A time nobody knows what happens and what will be in a couple of weeks. A time for slowing down business or a time to use as a chance?
Every business is different. For players like gyms it’s more difficult than for online shops. Yesterday I had an interesting discussion with a CEO of a huge US software company about his expansion plans for Germany this year. I asked him about his timing. The answer was: “I don’t know do to Corona”. This I heart often the last days. Companies started being carefully regarding new business or investments.
A difficult situation. In te discussion with this software CEO we agreed that we should take Corona not only as a risk, we need to use it as a chance, doesn’t matter in which industry we are working.
The question is…how? More telecommuting, more remote hiring capability, more distributed workforce vs. HQ centric?
It doesn’t matter if we are in B2B, B2C, B2B2C,.. it’s always B2E (Everything and Everyone). We are talking about customer experience, so it’s about the customers issues, his interests, needs and / or pains. Our customers needs help… often much more these days.
My answer on the question more distributed workforce vs HQ centric was clear. What we need is a close connection to our customer. In this case the software helps clients to manage processes, so it could help in the current situation to make things easier. That’s the first point, the second point is that companies have more to do at the moment, clear. But after the first days of adopting to home office etc. they will have more time. They will re-think their business and how they can adopt on the current situation and the future.
I’m sure companies will use the situation to start projects they have had in the drawer before but not started because of timing issues. Now while business is slowing down they have time to open the drawer…
A great chance for software companies to start new business.
Stepping back couldn’t be the answer for this software company in my eyes. Also the HQ centric approach couldn’t be the right decision. They need to help their clients and prospects.
If the client / prospect is in Europe for example and the HQ is in US there will be a week connection. My experiences in the software industry showed me, that clients / prospects always always ask for a local support and contact person. If the client prospect is based in Germany they didn’t accept an UK support or contact person. The time shift there is just one hour… while the time shift to US is around 7-9 hours. This is just one point, the other points are language, different working culture and the understanding of the local market.
We are talking about customer experience… Corona is the chance to show that we understand what customer experience means. We need a close connection to our customers, listen to their situation and help them to solve their issues. If we are a strong partner for them we will earn trust and build up a very strong connection.
Let’s show presence and offer help instead of stepping back and wait what time will bring.
Everyone who is offering solutions can be the winner these days, doesn’t matter which kind of solutions.
Let’s use this chance and unlock the power of B2E.
