Are corporates buying right now?
"What changes (if any) are you considering given the extraordinary financial challenge many corporates will be facing?"
This is what I was emailed when I was first launching my Sell to Corporates course back in May 2020.
It was like magic that I received this email as it is the exact question I had written out in a long list of questions I thought potential buyers might ask in light of the global pandemic: “Are corporates still buying right now?”
I knew it would be a fear (or an excuse) for social entrepreneurs choosing not to get their offer out there to corporates. The thing that could literally transform their current situation and help them scale their social impact, with more unrestricted income.
The answer? To: Are corporates still buying right now?
In my experience one of the biggest challenges with social entrepreneurs when thinking about working with and selling to corporates is a perception that they’re all the same - one homogeneous group of businesses that will never get what we're about and have no aligned values!
Now imagine how that would feel if all Executive Directors and CEOs of the top FTSE 100 thought all social entrepreneurs were made equal, were the same - offering and buying the same things as everyone else.
It sounds stupid, right?
That's because it is.
As I’m sure you appreciate this is not the case.
There is huge diversity amongst what we term "corporate".
And way I refer to corporate what I mean is all B2B (business to business) sales from you to them. So although my experience is with selling to large corproations, what I teach is also relevant if you're looking to sell to any organisation or business.
Recognising this diversity also applies to how corporates are experiencing the current situation (aka the global pandemic) and responding to it.
It's just a fact that they’re not all suffering or changing their usual operations (apart from obviously introducing measures to keep staff safe).
You just have to take time to look out for the success stories because it's not really what the media (or anyone) chooses to share or focus on - crisis and chaos sells better - I don't agree with it but it's what happens.
For example:
Banks are still operating and getting a lot of new customers
We received a £20k payment (in full) as we started in lockdown from a client because they still wanted to work on a project we’d designed for them AND our existing clients in the energy, utility and manufacturing industries are still signing up for our programme next year and paying in excess of £10k/year even though we’ve completely had to change the programme to online delivery whilst schools are closed
My sister works in a company that manufactures equipment and consumables for hospitals and healthcare settings - everyone’s working from home - but they’re still fully operational and not expecting any reduction in turnover (apart from in a few small areas) because they provide essential items - they are HUGE multi-national company but anyway producing essential products (e.g food) are still selling
The big 6 supermarkets saw a huge initial increase in profits in February / March as people panic bought and now stock up a week or two in advance
There’s also lots of examples of small and medium sized businesses who have adapted and doing well - you just have to look and listen for the positive news stories
My point being that business may not be as usual but some are still doing ok and in some cases really well.
There are always winners and losers in a crisis.
Your role is to be curious and connect with those who would still be interested in what you have to offer them, and not waste time focusing on those who are not in a position to work with you right now.
My Sell to Corporates course has a whole module on exploring exactly who your ideal target clients are and yes this is adaptable to the current situation.
But here's another example closer to home from my friend Lucy Hawthorne of Catalysts Club (www.catalysts.club) sharing how 7 weeks ago she completely pivoted and started a new part of her social enterprise to meet a new demand she knew would exist in organisations and companies.
I interviewed her to share her story and how it's worked. People are still buying so if you have something of value, that meets peoples needs you're going to be able to find customers and we explore how in the course (and on tomorrows webinar).
Watch the interview here
Please not eif you’re not a member of my Facebook Group (The Impact Entrepreneurs Club) you’ll need to request to join first to access this video. It’s free to join, simply request to join here.