By: Tavio Roxo, CEO Owls Software
Two months ago we were cranking out calls, checking dozens of emails, going to networking meetings and shaking hands with customers. Now that has all stopped. In fact some of you might be reading this from your kitchen table, on a conference call with a kid running around the house. So, clearly we are in a new working environment. But with that new frontier and with the new challenges comes opportunity. And when it comes to business, there is one rule that has not changed and will never change – Business is still a relationship game, especially in the insurance industry.
How we build relationships outside our businesses is a really good indicator of how we will grow revenue going forward. By applying the concepts of human communications, compassion, empathy, interest, curiosity, we can grow our business relationships. In fact, there has never been a better time to do so, as we are all sharing the same human experience at the same time. Unfortunately, in many cases, fear, scarcity and fear of failure are reactions we often default to. However, for business to thrive, we need to be in the field, presenting solutions and opportunities to our clients. By firstly understanding where they are, we can connect the solutions that we offer to their current needs.
Right now we are in the greatest amount of change we have ever experienced and by nature humans don’t like change. But in the end it’s not the change that scares us, but the transition from knowing to the unknown and back to knowing again. Considering the incredible amount of vulnerability and risk in that transition, our capacity to connect with other clients and to find common ground would be critical. There is an incredible amount of vulnerability and risk in that transition, and with it our best bet is to rely on our capacity to connect with other people and find and common ground.
To many of us, in particular businesses that are really suffering, it feels like the lockdown has been one big red light, but perhaps we can look at it as a yellow light instead. It indicates that things have not stopped but you must slow down and that we should proceed with caution. At a mass scale, we are all experiencing uncertainty together and we are all trying to figure out the new way. So, when it comes to your business prospecting and outreach, how do we adapt our current strategies to the new global pandemic. Well the answer is simple, but not easy. We all need to change our approach.
The bottom line is, that we are at a different speed. We need to look at our client’s circumstances. Understand what their problems are right now and how Covid-19 has changed their priorities. We have to understand our prospects and currently those prospects might not be ready to do business. In that case, it’s better to move on to another prospect for now. But don’t assume every business is on the brink of closure, there are those who are thriving, perhaps just with a different need requirement.
If we look at the current crises as a hierarchy of corporate needs, from crisis control, to survival, to recovery, there is always a move ultimately to stabilisation and ultimately thriving and growth. We need to know where they are in relation to our own business value proposition. The proposition of yesterday may not be relevant today. A different value proposition might be needed and to tweak our messaging to an offer statement that aligns with the customer’s new requirements.
No matter where the business is in its lifecycle, we know that there is an ever present requirement for the need for IT related and cloud based services. We know this because every interaction is based on this underlying architecture.
In order to adapt to the new way of working in the post-Covid world, take your time and understand the new environment. Trust and strong relationships with your clients are built during the tough times. Be invested in the relationship first.
We all need to be more aware of the changed requirements that this era of uncertainty brings, and respond to these new needs in meaningful ways.
