Never Waste a Good Crisis

Given the sudden health and economic crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the phrase, “Never waste a good crisis,” has surfaced quite a few times. Noted public figures ranging from Machiavelli and Winston Churchill to Barack Obama have all invoked the phrase in times of trouble.

It’s often viewed as an opportunist looking to advance an agenda during an unfortunate circumstance. The reality is the phrase is more accurately a challenge to commit to doing things differently and better as a result of what we experience. And that’s the challenge we have for you.

What Can You Change Amidst a Crisis?

As salespeople, you want to ultimately benefit from the COVID-19 pandemic. Ask yourself, what might you commit to doing differently and better? No two lists will be the same, but here are examples of things to think about.

• I will use this opportunity to communicate with my clients more often, even after the crisis eases up.
  
  
• I will work to uncover useful insights about each of the clients I work with and share those in such a way as to help them solve problems.
  
  
• I will bring ideas to my clients, whether it results in a sale for me or not.
  
  
• I will be a leader in helping my clients adjust to what’s next.
  
  
• I will recast my role from selling things to clients to selling things FOR clients.
  
  
• I will take the lessons I have learned about limited in-person contact and use them to strengthen relationships even after we can see clients in person.
  
  
• I will be very serious about developing new business with qualified Target Accounts to make sure I never suffer huge losses again.
  
  
• I will commit to making certain I am not seen as a mere vendor to my clients, but rather as a source of helpful resources and ideas.
  
  
• I will never allow myself to be a merely a transactional seller again.

An unplanned crisis allows you to bring about change at a much faster rate than you normally would. Use these examples to help find the silver lining in the form of a big organizational change that needed to take place eventually. We all wish we could have skipped the current crisis, but wouldn’t it be a tragedy to go through this and not gain something significant?