Prospecting and COVID – be conscious, engage respectfully

With everything going on in the world right now, there’s a common misconception that it’s a bad time to prospect. It’s not. Lots of companies are leaning in and are perhaps in greater need of your offering than ever. Since we’re in the business of finding leads for execs in the B2B space, I’d like to share two key insights and best practices for prospecting during COVID. 

First off, like with everybody else right now, prospects are going to need grace. Approaching them in a conscious, respectful way is vital. They could just be trying to keep the wheels on their business, and if you get the messaging wrong it will lead to a dead end. If you get it right, they are much more likely to come to you in the future.  

We have a client in the culture transformation space, who when COVID came along, used our campaigns not to sell directly, but approach potential clients with solutions on how to keep things together during COVID. They offered complimentary advice to help the prospects in their time of need and you can guarantee they’ll remember that when a normality begins to return.

In fact, it’s already worked. This client closed their biggest deal ever, using this approach just a couple of weeks ago. 

Second, don’t be put off by any decrease in people responding to your marketing and, whatever happens, don’t stop marketing. Even if there’s fewer responses, we’re finding there’s more intense interest from the people that are responding. 

The need and demand in the global economy remains. Maybe it’s slowed down a little, but there’s still enough optimism for people to be making decisions. Some businesses are thriving during the current situation. Don’t forget that.