Zoomies, Lobsters, RFID, and Pricing – Sales Lead Digest
It’s like Groundhog Day around here for most of us. What day is it? What time is it? If it weren’t for this newsletter, I may have forgotten to turn the month on the calendar! This week in sales and marketing news, it’s all about dealing with crisis. Many businesses have taken a body blow in the last month. Others have been suffering through learning a new way to work. We have articles on all of it. We talk about Zoom’s boom, visit Maine to learn how the lobstermen are learning direct to consumer sales, take a peek into a possible future with contactless payments, and end up with an article on pricing. All decent reads and if you want to talk about any of them, give us a call! We’re around.
Zoom Boom as demand for video-conferencing tech grows
“I hope this crisis can be over very, very soon, but one thing I know for sure is that companies will learn this is the way to work,” he said. “I am pretty sure almost every company will be thinking about it and [will] say, ‘hey, maybe working from home makes sense’, and maybe let every employee work from home, maybe once a week. Previously, a lot of businesses didn’t even want to try.”
We have relied on Zoom meetings to keep in touch with our office mates and clients in the last two weeks and we’re not the only ones it seems! What will the new workplace look like once we emerge from the crisis? No one knows for sure, but we can say for certain the longer we’re forced to alter our daily routine, the more change we’re going to see. It’s a good time to schedule a web meeting for just this topic: what will our world look like and how will we provide value to our customers when it happens? Marketing needs to be ready for changes in the workplace. READ MORE
Fisherman turn to direct marketing as demand for Maine seafood plummets
“Maine shellfish farmers dealing with the disappearance of the restaurant buyers who took much of their product are turning to direct marketing of their oysters, mussels, scallops and clams. On Monday, the University of Maine Sea Grant program sent a flier to oyster growers with comprehensive advice about directly marketing their shellfish online, at farm stands or farmers markets, or right at the farm.”
Desperate times call for new playbooks. What happens if 75% of your market dries up almost overnight? Many manufacturers producers have relied on wholesalers or value added resellers for business and stayed away from direct to consumer relationships out of courtesy. Now? Things have changed. These Maine lobster, elver, and oyster fishers aren’t the only ones learning a new marketing game. Prepare for new competition is one message to take from these unprecedented times. READ MORE
Contactless Payments Surge in Demand as Businesses Avoid Cash
“Experts have found COVID-19 viruses to remain alive and infectious three days after being left on a surface – and if that surface is a keypad, it can be touched by thousands of other people in a day. For that reason, …Food delivery companies like the UK’s Deliveroo have switched to contactless payments to minimise risk to employees, and other firms are following suit. Also, complying with government advice, many banks have waived their contactless payment fees for the duration of the pandemic to meet hygiene regulations.”
Speaking of changes to how we do business, will this be the end of the firm handshake? I know this is just a press release selling reports, but I was Madrid a month ago and the contactless payment world is in full effect there. I liked it. As marketers we should be excited for these changes because there are new value propositions coming! Let’s get ready. READ MORE
How Restaurants Can Survive Right Now
