In the world of sales, especially in state, local, and education (SLED) markets, there are times when the focus needs to shift away from immediate deals and revenue generation. One of these critical times is during a natural disaster - something that we are going through right now in Florida as we hunker down for Hurricane Milton and are still reeling from Hurricane Helene. Local leaders, emergency management teams, and educational institutions are laser-focused on protecting their communities, ensuring public safety, and addressing urgent needs. For vendors in the technology or services sectors, this is not the time for a sales pitch. Instead, the focus should shift toward supporting your existing customers, offering help where you can, and building trust for future opportunities.
Respect the Situation: Acknowledge Their Priorities
When a natural disaster strikes, local government and education professionals face intense pressure. Their number one priority becomes the safety and well-being of their community. This is not the time to push for new contracts or follow up on proposals. Your sales agenda, while important in normal circumstances, becomes irrelevant in the face of an emergency. The best course of action is to hit pause on all requests and follow-up activities.
If you are in an automated sales process—whether through email marketing, CRM-driven follow-ups, or other digital channels—immediately turn off any outreach to affected areas. Automation, if left unchecked, can make your organization appear tone-deaf and uncaring, undermining trust and damaging relationships. Be mindful of the emotional and practical burden your customers are carrying, and let them know that their needs—not sales—are your primary focus.
Reaching Out: Help Where You Can
If your organization already has a relationship with a state or local agency, or an educational institution in the affected area, reaching out can be appropriate—but only to offer help. This is a delicate balance; your offer should be genuine, feasible, and directly tied to addressing the disaster. If you can provide products or services that can help mitigate the situation or contribute to recovery efforts, extend that offer sincerely. However, it’s essential to ensure that you can deliver on your promises. The worst outcome is offering help and then failing to deliver during a critical time, which could erode trust and your long-term relationship with that customer.
Avoid framing your outreach as a sales opportunity or leveraging the disaster to get a quick win. Rather, think of this time as a chance to build goodwill, showing your customers and potential customers that you are a trusted partner who cares about their success and well-being—especially in difficult times.
Post-Disaster: Frame Your Product in the Context of Recovery
Once the crisis has passed and the community begins to recover, your sales approach can shift back toward discussing solutions—but only if your products or services genuinely help with recovery or future risk mitigation. If your offerings make sense in the context of disaster recovery, frame them as such. For example, cloud-based solutions that help ensure data continuity, or infrastructure improvements that reduce the risk of future disruptions, may be relevant.
However, be careful not to push products or services that aren’t directly tied to disaster recovery or risk mitigation. Governments and educational institutions will prioritize solutions that align with their recovery efforts, and trying to push unrelated services may come off as opportunistic.
Disaster Procurement in Florida: Streamlined but Not to Be Exploited
In Florida, procurement laws change significantly during a disaster declaration. To respond quickly to emergencies, state and local governments often fast-track procurement processes, allowing them to bypass certain competitive bidding requirements. This streamlined process is designed to ensure that essential goods and services are acquired swiftly to meet urgent needs.
As a vendor, it’s important to understand these changes, but even more crucial to approach them with integrity. The temptation to exploit the faster procurement process to push unrelated products or services should be resisted. Your focus should remain on addressing the immediate needs of your customers, not capitalizing on a fast-tracked deal. Instead, offer solutions that are directly relevant to the disaster and recovery efforts, ensuring that you are aligned with their priorities.
Building Trust for the Future
Ultimately, selling in the SLED markets during or after a natural disaster is less about closing deals and more about building trust. Governments, schools, and local agencies will remember which vendors reached out to help without ulterior motives, and they will also remember those who tried to exploit the situation.
Post-disaster communication should focus on demonstrating that you care about your customer’s recovery and well-being. This approach, centered around empathy and trust-building, will help solidify your relationship with current and potential customers. Governments will buy from people they know and trust—especially during a crisis. By showing that you are committed to helping them through difficult times, you can build a foundation for long-term relationships that can lead to future sales when the time is right.
Conclusion: Focus on Helping, Not Selling
During a natural disaster, the best sales strategy is to stop selling. Respect the priorities of state, local, and educational leaders who are focused on protecting their communities. Offer help if you can truly deliver, and be mindful of your communication and outreach. After the event, frame your products in the context of recovery only if they are genuinely relevant. Understanding and respecting disaster procurement processes is key, but the goal should never be to exploit the situation for a quick sale. Focus on building goodwill and trust—those are the foundations for sales success when normal operations resume.
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