People around the world are holding their breath, waiting to see what the outcome of COVID-19 will be - for more reasons than one. As the virus spreads, governing bodies and health officials around the world are struggling to keep it contained and protect people from getting sick, but they are also dealing with another crisis: a financial one.
Businesses (especially small ones) are struggling, and layoffs are on the rise. Economies around the world are slowing down as people isolate themselves at home, and public spaces get shut down. How are banking and finance sales teams supposed to adapt their sales strategy to this growing financial crisis? Where will they find leads among all the chaos? And how will they be able to meet their clients' needs with so much market instability?
A Demanding Market
The level of rapid change seen as a result of COVID-19 is something the industry hasn't really come up against before - meaning that they will have to utilize their resources and technology now more than ever. Banking and finance sales teams will have to turn to real-time sales insights solutions such as Vanillasoft.com to remain relevant and competitive.
They also have to leverage research and real-time sector reports, as one Japanese company has done.
Take Nomura, for example, a Tokyo-based bank that is considered number one in Japanese equity sales. They've been the top of Institutional Investor's All-Japan Sales Team for three consecutive years now, and they were voted first in each of the following categories:
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Understanding of client needs
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Idea generation
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Service and responsiveness
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Global context
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Value added to research
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Market knowledge and feel
The managing director at Nomura, Takehiko Shishikura, believes his sales team is able to separate itself from competitors because of the number of research products that they are able to provide. Despite the volatile market, investors are still interested in their long-term performance and are using the situation to enhance their portfolio. Many are interested in high-quality stocks, while other investors are attempting to reduce gross exposure until market volatility comes down. Other clients, such as hedge funds, are focusing on ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance).
With clients still relying on their services, Nomura is adjusting their coverage and frequency with a combination of timely collaborative macro research on the impact of COVID-19 as well as real-time sector reports on how the virus if affecting different industries and companies. They are also offering broad ESG-related coverage.
Providing this level of real-time research and insights means that the sales team needs to work closely with the research team on a daily basis. They are also considering client feedback to help them enhance their products and services.
The Importance of Research and Insights
Using Nomura as an example, it's apparent that research and real-time sales insights are now more important than ever. Banking and financing sales teams need to utilize the sales tracking tools they have available and also be on top of this volatile global market if they want to be able to meet their client's needs during this tremulous period.
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