Prior to COVID-19, Gartner reported that only 17% of any B2B buying team’s time was spent meeting with all potential suppliers. Additionally, over 70% of these “meetings” between buyers and sellers were not in person (Forrester). In other words, most of our conversations were already using the phone or video teleconference, so the current pandemic has only served to accelerate the trend.

In the current virtual environment, most sellers are reporting more sales calls with customers, but less than 50% believe this approach can be effective at B2B selling (Bain).  Yet the same poll showed that over 70% of B2B buyers believe the “new normal” of video teleconferencing is as good or even better than in person meetings. I think you can see where the future of B2B selling is heading…

“Don’t let a good crisis go to waste” is today applied to economic or diplomatic crises that can be exploited to advance political agendas. However, the original quote as found in the Yale Book of Modern Proverbs, can be traced back to 1976 (sorry, Churchill did not say it first), when M. F. Weiner wrote an article in the journal Medical Economics entitled “Don’t Waste a Crisis — Your Patient’s or Your Own.” Weiner meant that a medical crisis can be used to improve aspects of mental health, daily habits or lifestyle – for both parties.

This is the proper context for this post. How can the current COVID-19 crisis be used to improve the interactions and business results for both B2B Buyers and Sellers?  Studying this “deceptive dance” from both sides for over 20 years in my consulting practice, I have often been frustrated by how much time, effort, and potential value is routinely squandered by both sides – resulting in very poor deals for one or both parties. Why does it have to be this way?