ETA Expert Insights: Salesperson’s Field Guide to Different Industry Verticals

By Members of the COVID Sales & Strategy Working Group • ETA Payment Sales & Strategy Committee

The sales industry is starting to reflect on how COVID-19 changed the way it does business, with an eye towards understanding what is here to stay as the country opens, vaccination levels rise, and it becomes safer to engage in person. One important takeaway is that it is critical to diversify your sales portfolio for the sustainability and predictability of your revenue stream.

In March 2020, salespeople siloed in a single industry, such as travel and tourism, took a large financial hit. Just as consumer behaviors changed and adapted as the pandemic progressed, so did the tactics of salespeople. As the sales channel considers expanding to new markets, it is critical to understand what strategies will and will not work when engaging new clients.

To help salespeople navigate new verticals, ETA’s COVID Sales & Strategy Working Group, which is part of the ETA Payment Sales & Strategy Committee, organized the following field guide to document industry-specific changes due to COVID.

The following provides a summary of similarities between verticals to increase a salesperson’s understanding of each segment when considering how to approach a new client.

Veterinary Practices

PRE-COVID

• Allowed owners to bring pets into the practice and accompany them in the waiting area and exam room.
• Upon completion of services, owners checked out with a receptionist to pay for their visit.
• Receptionists accepted cash, checks, and credit or debit cards as payment.
• Credit and debit card transactions were processed on desktop terminals or gateways.
• Signatures were captured, and receipts were printed.

POST-COVID

• Pet owners no longer allowed to bring their pets inside the practice. Curbside drop-off is mandatory.
• Cash or checks are no longer accepted, with a move toward credit or debit only.
• Credit and debit card transactions processed through curbside checkout via mobile devices or QR codes that integrate with the gateway.
• Implementation of installments via recurring payments.
• Signatures captured electronically, and receipts are sent via text or email.

Mom & Pop Retail

PRE-COVID

• Strong walk-in traffic.
• Contact with consumers structured around advertisements, sales, mailers, and audio advertisements. No ongoing record of consumers.
• Limited or no internet presence. Internet strategy to point them to the store.
• Sufficient stock to cover product needs.
• Store is a sales point.

POST COVID

• Limited walk-in traffic. Merchants concerned that consumers are unaware they have reopened. Many moving to smaller stores, emphasizing their web presence.
• Growth in loyalty programs to capture contact information and the ability to target market to repeat users. Limited advertisement buys, again targeted to specific consumers. Ads including pushes to the website.
• Strong internet presence with inventory, availability to buy online (as well as pay online). Loyalty users provided with onsite purchasing perks.
• Product options reduced, with emphasis on the most popular products, the goal being to reduce cost of inventory by reducing time on shelves.
• Store remains a sales point, but emphasis of online presence expanded. Delivery and curbside pickup remain. Call-ahead purchases being offered to mirror the big box retailer.

Restaurants 

PRE-COVID

• Guests make reservation over the phone or walk-in.
• Physical menus provided to patron.
• Wait staff recorded orders on a notepad.
• Guests provided hard copy of check and likely paid with cash or with credit card.

POST COVID

• Guests make reservations online. In many instances, reservation held using a credit card. Penalty for cancelation may apply.
• Orders taken on an iPad by wait staff, or a guest enters their order electronically on their own phone through the restaurant’s menu accessed via QR code.
• Wait staff provide guests a table device to pay or guest hands over a physical credit card. Increase in Zelle or Venmo-type payments accepted as a contactless payment method.
• “COVID charge” or “no cash adjustment” fees charged.

Auto Repair Shops

PRE-COVID

• Waiting room open to guests.
• Heavy walk-in traffic.
• Rides provided for guests to and from repair site.
• Multiple people worked on one car.
• Limited online presence. Payments made face-to-face.

POST COVID

• Seating spaced out or no seating offered. Masks required by all employees along with plexiglass shielding.
• Appointments strongly encouraged.
• No transportation provided to customers.
• Staff assigned to one vehicle at a time, resulting in longer repair times.
• Leveraging online appointment setting, and online notifications. Providing the ability to pay online to limit contact.

Nonprofit Organizations & Churches

PRE-COVID

• Wide acceptance of paper checks.
• Many did not accept credit cards.
• Written commitment cards/investment in direct mail.
• In-person major donor solicitation meetings to upkeep relationship and commitment.
• In-person galas and other major fundraising events, which allowed for a captive audience, but also limited attendance to geographic areas.
• General solicitations and more prolific use of a one-size-fits-all approach in communications.
• Passing of a basket around congregation or group for offertory.
• Complex and difficult to implement CRMs to facilitate online giving.

POST COVID

• Decrease in donor’s use of paper checks and mail (including for large one-time donations).
• Investment in digital marketing and solicitation, typically resulting in an increased amount and size of donations and allowing for recurring donations/contributions.
• An extension of digital marketing through apps designed specifically for a church or nonprofits and increasing donations through engagement.
• Ability to solicit donations from major donors across the country. No limitation on geography because productive meetings can take place using modern technology.
• Virtual galas require unique planning and new skills, including simple-to-use text-to-give and auction software. Many organizations are leaving their auctions open for longer than the actual event, so that more people can participate.
• More time dedicated to sophisticated and segmented personal solicitations based on interests, past giving amounts, and future estate planning (targeted solicitations).
• Low-tech/no-tech online giving solutions.
• Increased use of social-media as a peer-to-peer fundraising tool.
• Additional church services to allow more of the congregation to attend and donate.
• Streaming options for events and services to allow for more attendance.
• Multichannel giving options — online, in-person, text2give, in-app.
• More collaboration across the organization to figure out how to pivot and adjust to new normal.