How Covid-19 Affected Sales

Covid-19, or Coronavirus…the word is almost said as whisper, like ‘he who shall not be named’ (Harry Potter reference…if you know, you know!) I don’t think there is an industry that hasn’t been impacted by Covid-19. It’s been a tough time for everyone. It has touched everyone in some way or form. As a business, we are extremely lucky to have fantastic clients and employees, who have worked damn hard during this time to keep everything going and I am proud to say we have come out the other side fighting Things have changed, the pandemic forced us to change in every way. Here’s some things we learned:

Digital is everything

Being an office-based team, we used physical work boards in the office that people updated daily, as well as everyone having individual folders on their desks with information in for them to be able to do their job. We moved everything online, using SharePoint to ensure that everyone had access to all the information they needed within a central point that could be accessed via a central point. We also used Microsoft Teams to enable to team to send instant messages and keep in contact with one another, as well as Zoom to have team meetings. Even now we have welcomed the team back into the office, we have continued with our digital working, as it has streamlined our processes.

You don’t need to be at work to do work!

Prior to lockdown, we had always been a business where everyone worked in the office Monday-Friday. Obviously, when Boris made the order for everyone to stay at home, it threw organisations into total disarray! We know similar companies to ourself had to shut their operation completely. Luckilywe were able to quickly adjust to a remote working modeland maintain our service levels to customers throughout, by providing our staff with a flexible working solution, enabling them to work around childcare and other commitments. We have decided to continue offering flexible working and work from home moving forward.

People still want to engage

We knew people would still need to sell, but as an additional cost for a lot of businesses, there was a risk we may be a cost that people didn’t deem our services necessary – particularly when physical appointments were not going to be able to take place. We again used technology to our advantage, moving meetings online to Zoom / Teams or having telephone appointments. Forward thinking organisations realised they needed to continue to lay the groundwork, so that when companies came out the other side of the pandemic, they would be one step ahead of competitors who hadn’t done the same. We found that people still wanted to engage, and even if they weren’t in a ‘buying’ position, they appreciated the contact we maintained with them and it has left a lasting impression. So to summarise – get your technology in order, give your staff the flexibility to manage their work and continue to engage with your customers – simple, right? If you would like to learn more about outsourcing your telemarketing, get in touch on
kate@premium-sales.com