The most fundamentally important aspect of sales is understanding. Understanding a client's needs, understanding the economic and social climate surrounding those needs, and understanding the most efficient way to fulfill those needs. For this reason, sales has revolved around interpersonal relationships.
Even in the earliest days of human society, in a time when money was just a string of cowrie shells, sales was based on eye contact, a smile, and building a genuine and empathy-driven relationship between buyer and seller.
A handshake...a face to face meeting...lunch.
None of those things are happening right now.
So how can marketing adapt? How can sales, which has been grounded in human connection, survive such a sudden shift in behavior? Should we just wait for it to all blow over and reconnect when the dust settles?
Absolutely not.
The best way to survive this sudden shift in behavior is to shift with it. Go back and read the second paragraph. There's no mention of handshakes, meetings, or lunch. You can still empathize with people, discover their needs, and meet those needs even without the in-person closeness we've all taken for granted until now.
Eye contact and smiles are still possible thanks to Skype and Zoom. An efficient rapport is still viable with email and social media and phone calls. Just as money replaced cowries and letters replaced spoken words, modern technology can allow us to pivot and use the inertia from all this social distancing to continue to grow and network and help each other.
Adapt to these changes while maintaining the fundamentals of sales: Understanding, and none of these obstacles will matter.