Watching and reading too much news can make us think there is no light at the end of the COVID-​19 tunnel. Unemployment could reach Depression-​era levels. Life as we knew it won’t return for another couple of years. It’s easy to let these kinds of news reports bring us down. But a look at the data that HubSpot has been recording shows there’s reason for optimism.

Sales Activity Changes

Over the past several weeks, HubSpot analysts have been tracking sales activity on their site. Their trending information is based on tens of thousands of clients. Not surprisingly, deal activity plunged once the virus-​related shutdown started and we entered the COVID-​19 tunnel. After seven long weeks, Kipp Bodnar reports that some business trends are headed in a positive direction. 

“Deal creation increased 8% the week of April 20, compared to the prior week, with increases in every region.” The even better news is that HubSpot analysts noted a 9% increase in the number of deals closed that same week.

Email Communications are Way Up

As we reported earlier, your reps are trying to stay in touch with prospects and customers via email. In fact, they’re likely flooding contacts with email messages. Data from our new State of Media Sales survey, reveals that only 13% of media sales reps were doing 90% of their client contact via email. Since the pandemic started, that figure has jumped to 90%.

Is all that activity making a difference for the bottom line? Or are your reps just wasting their time? The HubSpot data suggests that more meetings have been booked in the last week, but likely not to the level that matches the amount of email being generated.

In general, customers are receiving 25% more email from businesses than they did before the pandemic started. And they’re showing a 25% higher open rate. 

To get prospects to the next level in the sales funnel, remind your reps to emphasize educational content. Buyers have plenty of time to assess their situation and needs right now. With budgets likely to tighten, they won’t want to make a mistake when they make a purchase decision. 

The COVID-​19 Tunnel

Coach your team on how to identify the best prospects and target them with content they need. As sales reps increasingly shift to using tools like video chat, they’ll need a bit of training on how that interaction differs from an in-​person meeting. By focusing their efforts on their most likely buyers, they’ll increase their chances of closing a deal. Every deal they land brings us all one step close to the end of the COVID-​19 tunnel we're all in.