How to help your sales team get through COVID-19 crisis

Besides fear and anxiety, we’ve experienced a massive hit on sales in these last few weeks due to COVID-19. Along with our lives, even our businesses are at risk.

Almost all the industries have begun to feel the heat of the Coronavirus crisis.

75% of US small-business owners say their businesses have been impacted by fewer sales.

So, yes, it’s not you alone; it’s a tough time for everyone in the business community. However, we need to find ways to survive the COVID-19 crisis.

Sales have never been easy. Sadly, due to this infectious pandemic, the pressure has increased on the sales teams. 

Well, the difficulty level is even higher for sales managers.

Being the head of the team, you cannot afford to panic in this difficult situation.

You need to stay strong, take control of the oars, and row the sales team in the right direction before the business sinks. 

Before we move forward with this article, I want to point out, there are endless domains pretending to help but can potentially be harmful to you and your team.

Make sure you check every domain using a scam domain checker. Domain checkers will show if the website has generated flags!

Five things sales managers should do to help their team during COVID-19 crisis

The outbreak is moving quickly, and so you need to act immediately. Like the world is taking preventative measures to stay safe, you need to take the right measures to ensure a steady flow of sales. Spread positivity and try to boost your sales team’s confidence.

Here are some things you should consider doing to help your sales team face the COVID-19 crisis

1. Stay calm and help the sales team

Sales might seem like an unreachable star, looking at the current situation.

But then, it is necessary to try and give your best rather than giving up.

Even finding a vaccine for the fast-spreading virus, seems difficult, yet the scientists are trying. Similarly, even you need to try.

Success is achieved by those who try and keep trying.
– W. Clement Stone

First of all, you need to stay calm to find a way out of this crisis. You might have more calls and queries from your team as they are working remotely. Don’t get infuriated by their constant nudging. Even they might be trying to find a solution to the current problem. So, listen to them and provide help where necessary. 

2. Motivate them

With a recession around the corner, it is pivotal to motivate your sales team. 

76% of Americans worry coronavirus will trigger a recession

Negativity is in the air right now. Sales teams are finding it difficult to face the challenges evolving due to COVID-19. They are not able to meet prospects. Most reps are finding it challenging to sell over the audio or visual call.

Motivation is the need of the hour during this turbulence. Try to empower your team. Drive more virtual culture. Guide them on how to conduct effective sales meetings through video calls.

Have a one-to-one virtual meeting with your team. Remind them of their skills and capabilities; push your sales reps to use them creatively for facing the current sales challenges.

3. Ask your sales rep to collaborate and work as a team 

Encourage your team to work as one unified body to face the current COVID-19 crisis.

Unity is strength. When there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.
– Mattie Stepanek

Ensure all your sales reps are on the same page. Ask them to collaborate and brainstorm on new ideas to sell effectively during the coronavirus crisis. 

Try to maintain transparency within the team. Ask your sales reps to help each other where possible.

Even encourage email collaboration through a shared team inbox. So, if one sales rep isn’t well, the other can handle the client’s query. 

A collaboration that crises can't break!

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4. Do not lower the bars

The COVID-19 crisis is undoubtedly a stressful situation, but you need to keep your team on the toes. Set realistic targets. Push them to achieve the sales goals even during this crisis. 

We don’t grow when things are easy. We grow when we face challenges.
– Anonymous

Now that they don’t have to travel, encourage them to add more sales activities in those free spaces of their calendars. They should be calling and following up with more prospects. 

Track your sales reps’ performance to ensure they are putting cent percent efforts while working remotely. Use sales reports to analyze your sales team’s performance. Find out how many calls they made or emails did they send in a day. Find the gaps in their performance and discuss it with them.

5. Make the most of the sales apps

Acquaint your sales reps with different sales apps for maintaining productivity and efficiency while working remotely. Smart sales apps can help them in saving time and embracing new opportunities. 

Like for instance, using the automation feature of the CRM, the sales reps can put most of the repetitive tasks on autopilot and invest their precious hours in brainstorming new strategies for facing the COVID-19 crisis.

With the help of the blog “30+ best apps for sales reps to boost sales in 2020” you can find some useful sales apps for your remote sales team. 

Wrapping up

Nobody was prepared for the current situation. It came as an unexpected wave that traumatized the world. However, now we need to stay strong and save ourselves as well as our businesses from Coronavirus. Do not give up. 

Work with your sales team to find a solution to this problem. Stay calm and guide them. Give them the tools to work remotely. A tool like Salesmate CRM can be of great help. You can track the sales activities of your team. See where they are investing their time. The sales teams can easily manage their sales from anywhere using advanced Salesmate mobile app.

Take a 15-days free trial of Salesmate to explore solid features like built-in calling & text, Workflow automation, pipeline & deal management, Sequences, Team inbox, and many more.