The Coronavirus has impacted our daily lives at home and in the workplace. Government and companies are placing severe limitations on our ability to do our jobs. Restrictions tied to meetings have canceled some of our favorite industry events, and reports have come in that even customers are hesitant to have visitors unless there is an emergency. Our typical daily routine of face to face sales calls and after work recreational activities are now all but ceased. But as the old saying goes . . . when life gives you lemons; make lemonade.

SMEs can’t just declare a time for selling hiatus. They need to look at how they can put technology to work, how they can adapt, and adapt quickly. While no one expects this virus to last years, it won’t last only a few weeks either and, if people think it will disappear with warm weather check out the situation in a country like Thailand (average daily temperature 90 degrees).

Who knows, we might discover a few things that we can implement that will help now, but also provide long term company benefits.

Customers are more catchable.

While customers might not want to see you face to face, unless there is an emergency, reports coming in from our many distributor friends indicate customers are more accepting of phone calls or webinars right now. Many of them are working from home, which presents some unique challenges that most of us are just starting to discover. While they might have their laptop plugged in and charging while hooked up to the internet, that big collection of catalogs you left them over the years is sitting somewhere else. You can help them by providing product data, pages of the user’s manual and other information.

Why not reach out to some of the people you haven’t talked to for a while? For once, just asking how they are doing will get a response. In addition, briefing them on your company’s plans through the rest of the Coronavirus issue makes sense. So too, does a rundown of products you feel might experience delivery issues and shortages is a wise decision.

If you anticipate issues with specific products, you can be proactive in either reserving some of your stock for their future needs, expediting orders or helping in the process of converting to some other product.

Much can be done via video conferencing.

Do you remember when Skype was the newest technology out there that allowed for you to see someone during a meeting from afar? Well Skype is still around but now you have dozens of other choices out there some of which are 100% free.

All possess the ability for you to share quick sketches, drawings or a blank screen for sharing PowerPoint slides.

This creates a more personal touch and is nearly as easy to use as a phone.

Extending this further, what happens if you need to look at a part or machine and visits are in the realm of possibility, think facetime connections which allow your customer to share some of the action even out in the plant or on the shop floor.

Put your KYKLO system to work.

Did you know that KYKLO’s main purpose is to make it easier for customers to do business with you without needing a face to face interaction? Remember that paragraph above about your customers sitting at home while all those catalogs were sitting at their office, and you needing to send them data sheets? The KYKLO system makes that task as easy as humanly possible, and something customers can do autonomously without your assistance.

How about creating a feature section of products, that may experience shortages or deliver issues if this thing drags out, and customers should by NOW? This is the time to ramp up your use of the KYKLO solution. Instead of sending a simple quote with just a catalog number and a 25-character description, send along a content rich link your KYKLO Solution. The customer will see receive product pictures, data and everything they need to verify their order all in one quick click.

While customers are more willing to answer the phone, sign them up for an account on your KYKLO solution, take 5 minutes and show them how easy it is to gain all the information that they would need, access past orders, and place new orders.

Customers are scrambling, too.

How long does it normally take for one of your customer’s orders to be processed through their purchasing department? A day, maybe two. That’s under normal conditions. What happens if you provide quotes online with a link to the order on your KYKLO solution? The customer can avail lost time by simply turning the information into an order.

Now more than any other time in the last . . . 50, 60, 100 years, customers are trying to figure out how to use technology too in order to make life easier. Before it was a convenience, an “amazon like experience”, now it is a pandemic fueled necessity.

Tough times? You bet.

Every company big and small is feeling the impacts of the Coronavirus. We are going through this thing together and are happy to help in any way possible. If you have questions or need help, give us a call or shoot us an email. We hope that everyone stays healthy and stays as positive as possible.