Rule of 24 was already taking place when the 2020 COVID pandemic impacted the business world. The old prospect strategies weren’t working like they used to; your sales process was harder and harder to follow, and you simply weren’t getting as much face-to-face time as you once did.

We wrote this book two years before the pandemic, and the client engagement challenges and solutions that have presented themselves during COVID-19 were an acceleration of what we predicted in 2018. Prospects are more educated and demanding in what they want you to demonstrate, present, or discuss in meetings. In web meetings, they don't seem to be paying attention and then eliminate you because they didn't see or discuss something they wanted. You may feel a bit like you're losing control. At 2Win!, we reached out to thousands of business-to-business (B2B) sales engagement team professionals about buyer behavior trends prior to the pandemic, and the data is astounding. The selling world was already accelerating toward virtual interactions and demanding buyers. In our assessment, the trends we uncovered are here to stay long after the administration of vaccines.

If you believe COVID-19 is responsible for your current reality, pause and think about what was happening pre-pandemic. Think about how clients were moving toward virtual engagement, geographical dispersion of decision making, and seemingly impenetrable meeting calendars. New client engagement roads that were laid in 2020 and 2021 are here to stay. You need solutions. Video plays a serious role. Web tools play a serious role. In-person presentations will have a totally different tone. Virtual presentations will remain a substantial part of your future. You used to know exactly how to be effective in sales, and now you're not so sure. You really only have one option: embrace the movement. The alternative is bleak. Forrester Research forecasted that one million B2B salespeople in the United States will lose their jobs to self-service!