What each of us should be doing at this time is to identify our own "single sources of truth" regarding the disease, the impact that it's making on our physical and mental health, and the devastating effect on our businesses and our jobs.
The only way we can fight back is with discipline in what we do, how we act, and how we sell and market our products
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One full quarter into this, we're also now directly experiencing the impact on our businesses. In a few sectors, largely in trucking, healthcare, and tech, that impact has been net positive, or at least it hasn't been negative. In other markets, of course, such as tourism, travel and restaurants, the impact has been severe with huge numbers of companies projected to shut down permanently. I've done a lot of webinars since February and couple recently for tourism associations, and it's heart-wrenching to listen to the owners of these inns, hotels and restaurants.
Clearly, we're still in the beginning phases of this pandemic and still do not have enough data to be able to forecast accurately, but the overall impact economically and personally to millions of people and their businesses has been devastating. I purposefully chose in the bullets above not to add much in the way of metrics since I did not want to get in a dispute on whether the numbers came from the CDC, the NIH or the WHO. I have my own "single sources of truth" about the infection data (CDC), the potential cures (NIH) and the financial impact (Bloomberg) on jobs and specific markets, but they personally fit what I want to know. I also believe that it's important for all of us in business to adopt our own "single sources of truth" that will provide us individually with a firmer platform for decision making rather than the fluff of the 6:30 nightly news.
In the meantime, with this quarter ending today, we can now make an initial judgement on the beginning impact of the virus on our businesses. Still not enough data to make meaningful forecasts for the next six months, but enough now to be able to project Q3, and come Labor Day, we should be able to provide a higher level of accuracy to what the end of 2020 will look like.
For two mornings of August 24th & 25th, we're holding our Sales Management Boot Camp online.
The next day, August 26th, we're available to work one-on-one with team members.
Different from big numbers of people and formulaic programs, our boot camps are focused at 20ish managers so that there is plenty of opportunity for customization and active engagement through the sessions.
Click here for more information, and then my suggestion would be to connect with me directly at jack@derbymanagement.com, and we can set up a call to answer questions.
If at any time, you have a need for a confidential sounding board in business planning or for Sales or Marketing , just connect with me at any time. Text or email me, and I will quickly set up a call.
I'm a pretty good listener. Obviously, no cost for a call or two; just an opportunity to listen intently and make a few recommendations based on decades of experience.
Be safe, be positive and be tactical!