180: What Can You Do In A Crisis When You Can't Sell

<p>What Can You Do In A Crisis When You Can’t Sell?</p> <p> </p> <p>Getting hold of clients has become very strained.  Normally, we have their work number and their email, but right now they are sitting at home with just their laptop and their mobile phone.  Getting hold of them can be tricky.  I was unlucky the other day.  I wanted to speak with the Vice President and had sent an email along those lines.  Silence at the other end, so I call his company number on his business card. </p> <p> </p> <p>The woman who answered the phone sounded like she was there answering the phone, because she was the least important person in the company.  Everyone else more important was sitting safely at home.  I asked to speak to the Vice President. “He isn’t here at the moment”.  “Was he working from home?”.  “Yes”.  “How about the sales manager, is he in the office?”.  “Also working from home”. “Can I have his mobile number?”. “No”. This was followed by an uncomfortable silence, as she was not offering any help to ensure the wheels of commerce could continue to turn.  Now I was using their names, so it was obvious I knew them.  IT didn’t matter. In frustration, I went back to sending more emails.</p> <p> </p> <p>If you keep up with the latest news, you realise that business is grinding to a halt. Even if you do get hold of the client, there may be no capacity to purchase your solutions at the moment.  In fact, they are laying people off and shutting down production capacity.  So what can you do?  Sending emails is fine, but very hard to convert into business in this environment.  You can’t visit clients, because you and they, are all supposed to be staying at home isolating from the virus.</p> <p> </p> <p>Cold calling might be possible, if you can get through.  The difficulty of getting hold of decision makers when they are at home goes up dramatically.  A few days ago, they were probably still at the office, but now they are at home following the “soft” guidance from the Government.  Being Japan and everyone knowing what will