The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered the office environment, with remote work suddenly becoming the new normal for businesses around the world. This summer has seen many companies gradually bringing employees back to the office, either fulltime or in a hybrid capacity, but this return to the workplace does not come without challenges.
The pandemic has forced many companies to change the way they do business. Connecting with prospects and adapting to new marketing tactics have become particularly important as potential customers reevaluate their purchasing strategies.
VSA is uniquely positioned to help with these challenges. Our experience working with clients on lead generation and appointment setting throughout the pandemic has kept us well-versed on changing marketing trends.
As companies transition to bringing employees back on site, here are four developments to keep an eye on:
1. Calling people’s cellphones is no longer taboo.
With so many people working from home during the pandemic, the cellphone often replaced the office phone as the easiest way to connect with prospects. Since then, people have become much more comfortable conducting business on their cellphones. Access to those numbers has become crucial for communicating with prospects, especially with so many executives still working remotely at least part of the time.
Don’t let not having the right cell numbers cost you a potential sale. VSA’s list-building resources frequently allow us to capture that information about your prospects.
2. Following old data won’t get you far.
Whatever you thought you knew about your prospect base before the pandemic, forget it. Maybe even forget what you thought you knew four months ago.
COVID-19 changed everything—and continues to do so. It is imperative that whatever data you’re using to establish your marketing strategy is as up to date as possible.
Email activity, for example, has fluctuated widely over the last year and a half, with open rates at their highest during the peak of the pandemic in the winter. According to worldata.com, open rates dropped over the spring months as people began spending less time at home, but during a 60-day stretch between June and August corresponding with the rise of the delta variant, B2B open rates jumped back up by 28 percent.
It’s enough to make your head spin, but having the technology and support to properly analyze the latest data can significantly ease the burden.
3. Building—and keeping—relationships matters more than ever.
Developing a rapport and establishing trust in a virtual sales environment is not easy, especially without a prior connection. Prospects may even be a little cynical about what you’re selling. But without that initial trust, most meetings are destined to fail.
That’s why it became crucial during the pandemic for companies to build meaningful relationships with prospects—and that’s where a lead generation firm like VSA can play such an important role. We consider ourselves a partner who can introduce you to new business relationships, helping you establish that trust right from the start. We can also help you rebuild relationships with previous or existing clients that might have lapsed due to COVID restrictions. Market surveys, customer outreach, and event registration (live or virtual) are just some of the ways we can accomplish this.
In the age of COVID, it’s no longer enough for companies just to talk up their products—they also have to understand a prospect’s specific needs and offer solutions that meet those needs. VSA can help businesses learn exactly what those needs are.
4. Cold calling (and warm calling) still gets the job done.
Here’s something that didn’t change during the pandemic: The telephone remains one of the most surefire ways to develop these new relationships. If anything, with many people still hesitant to attend tradeshows or other in-person events, the phone has become an even more productive marketing tool.
Every successful relationship has to start somewhere, and in the world of B2B marketing, that “somewhere” is often the initial cold call. Making a good first impression on the first call can go a long way toward establishing the type of connection needed to produce a sale down the road.
However, an experienced lead generation firm doesn’t just rely on cold calls to foster those relationships for its clients. Warm calls to existing leads are often a key step to keeping prospects engaged in the sales process. Warm calls are also effective for reaching out to existing clients whose needs may have changed during the pandemic.
Conclusion
Returning to the office is not as simple as sitting down in front of a computer and getting back to work. There are new challenges to confront, both in day-to-day operations and big-picture strategies. Businesses are operating from a place of uncertainty, especially with COVID-19 still very much a concern.
But the right partner can make the task a lot less daunting. There are multiple ways VSA’s lead generation and appointment-setting experience can ensure your business continues to run smoothly.
Whatever your challenge, we’re always happy to help. Just give us a call.