Most clients are feeling uncertain and anxious about almost everything: the safety of their employees, families, themselves, the viability of opening their doors, their stock price, the performance of their government, scientific and medical advancements, and so many other concerns.
So how can you be relevant to your clients during such unprecedented uncertainty? On a positive note, doors are starting to open. Hopefully many of you have continued to remain in contact with your clients online over the last few months which has paved the way to now begin new conversations. Clients who are accustomed to face to face selling now will have different expectations and certainly restrictions for seeing you in person. They’ve been using Zoom, Webex, or other platforms while sequestered and this gives you a clear window of opportunity to make that their primary and comfortable mode of conversation with you.
It’s time to shift your in-person and telephone selling to a different medium and master a new kind of selling: VSelling, which is Virtual, Visable, and on Video. While using video to sell is not new and goes back at least two decades as a support tool, today it is your bread and butter. For perspective on the size of the opportunity, in April Webex hosted 25 billion meetings with 500 million participants (Zoom would not share its data).
Jumpstart the Conversation
So what are the challenges and how can you take advantage of this window of opportunity? Let’s focus on what we see as one critical aspect: The challenge of building the virtual relationship. We know that connecting with others is more easily attained when we are personally present. And while marketing can segment smaller opportunities and copy the retail online self-service model to meet client needs, for higher value and complex sales it is connecting and creating a trusted relationship that remains the pinnacle. So a major challenge is how to create that personal connection online.
The acceptance of relationship selling has had its ups and downs. Yet the importance of relationships has never been in question. We believe that selling yesterday and today, V or not, remains a relationship business. Of course, your preparation and having the expertise to solve your clients’ problems and help them achieve their goals goes without saying. That, however, rarely happens without first connecting with clients and building trust.
So how do you build that trust via video and refocus and engage your clients especially when momentum has been slowed and budgets are tighter than ever? You may be thinking, “What can I talk about when my clients may not be focused on buying? Begin with genuine concern by asking about them, their organization, and, if appropriate, their families. Then move into the sales conversation by asking, “When things start getting back to normal what will you be focusing on?” Their response can open the door to future and current needs and the opportunity to meet online. Your goal is to get this online meeting! You want to see them face-to-face so you can more effectively build trust, strengthen the relationship, and move sales discussions forward to a close.
It’s All in the Eyes
How you manage the screen is a key part of creating a personal connection online. We know that eye contact has always been considered part of building trust and that trust is the foundation of relationships. While you are not physically face to face with your client, video gives you a “close up” opportunity. With keen observation and eye contact you can pick up visual and audio clues about how the client is responding. But this “close up” advantage comes with its own set of challenges.
Let’s start with the physical aspects of how you position your computer and handle lighting to help establish an environment of trust. Your goal is to create eye-to-eye contact with your client(s) so you can literally look into his/her eyes. Position your laptop a bit higher so it is slightly above your eye level, keep your screen at a 90% angle, and keep your eyes focused on the screen. The issue of eye contact is more complex than it may initially seem. If your eyes are not focused properly and are darting around when you are listening (or speaking) it can appear that you are not interested. But note that in one on one video meetings, for example, the eye contact can feel very intimate. Not feeling like you are staring the client down can take some getting used to in a business setting and an occasional glance down for a second can signal thought.
Check the Tech
Preparation for VSelling is critical. The pulse of your online conversation will be your eye contact so effectively prepare with a dry run to make sure your camera is positioned perfectly. You want to simulate an eye-to-eye conversation so you’ll most likely need to place your laptop on a book(s). Make sure you’re not looking down. Your client should see you from mid-chest so you seem natural and not “in their face.” Practice speaking into the camera for several sentences because video is a very different medium. Make sure audio works. Once the call begins you’ll be speaking to the camera the entire time. I feel it is better not to mute and as Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress, the Open Source software used by 36% of the web explains “…it’s eerie and unnatural because you feel alone even if you see other’s faces.”He also offers excellent guidance on headsets in his article Don’t Mute, Get a Better Headset. Additionally, Krisp.ai offers a tool that allows you to block out your background noise but keep sound for your clients. Provide guidance and links that are easy for clients to us. Observe etiquette which is evolving in your invitations particularly at the start of a call.
Ramp Up Questioning and Interaction
Clients will also need to adapt to VSelling and may not be comfortable or motivated to interject especially with multiple people online. They may even hold back from asking questions that are on their minds. Your ability to listen and effectively ask questions and encourage their questions is paramount. In the novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, the Count observes wisely that who, what, where, or when do not constitute a conversation. The point is that your questions must go beyond the insightful and industry-wise starter questions and dig deeper to obtain substantial client responses that get to the real issues, concerns, obstacles, and opportunities. Regarding interaction, psychologist Jeffrey P. Rubin, Ph.D warns about the ease of slipping into lecture mode when using video conferencing tools. This is not a PowerPoint sales presentation. At a minimum, strive to achieve a 50/50 dialogue. Questioning and keen observation are the way to make a two-way dialogue happen.
Seize This Opportunity
There are more than 2000 resources for selling virtually listed in Google. There are countless “How To” anything books. Yet with all that information, too often people fail in their attempt to achieve their desired results. Why? Knowledge is a cognitive process but doing is both an emotional and behavioral process. Selling virtually and visually demands change and new skills. The key to your success is to tolerate any emotional discomfort that happens and for you to push yourself to embrace and master selling on the screen. Be the early adopter to leverage the window of opportunity before you.
Video can take your prior telephone and face to face selling to new heights and help you build stronger, more intimate relationships. Video conferencing tools give you the amazing advantage of recording your meetings (as appropriate) so you can self-coach and be coached and review client input, for example use client language in proposals. Never before, not even with team calls was their such a perfect tool for coaching post-call. Measure your talk/listen ratio. Check your eye contact. Assess the quality and depth of your questioning. Evaluate your listening and how effectively you incorporated your client’s ideas and language into your discussion.
Sales has always involved dynamic adaptation, although certainly not with the speed that is required now. The window of opportunity is right in front of you. Your ability to create a comfortable sales environment for your clients using video will be the underpinning of your connecting online and helping clients achieve their goals and reaching yours.