Are your B2B clients doing all they can to stay in touch/​top-​of-​mind with their customers and prospects during the pandemic? To preserve cash flow, many businesses have cut back on paid advertising campaigns. Or, they may be telling you they’ll shift the spending to the third or fourth quarters of this year. New data from HubSpot shows that prospects are eager to interact with vendors on their own terms. 

In looking at client data, HubSpot analysts detected a 23% drop in the number of global deals created when comparing the end of March 2020 to this time last year. That’s a breathtaking decline with serious implications for cash flow.

Digital Connections

However, as buyers spend more time inside with their digital devices, they’re initiating conversations with vendors. HubSpot data reveals a 13% increase in website traffic between this March and last March. If your clients haven’t optimized their websites, now is the time to sell them on your digital marketing services.

Also, buyers may not want to stay in touch with your clients on the phone, but they aren’t shying away from other types of conversations. Since the start of social distancing, researchers have tracked a 5% increase in chats on tools like Facebook Messenger. If your clients don’t have enough staff to handle the increase, offer to help them keep prospects engaged on chat tools. According to our forthcoming State of Media Sales 2020 survey, well over half of media sales reps met regularly in person with their clients. And over 80% spent less than 10% of their time on video chat meetings before the COVID-​19 crisis. Now, over half of reps spend up to 30% of their time on video chat with their prospects and clients. And, of course, in-​person meeting time has plummeted until a COVID-​19 vaccine is out and the pandemic is well behind us. 

Email

Many marketers responded to the COVID-​19 crisis by increasing their email volume. As the email volume grew, by as much as 29% some weeks in March, consumers responded. Researchers measured a 21% increase in email open rates. However, we can’t expect prospects to continue opening every email that comes to them. Your clients must craft messages with just the right tone. That tone should be educational and informative.

How B2B Marketers Can Stay in Touch/​Top-​of-​Mind

The current economic and social situation has put all of us in a mood. Buyers don’t want to be blatantly sold to. But they are interested in the latest developments about our national situation and anything they can do to keep their businesses operational. If your clients are in a position to promote discounted or free services to help their customers, now’s the time to extend goodwill. When the worst is over, consumers will remember which organizations did the most to help out. Your clients will stay in touch/​top-​of-​mind.

If you’re prospecting for new B2B clients, check out the weekly Media Sales Opportunities, the Local Account Intelligence reports on over 400 business categories, and the lead lists available on AdMall by SalesFuel.