The virtual world is here…and it’s not going away any time soon. That’s why this series of short videos is so important. I’m sharing practical and actionable strategies for making your virtual sales conversations productive for you…and your buyer. These are actions you have control over, not your technology or your company policies.

Conversations Not Sales Meetings

The next several videos focus on the actual conversation with your buyer.

Please notice I said conversation not sales meeting. When you make your buyer interactions a conversation, it’s a better experience for the buyer AND more productive for everyone involved.

The key to the conversation? Making sure it is an information exchange versus a pitch. Why this is important in the virtual world?

When buyers show up virtually – they are trained to be more passive and “watch” what is going on the screen. You need to lead the way from the start to make it an information exchange and not a pitch that they can watch and dismiss.

Know Your Goal

Let’s look at starting this conversation in a virtual world…

Your goal? Making everything easy for your buyer by setting expectations for the experience AND the objective.

How?

Using the tips from the previous episodes on virtual selling, make sure you are prepared to engage early.

Know the strategies for starting the conversation well, and remember that YOU set the tone, the pace, and the energy level for the conversation.

Clarify and Set Expectations

Be prepared to clarify and set expectations for: Who, What, When, and How – the order will depend on your buyer and sales process.

1. Who – This is you and them sharing a person-to-person connection. Remember we’re all engaged in “P2P” sales: Person-to-person. And that’s true whether you usually classify your business as B2C or B2B.
2. When – How much time is needed, requested, or confirmed? Clarifying the time commitment will help them focus since they won’t be wondering how much of their time this will take.
3. What – This is the objective and shared agenda. Have you set this in advance? Great, then reconfirm it at the start of the conversation. Haven’t set the agenda yet? Now is the time to get their input and buy-in.
4. How – How will this conversation take place? What technology is going to come into play? Will there be note taking involved? What do you need them to do?

Nuances to Keep in Mind

And here are a couple important nuances for when your sales are virtual rather than face-to face:

• Eye contact is still important! What’s tough is that you are making eye contact more with the camera lens than a person. Do this as much as possible. It changes their experience.
• Sounds are more pronounced. Both in what can be heard and in what you need to do with your sounds – your verbal efforts. You’ll need to call more audibles such a letting them know if you are typing, or if there is a noise in the background. You’ll need to verbally explain more so they aren’t wondering what is going on if they can’t see you.

Stay tuned for the next video in this series when I’ll share some tips for how to lead a productive information exchange in a virtual environment.