January 7, 2021
Pandemic Proof Your Sales Organization For 2021
It’s the first week of the year and our attention shifts from the holidays to starting strong in a new business cycle. To maintain and grow businesses and revenue in 2021, leaders must continue navigating uncertain waters while aligning their go to market strategy with their sales organization. Leaders who can successfully strike the balance of the needs of their teams, clients, and bottom line are better prepared to differentiate their business from its competitors now and in the post-pandemic world. And if your business relies on direct sales, the key to doing so will be continued focus on how your sales strategies can adapt to and leverage the conditions brought about by the pandemic.
I wrote an article on this topic for Forbes last week (which can be found here). As you begin the new year, I hope you’ll read it and consider my suggestions for Pandemic Proofing your Sales Organization.
Goals for 2021:
With 2020 squarely behind us, the beginning of a global vaccine campaign is allowing us to look out to 2021 with some positivity. The start of a new year is a good time to look at your personal and professional goals and build short term and year-long plans for accomplishing them. Some of you may have read my New Year’s Eve newsletter with perspectives on setting goals and resolutions. So, you know I’ve thought a lot about this topic. Here are three considerations for you as you develop goals for the still unpredictable year ahead.
- Be deliberate about which goals to pursue. There is an old Chinese proverb that if you chase two monkeys both will escape. I’ve heard it with Rabbits too. Identify a variety of goals for yourself and your business in both the near-term and long-term. Then, consider how the pandemic context impacts each of them. Some goals may be better to reserve for later years, while others are more impactful to set now.
- Focus on the client. 2020 frequently and necessarily turned leadership’s attention inward as organizations grappled with shifting their workforce to a remote-work structure. I’ve observed that this spotlight on internal operations often resulted in less focus on clients. In setting goals for the new year, think about the disruptions your clients faced in their business and in their industry. Can you anticipate what your clients will need in with more change on the horizon? Any objectives you pursue ought to have a clear line of sight to client impact.
- Prepare for change. So much changed this year and we should anticipate more change in 2021. How did your business and team manage it? What changes will you keep and which do you want to leave behind? What did you learn about yourself as a leader managing change?
As we begin 2021 with cautious optimism, don’t let the uncertainty deter you from goalsetting – instead, lean in. Goals push us to do better and provide direction and focus – exactly what we all need this year more than ever.
Current Read:
For many, the new year has brought about new (or, in some cases, leftover) resolutions. With the volatility and chaos of 2020, I predict that many of us have doubled down on personal growth and career development next year. I thought this article was a succinct and valuable guide for how we can support our professional growth in 2021 – enjoy.
How to advance your career when you're working at home - CNN
Quotable
Next Steps:
Please forward this to anyone who might find it interesting. Join me on Tuesday, January 12th at 10 am Eastern for another LinkedIn Live as we discuss how to prepare your growth strategy for 2021.
