Your guess is a s good as mine as to what the BBI referendum and 2022 election campaigns will mean for selling. 2021 is a gambling year

21 is considered a lucky number by gamblers. Aptly so given the unique selling environment 2021 presents. Why?

First, we are coming from a spiralling 2020, so 2021 can only be full of promise. After all, when you hit rock bottom, the only way is up. So, there’s an air of optimism which is a good thing. It may be even better for sellers that invested in the lull in 2020; invested, for instance, in creating products, to align to the new normal.

Why? There are those that gave away vouchers to be redeemed when the dust settled. This way, they not only retained clients, they also acquired new ones and endeared themselves further to their customers. Likely some clients may redeem the vouchers this year and make other purchases in the course of it.

How others have adapted

Then there are those that, adopting technology, ensured remote access to their products and spent last year promoting this new offering so as to nudge the buyers’ paradigm shift to it. So? Well, possibly 2021 will be harvesting time because both buyers and sellers are aligned in experiencing the importance of remote access.

What else? Then, there is our disruptive politics; as if campaigns for 2022 general elections going into full throttle are not enough, because of the BBI, we will have a referendum, too. Your guess is as good as mine as to what this will mean.

2021 is a gambling year

Next, the social front. Schools have reopened, and family dynamics changed yet again; more importantly, concern for the health of the nation has peaked.

My prediction

My take? Personally, as I’ve shared before, I believe it’ll be business as usual. The air at school is not different from that the students have been breathing, unmasked, and in ‘dehydrated’, congested slum areas, while actively playing outside. Infections may spike, yes, just as they would with the common cold. But, in my lay view, it’ll be just that – a one-off spike.

Why? With COVID-19 firmly entrenched in the community, pneumonia annually killing sixteen times more Kenyans, annual global COVID-19 deaths being at par with tuberculosis, continued hand-washing happening, unfazed Tanzania being an unsolicited control in the ‘experiment’, and all gory predictions in 2020 falling flat, our less than 2 per cent mortality rate can only lessen.  As for the vaccine it’s still early days.

Economic front

Economically, with over 13 million school-going children resuming school, the economy is bound to be stimulated across several sectors, agriculture being foremost.  Also, though most of last year witnessed many job losses, in 2021 there’s renewed zeal to employ. 

There’s more. However, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 45.9 per cent of 2.92 million workers in the formal sector earn less than Sh30,000 per month, and only 2.9 per cent  earn more than Sh100,000; further, a survey by Ipsos from 2018 says that around half of all Kenya’s households (not individuals) made less than Sh10,000 in a month.

Such is my assessment of 2021. Let’s see how the dice will roll. Happy New Year.


If you would like to have your sales team sell more, we can help. In order for us to do so we propose a free consultation meeting or a call. If in agreement please complete the form below and we will get in touch after receiving your details, none of which will be public. Thank you.

Views – 445

About Author

Related posts

3 Reasons for sales resistance and what you can do to overcome it

Embrace resistance from prospects as a norm in selling. It is the rare prospect who opens his arms wide to be sold to. Even when wearing the prospect’s hat, a salesperson acts in that precise fashion-he resists. Examples of sales resistance include the customer avoiding you, or declining your request for appointment. It can also be

Read More

How to handle an angry customer if you are a salesperson

“If they are not there by the time I arrive, cancel the contract!” So fumed the Operations Director of the shipping line that was also this travel agent’s largest client. The salesperson knew the consequences of losing this contract. He’d lose his job too.  (A (non) fun fact. If you are a salesperson, there are

Read More

Build rapport with the buyer to close faster. Here’s how. And why.

Have you ever met a complete stranger and you immediately hit it off? The conversation flowed effortlessly and so too the silence. Most probably you have; and no, assuming it was the opposite sex, it wasn’t love at first sight. No. You had just experienced raw, pure, unadulterated rapport. The dictionary defines rapport as, ‘a

Read More
Stay ahead in a rapidly changing world with Lend Me Your Ears. It’s Free! Most sales newsletters offer tips on “What” to do. But, rarely do they provide insight on exactly “How” to do it. Without the “How” newsletters are a waste of time.