The pandemic has revealed more fissures than we’d like to count including a major gap between the sales haves and have-nots. In the early stages of the shutdown, new business opportunities all but disappeared. The most resilient companies were those already clued into the importance of relationship based, personalized sales and service experiences. The good news is, it’s not too late to learn this important lesson. Whether you’re a newbie to the world of personalized sales or you’re ready to leverage personalization through your entire customer lifecycle, here are three ways to drive better connection.

With nearly record levels of unemployment globally and an ultra-competitive business marketplace, a strong personal brand can you set you, or your company, apart. Unfortunately, for many, a personal brand is often perceived as something only ownable by industry luminaries, or only worth focusing on once a certain career level has been achieved. So, what to do if you’ve under invested in the creation of it?

We’re doing a lot of scenario planning these days for risk adverse firms that are looking to scale in a business climate that is still experiencing volatility and uncertainty. Although we’re seeing increased hiring for mid-level roles, often times C-level roles (even those desperately needed) go unfilled due to overhead cost concerns.

Despite advice to the contrary, most organizations rely heavily on in person events to drive sales activity, which has left many adrift in a sea of cancelled events and online event pivots. How do sales teams, accustomed to in person sales, network and drive lead generation in an event with no opportunity to interact with prospective buyers face to face?

Remember when summers included planned vacations with travel, good food, and fun times with friends and family? Now, if I leave my state I need to be prepared to return to an extended period of lockdown and isolation.

The logistics of planning a vacation that is Covid-friendly and that you feel aligns with your level of willing exposure is challenging and enough to make many people stay home. Taking time off is critically important for performance and mental health, maybe even more so now than in our pre-pandemic reality. If your original plans have been scrapped, here are four tips for a revised vacation strategy:

With travel at a standstill for most of the world, most vacations are turning into “staycations”. Regardless of how you’re spending your downtime this year, at ScaleHouse we’re advocates for continuous learning. Here are some of our favorite business reads that you can sprinkle in between murder mysteries (or the book genre of your pick!).

Remember when open floor plans were the business world’s solution to collaboration and innovation? The concept of promoting collaboration was well-intended, but the idea of sitting mere inches from your colleagues seems foreign now and may become the stuff of urban legends. 

It is easy to “bubble up” these days, to find yourself in a routine of siloed work, interacting mostly with the same group of teammates and colleagues. Instead of battling the annoyance of the office loud-talker, now we’re navigating Zoom fatigue.

The COVID driven rapid change to business and life as we knew it has forced whiplash inducing adjustments. After celebrating that we’ve made it this far, we should funnel the survival instincts of the early days of the pandemic toward driving new revenue opportunities for the long term. The companies that are positioning themselves for continued success are resourceful, creative, resilient and innovative.  If the world as we know it is changing, why not take advantage of the innovation environment HBR recently highlighted and prepare your company for whatever comes next? Here are a few tips for fostering a more innovative environment:

Whether you’re thriving or just focused on surviving in business in these tumultuous times, there are a few key activities you should consider:

For many, the pandemic brought business impacts we’d rather forget. Lost revenue streams; shrinking teams; postponed projects and product launches and cancelled events, coupled with the reality of illness and loss, left permanent scars. However, as businesses start to reemerge, some more bruised than others, we need to pause and be honest about what we still need to and can fix. The cracks that presented themselves over the last few months point to near and long term areas of profitability improvement. Strong leaders will look across industries to identify strategies that can be applied to their own businesses. Luckily for you, we’ve done that leg work.