Tom van Betten joined Matter Real Estate Group to pursue his passion for commercial real estate after 20 years of leading his own brokerage practice. As Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Tom brings partners, brokers and tenants together, relying on decades of multi-faceted experience to cover every corner of the business. Through every transaction, Tom creates strategies that benefit everyone involved. A former top-performing broker, he has honed his skills guiding some of North America’s leading companies into new facilities.

Ever since the character Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross famously exclaimed, “Put the coffee down, coffee is for closers,” I have been intrigued by the intensity of the “sales floor.” As I entered the commercial real estate business right out of college, I was given a phone and a list of names to try and schedule meetings. I remember fumbling over my cold calls, trying to stay focused in a noisy room with paper notes everywhere.

Office environments have evolved over the years, but COVID-19 will change the approach to sales forever. The pandemic will have widespread implications on your sales force, these are the ways I see it impacting on both the process and the office spaces that sales forces utilize.

Selling During COVID-19

When COVID-19 hit, many sales programs had to quickly implement or even develop a crisis strategy. Of course, the firms that had robust digital infrastructure were steps ahead, and the real winners were the ones that could show clients a path to profitability (yes, profitability), not just cost savings. An example would be cross-leveraging a digital branding opportunity at a low cost for a client because the sales team connected the dots. Creativity has never been as important as a tool in your sales chest as it is now.

Traditional tactics such as events, trade shows and expos are not available now, and likely will not be for the foreseeable future. Even taking a client out for a good steak is not as easy or safe right now, as different clients have varied levels of comfort about meeting in person. How can salespeople connect with their client or prospect in any kind of meaningful way? We have found that the move from in person to digital not only can work, but can be the rare opportunity for a “one-to-many” presentation. Webinars and other online presentations can be efficient and interesting; however, this cannot be an infomercial or nobody will show up. This is thought leadership. This is not regurgitating the same information you’ve heard or presented again and again. This is putting some effort into aggregating some people or content that can be of value to a customer, even if no direct sale is made. This is relationship building in a bubble. Add value now and you will be remembered.

Selling After COVID-19

Technology! I know this is the de facto answer to everything, but COVID-19 has magnified its importance. While waiting for vaccinations to happen across the world, this is the perfect time to revamp your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and get 100% buy-in from peers and leadership before everybody is too busy again. Now is the time to stop relying on outdated legacy technology and move into the future with confidence.

That same technology should help you sell online in an attractive and efficient manner. Efficiency is going to be a key factor of success going forward, as we all realized working from home. A sales team can’t burn up minutes and hours chasing people and documents around. I was recently contacted by three salespeople from the same national data provider. I was thinking how frustrating it must be to not even share a database in today’s world! Have the difficult “territory” conversation now and set up equitable battle stations for salespeople to fairly focus on clients and beat the competition.

It’s time to give the desktop computer to Goodwill and gear up the team with a laptop and quality webcam. This will allow mobilized sales forces to meet online and collaborate when not in the office.

Business travel will come back. There is no substitution for a face-to-face meeting to build trust and complete a business transaction. However, the travel costs will require that trip to be the “silver bullet” or the one chance to win or save the business. How can that one trip in the future be that much more fruitful? Better presentations, images, flowcharts, metrics, case studies, etc.  What else can you do while you are there? Use this time now to prepare for Fall 2021, when all signs are that sales will be “game on!”

Offices will also come back. As we anticipated, our study from earlier this year showed that people miss going to the office. Several more recent surveys show over 70% of people want to return to the office at some level. People miss collaboration and human interaction. Experts believe that many offices may choose to change the days of a week required to be in the offices, but there will not be any change in the space needed for offices. The dedensification to create physical distancing will be offset by a more mobile workforce. Sales teams will need creative ways to communicate with their prospects, as sales call “drop ins” may not be available and, even if you are allowed in, you may miss the key contact.

Successful sales forces have always been on the cutting edge of trends – be it technology, psychology and more – and this year will be no different. We have the opportunity to redefine what sales and sales roles look like and should be excited about what’s ahead in the next 6-9 months.

Tom van Betten is vice president of strategic relationships at Matter Real Estate Group, the developer behind www.uncommons.com.

 

1. People:

Yes, people! Oh happy hours, lunches and office brainstorming sessions with our colleagues, how we’ve missed you. There’s nothing quite like having a white board up on a wall for all to see and collectively gather the latest and greatest ideas. Or wandering into a colleague’s office to go over plans and reports. We miss human contact and particularly in-person collaboration, so ‘people’ are at the top of our list of things we are most looking forward to.

2. The New 9-5:

Whether we have enjoyed it or not, we learned in 2020 (it’s hard now, even to type these numbers) that many of us CAN work from home. We can be accountable, we can keep a normal schedule and we can save time on our commutes. With this insight, we believe employers will have greater flexibility moving forward in how to approach the workweek. It might be “work from home Fridays” or a staggered schedule to allow a mix of work at the office and at home. It might be a policy that allows parents to pick up their kids from school and finish their work from home, or it might mean taking a break from a bustling workplace to work from home, or vice versa, to better focus on projects that require more concentration,

3. Mental Health is Now Top of Mind:

Isolation, job insecurity, and too much time around your spouse and family are all factors that have led to mental health crises for many. Prior to this past year (let’s not mention the year by name, again), mental health was dealt with privately. Sure, mental health may be covered by your company’s health plan, but you weren’t actually speaking to your boss or employees about it. This past year, we’ve found that people have been much more inclined to talk about their mental health and even communicate their need to seek help with their employer. We believe this openness will continue to be normalized as we go into the new year and, let’s face it, nothing ever gets resolved when you sweep it under the rug. We are also seeing a greater degree of access to mental health professionals with online therapy services like Talkspace, which now accepts payment from many insurance providers.

4. Extra Family Time:

While we have found that trying to be a teacher to your six-year-old while still managing a busy workload leads to an incredible amount of stress (see #3, ahem), we have found that we like the extra time with our spouses, kids and lovable pets. We are more aware that time is short and that we don’t really want our jobs to keep us from school plays or baseball games. We now recognize that we can be more flexible with our work week and that can allow for leaving work early to be there for our family, plus we now know that we have the tools to finish off the workday at home later in the evening.

5. Less Travel:

For many of us, video meetings were rare pre-COVID. We may have even found them to be a bit hokey. Meetings on Zoom and Microsoft Teams are now a part of the day-to-day workplace, and we have found that in many instances, they CAN replace face-to-face contact. While business travel will not be dead, it will certainly be less frequent. Plus, while there’s nothing quite like meeting in person for collaboration, we believe that video meetings will remain popular in a post-COVID workplace and will alleviate travel demands for a lot of people. That’s good news for many of us who have described our jobs as “living on a plane.”

6. Vaccinations:

Much of our return to the office will hinge on vaccinations – who has been vaccinated, and who hasn’t. There will even be events, conventions, and other activities that will require vaccinations. Your employer may even require that you be vaccinated before you return to the office. Skeptical about vaccinations? We think employers will continue to offer video meetings and work from home options for those who want to wait… at least, for now. With that, we will see a need for employers and employment law to help us navigate solutions for employees who don’t want to be vaccinated in 2021, and likely beyond this upcoming year.

7. Expansion of Wellness Programs:

The stressors of this past year have been through the roof. In addition to encouraging employees to seek support through therapists, group counseling, etc., employers will be encouraging employees to take care of their wellness while at the office. Ways to implement such programs might include a time set, daily, for afternoon walks – knowing that sunlight, exercise and fresh air are key to help fight depression; as well as the development of onsite physical fitness classes and gyms as well as other activities, like running, while at the office.

8. A New Office:

While we are all thrilled to have vaccines rolling out, we are also keenly aware that we want to work in office spaces that limit the spread of bacteria and provide personal spaces. At the same time, we want to feel inspired, plus we want our teams to feel inspired. Expect to see better HVAC systems, operable windows and hand sanitizers in public spaces, plus new policies in common areas like kitchens and conference rooms. There will be a reconfiguration of the bullpen as we touched on in an earlier blog, plus new furniture layouts that support activity-based work where you can find quiet areas to focus. Areas for collaboration will provide a more kinetic environment. Many older offices will be forced to remodel to support the vitality the modern workforce craves away from home.

9. Healthcare:

Healthcare has been a major issue for employers and employees since the Affordable Care Act. COVID-19 will have lasting implications on companies and the types of healthcare plans available to employees. Companies know that the price of healthcare is high, but not as high as the price of unhealthy employees. We expect to see greater attention to the types of healthcare available to employees, as well as programs that are focused on prevention.

10. Elevated Customer Service:

One of our New Year’s resolutions is to do more to show our customers and clients how much we appreciate them. Without their business, this past year would not have been possible. While communicating through masks and limits on in-person contact have kept us physically separated, we have been reminded to not take our customers and clients for granted. We are reminded of all those lessons our parents taught us – to treat others as we want to be treated and to always say please and thank you. We are reminded that we are all human beings.