The COVID-19 pandemic is a tragedy in terms of human lives - more than 7.4 million infected and 417,000 dead - and it also shows us repercussions on the business environment unlike anything known to date. According to the B2B Marketing and Sales study , carried out by Sum | The Sales Intelligence Company , a drop of at least 10 percentage points in turnover is expected in 2020 compared to 2019.
For this reason, organisations have had to adapt and marketing and sales departments have had to adapt to new ways of working, communicating, organising and relating to potential clients. In an accelerated manner, such as has never been experienced in recent human history, and with a model of social relations that is totally different from what guaranteed the normal functioning of the economy.
According to this model, some organizations focused on the analysis and development of models and methodologies, such as TOPO - a company belonging to Gartner - have created a three-phase strategic framework for the development of revenue operations, which allows companies to return to a state where growth is part of everyday life.
Revenue-focused organizational functions are the drivers of growth in any economic scenario . As a result of the lessons learned during the COVID-19 lockdown, a model is established that can serve as a growth framework for any crisis situation that may affect a particular industry or region.
This framework focuses on Stabilizing , through emergency vp technical email lists measures that allow us to protect the bottom line and focus our efforts on those drivers of growth. Reinventing new ways of going to market, both in the short and medium term, and finally, focusing on Growing through those methodologies and techniques that have worked in the past, together with the new ones that are necessarily critical in a new scenario like the current one.
Phase 1. Stabilize.
The first phase of any crisis begins with realizing the scope and magnitude of the challenges ahead. In the case of the current pandemic, this was a gradual discovery process, but other crises can occur at a moment’s notice (natural disasters, economic lockdowns, regulatory changes, or cyberattacks, to name a few examples). To do so, before marketing and sales establish the changes to be implemented and the new roadmap to follow, company management must set new revenue targets and allocate budget spending to achieve them.
Organizations must make structural and tactical changes to stabilize the business, including rebuilding the pipeline by shifting from mass-based programs to focus only on strong segments , modifying the efforts and performance criteria of Sales Reps and Business Reps with prospecting focused on solid accounts and seeking to create a demand generation portfolio in a 100% digital way.
The risk of loss and cancellations , with the consequent increase in churn, increases in a crisis and organizations must take care of existing customers, those who need our help, loyal and committed, to whom we truly provide value, focusing the attention of the entire organization. Strategies and tactics must be created to interact with customers from sales, the customer success area and customer marketing programs, even with the launch of new products if necessary.
Phase 2. Reinvent.
After one or two months of emergency measures, organizations begin to make more permanent changes to reinvent the way they generate and capture value , all under continuous review in search of optimization for this new reality. Market segments may continue to be discussed - it is not necessarily necessary to return to the same segments as before the crisis - which leads to a long-term re-evaluation of the target market, the ideal customer profile and the target accounts.
It is true that, in any economic scenario, companies must always be aware of their value proposition and how this proposition materializes in a convincing, concise and understandable message . Therefore, it is now more necessary than ever to adapt products and services to this new reality. Design and package product offerings to respond to the current needs of the target market, including the development of new products that support new purchasing behavior and needs. The product or service model that minimizes risks for the buyer without compromising - excessively - the company's bottom line must be sought. This is also the time to ensure that value is offered throughout the customer's life cycle.
Phase 3. Grow.
The third phase of the framework is reached when organizations have been focused on their reinvention process - a period that can range from 3 to 9 months - and begin to scale for growth. Marketing and sales teams - normally focused on growth - also work on rediscovering what works to continue generating revenue .
Once new strategies and tactics are in place, it is time to accelerate customer acquisition by re-analyzing the target market as previously eliminated segments become receptive, increasing demand generation and the budget allocated to Sales Reps, to capture segments that begin to behave more dynamically and, with this, increase the reach of sales teams to all segments. This implies recovering resources from the past, hiring new resources and reinventing some of the resources that had been maintained in the previous stages.
Teams should analyze all the tactics and activities that worked before the crisis and update them based on what generated results during the previous phases . The organization that emerges from the crisis is leaner, more resilient, and with a clear vision for the future. This is also the phase where organizations should adopt revenue-ops, which defines a seamless end-to-end revenue process supported by this framework for growth.
