San_Mateo

Account Executive

Sales during Layoff announcements?

So my company announced some pretty big layoffs today, and thankfully I'm not on that list but as I see all the LinkedIn posts going up I'm wondering what kind of affect I could anticipate this news having on my current pipeline?

I can't imagine that buyers would have a ton of confidence in a company going through layoffs but maybe I'm overthinking it and it won't be that big of a deal...anyone here have any experience with this?

If it did have an impact on your pipeline was there any strategies that helped restore confidence??

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14 comments

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Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Just keep selling. Make sure you understand how layoffs could be perceived by your customers - did the customer experience/account management team get let go? Programmers for platform enhancements? And be ready to discuss those things calmly. Are any of the layoffs likely to impact your customers in an adverse way, such as account management being let go? Or does it look pretty much like business as usual?

I would be in touch with my pipeline this week about other things (does this time still work for the demo, where are we with the redlines) so they know you are alive and kicking and going about business as usual.

What is your management saying about the layoffs?

San_Mateo

Fire Starter

Account Executive

So just the initial announcement this morning and a follow up email confirming I still have a job. It does like CS and our BDR orgs took a pretty big hit and I’m not too sure about other departments yet.
Sales org is meeting in like 10 minutes to talk about it then a company wide meeting tomorrow.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

So your prospects aren't going to care so much about hits to the BDR org, but as a rep, I'd want to know how cuts to CS are going to impact my future customers. I would want to be sure that I'm communicating account management expectations properly to prospects when asked.

San_Mateo

Fire Starter

Account Executive

Definitely going to get a touch point out to all my opps, that’s a great call!

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Great comment. Very important to let you prospects you are alive.

SaaSsy

Politicker

Sunbunny nailed it with understanding which departments so you can message it correctly. Especially if you're meeting with Execs, most will understand layoffs happen and sometimes it's a way for the org to trim underperformers. Just be ready to be honest but able to reinforce that the customer experience will not change if you're asked. Do you have a lot of competition? If so, did other orgs in your space have layoffs as well? Like everything in life, control the message well and you'll be fine.

San_Mateo

Fire Starter

Account Executive

We’re the largest in the space but there is quite a bit of competition but they’re pretty small for the most part. There’s been a couple that I’ve heard of having layoffs and a few have actually sought us out to acquire them (since we said no, I’m expecting they’ll have some announcements soon unless they found someone else to buy them).

SaaSsy

Politicker

Yep, so I wouldn’t worry much - you’re part of the trend, not an outlier.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

You should be fine. Keep moving forward.

BlueJays2591

Politicker

Federal Business Dev Director

So many companies are going through layoffs so it shouldn't shake buyer confidence too much unless the layoffs were due to something bad. Layoffs always shake people's confidence. They suck ass and I hate seeing people get laid off (just happened to me 2 months ago), but you'll be good. Just put your head down and work to fill your pipeline.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Keep on keepin' on.
Just do your job and be happy you have one. Fortunately with all the other layoffs currently, your company's news will be quickly forgotten.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Recessions are like a March Madness team, Survive and Advance

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

"Just keep swimming" - Dory- ---> - Askhole -

activity

Politicker

VP, Business Development

Companies know these things happen sometimes. You just have to keep going about business as usual.

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San_Mateo

Sales during Layoff announcements?

14 comments

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