As we introduced yesterdy, virtual selling isn’t going away, but it must improve. I decided to offer a five-part series to help salespeople make the digital experience better for their customers. This week, Idea #2…
Idea #2: Deliver virtual calls like they were live meetings.
The telephone started impacting sales several decades ago and virtual meetings started becoming accepted about ten to fifteen years ago. However, influencing another person or organization to trade their money for your goods or services has been done for hundreds of years in the same format: the in-person sales meeting. Certain customs were established during those centuries of selling and buying. These customs were established because of the way humans naturally interact with each other, and they soon became rituals that were based primarily on a region’s culture. Therefore, people sell differently in Mumbai than they do in Chicago. These rituals became formalities and buyers have learned to expect such behavior from salespeople. Right, wrong, or indifferent, that’s just the way it is.
Since the pandemic has forced most salespeople to work virtually, our discipline to follow these formalities has dissipated. To be fair, it’s impossible to do certain things virtually, but there are many things we can mimic from our pre-2020 behavior and incredibly improve our virtual sales meetings. Below are a few thoughts…
- If you’re presenting, stand up. If you’re just part of the meeting, then don’t stand up. Buy a stand-up desk or one of those desktops that can turn your desk into a stand-up. When presenting, ask yourself: “If we were in a conference room, would I stand up right now?” If so, then stand up.
- Shake hands. Obviously, you can’t shake hands virtually, but you can do a virtual fist pump or simply wave hello. This sounds a little silly, but so is shaking another person’s hand in a lobby, when you really think about it. As humans, we expect some type of method to say hello and goodbye. Since we can’t shake hands, try something else to imitate the act.
- Offer handouts. Your conference tool should allow you to offer handouts, but I suggest emailing them ahead of time.
- Bring in lunch or snacks. This gets complex with home offices, but have a snack or lunch delivered to your audience. If you feel weird asking for home addresses, email each person a gift card for them to order food on their own.
- Set up a white board and use it. At certain points in which you want to white-board ideas, turn off your screen and start to use a white board. Not a virtual one, but a real white board that should be hanging behind you. A flip chart could work, too. I like the idea of hanging the white board behind your computer and simply flipping the webcam when you’re ready to use it. This gives your audience another view of your office and will show you walking around your desk to the white board. Be sure to wear a microphone or implement another method to ensure good audio. Again, sounds silly but it will engage your audience.
Try these ideas, but more important – think about the things you would do if you were in a conference room and do those things! Looking forward to delivering Idea #3 next week!
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