Restart Your Perseverance Engine

The ‘survival triangle’, as originally sketched out by John Hudson, is a cycle of Hope-Plan-Work. Revisiting media rounds due to a newsjack chapter addition to his book, How To Survive A Pandemic.

A key component is what he calls your ‘persevere engine’. Which seems eminently adaptable to the Sales arena. Particularly our b2b sector post-coronavirus emergence.

The starting point is to actually do something. No matter how small. Even a tiny degree of movement can begin to shape momentum. Once you start this work, you have the forming of a plan. Which can be refined as you go. Subsequent feelings of trying to wrest control back over your threat gives rise to hope. That you can act to affect improvement. Positive outcomes then more likely to follow.

Adopt an ‘action bias’ mentality. Where you’d rather do something than nothing.

Try tackle a little bit of the problem at a time. Regain control, dilute hopelessness. Keep going ’round the cycle.

There’s more than one contender for that crucial first little bite of your elephant.

Lockdown easings around the world have shown that pent-up demand does exist. Data in the UK for instance from the largest re-opened consumer market – housing – shows a huge increase in activity compared to the month a year before and average prices remaining stable.

How can you get on top of potential purchase order backlog that may well be bubbling within your prospect operations?

There are plenty of knock-on effects too.

Which of your prospects will also be rushing to sate all this catching up from their customers? And how can your wares help them do so?

Then what about adaptations to the new normal?

My lockdown town is seeing a surge in builders being asked to re-arrange hospitality premises to cope with social distancing adherence. As whatever legal edicts emerge, paying leisure guests will likely need to feel their own level of public safety.

This stretches to our office-bound domain too. As well as the new ways of doing business. Whether that be switching to more delivery, WFH or remote online meetings.

And as with all such initiatives, often the business flows to those that simply ask the question…