This site uses cookies. Learn more >>
 

Sales Models, Metrics, and Motions Blog

Returning to the Sales Floor

by Matt Bertuzzi on Thu, Jul 16, 2020

Last week, Trish and I did an event with Sam Jacobs of Revenue Collective. We discussed our recent research on sellers' appetites, attitudes, and apprehensions about returning to in-person work.

You can access the full 45-minute recording (which I highly recommend) or . For those of you who want the Reader’s Digest | tl;dr version, we shot a 10-minute Bridge Group Client Brief hitting highlights.

 
 
 
Video Thumbnail
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11:18
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Let me call out just a few findings for you.

Sales Reps & Leaders are much more ready to return than non-selling office workers

On Twitter, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield found 8-9% of respondents “prefer to be in office” in a future, imagined world. A similar poll on LinkedIn found just 4%.

In our data, 16% of respondents “can’t wait for on-site” to resume. Digging in, we find that Managers expressed “can’t wait” to an even higher degree . Double that of sellers, triple the Twitter poll, and 5X that of the LinkedIn audience.


return_1

Here are the roles most and least eager to return were:

MOST EAGER
  1. Hybrid / Field AEs
  2. First-line Managers
  3. Early-career sellers
LEAST EAGER
  1. Those with family/child-care constraints
  2. Midy-career sellers
  3. Later-career sellers

Getting back to normal won’t be normal

The reality is that most people would prefer some flexibility in work-from-home and work-from-office. The realities of virus spread, however, make this difficult.

In a limited capacity environment, people can’t choose 1-2 days a week ad hoc to return. It is more likely they will have to book office time, face physical restrictions, meet hand hygiene and face covering requirements, and/or observe incubation period between visits / travel / exposure / etc. You can look to salesforce.com Asia’s reopening details as an example.
 

A decision tree for returning

Finally, I wanted to share a decision tree we’ve been working on. Our goal has been to help clients decide between now, later, and never*.

return_2

The approach we’re currently recommending is to either punt the decision (till Q4 to 2021) or to launch a Pioneer Program to pressure test your reopening plans.

Obviously this is a massively complicated issue and we're, to use everyone’s favorite phrase, in unprecedented times. If you are back, partially back, or not going back, please share why in the comments.
 
 

Get the latest SDR, AE, and CSM insights in your inbox.

We're committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.
By clicking subscribe above, you consent to allow us to store and process the personal information submitted
to provide you the content requested.
 
Comments

What do you think?