30’s and all successful business managers with a large European conglomerate. Ashok is based in Mumbai, Sofia in Frankfurt, and Kim in Singapore. I got to know them during the several sales and leadership workshops I have been facilitating for their company.

The ASK trio came from entirely different cultural backgrounds, but professionally they might as well have been triplets. All of them used to crisscross the world on work at least 15 days a month. Their time away from home and family kept increasing in proportion to their success.

We became good friends and we would connect over informal video conferences once in a while. They loved to boast about the airline miles they were piling up and exchange notes about the best places to eat across the world.

They had good professional contacts all over. No doubt, they made judicious use of the limited-value gifts they were officially allowed to give away. Not that they needed the gifts to get and keep customers. I always admired their professional commitment and firm loyalty to their employer and also their customers.

When life and sales got locked up

I remember the first video conference the four of us had after the travel restrictions were put in place. They all sounded happy to be with their families. I got to meet their families including their adorable children. At that time, I was in Spain spending time with my grandchildren and I felt good that they too were spending some quality time with their dear ones.

I had to go into quarantine in March after my return to Mumbai from Spain. So, it was already April when the next call came from ASK. The mood was entirely different.

They were worried, very worried. The go-getters who lived half their lives in airports and airplanes were now stuck at home. Yes, they were happy to be with the family, but with the world remaining locked down and things getting worse, how were they supposed to provide for the family?

How could they hope to keep their customers if they could not meet them? Would local competition step in? Would deliveries and payments happen?

They had never thought of a career beyond sales. Was it time to look at options? Something safe? Something pandemic proof? Were there any jobs left in the world?

Survival first

Their employer catered to the “essential” pharmaceutical industry and was therefore allowed to function with a small team at least in some locations. But the company was changing over to technology aggressively, even experimenting with artificial intelligence. Some product lines had been discontinued. The focus was now on equipment to help fight the pandemic. Survival was the key.

Their Inside Sales team that used to operate from Frankfurt was out of action. Like their fellow sales professionals, ASK were starved of current data that was their lifeblood.

Kim had one question during that call. How soon would they be replaced by robots? That was the only question I could answer with some certainty. Just as the buyer, the seller would always be a human. It is not a matter of just intelligence and information. It is also about emotions. It is about empathy.

I had no answer to the very many other questions they had. Ashok’s last question hung in the air as we bid bye: “Is sales dead?”

PART 2 TO FOLLOW