From F2F to Zoom

Personal charisma can play a large part in determining a meeting’s course when it takes place face to face. With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and face-to-face contact becoming limited, video solutions such as Zoom and Hangouts seemed like an ideal alternative…at first. Many people soon discovered that these solutions don’t work for everyone, even seasoned professionals.

Sales and business development professionals and entrepreneurs that consider themselves “people people” and have excellent sales, persuasion, and negotiation skills in face-to-face meetings found that a lot of their charisma and “power” was filtered out when going through a screen.

For many of these people, selling over Zoom was a new experience that took them out of their comfort zone and some are still struggling with the adjustment.

The Challenges of Zoom

There are several reasons that even the most experienced salespeople feel like they lose their mojo over Zoom:

• Qualified salespeople are used to walking the floor at events and gathering leads from the face-to-face interactions they have there – but that’s no longer possible. Virtual events don’t even come close to the immersion levels reached after being abroad and at an event for three days.
• Zoom is a very straightforward platform and leads people to focus more on efficiency and jump straight into the topics at hand. The small talk expected when walking into an office and chatting with prospects is a thing of the past. People may discuss the weather for a minute or two on Zoom but there’s a lack of connection, and it’s less personal. This makes it harder for even the most experienced salespeople to forge personal connections and make a memorable impression on prospects.
• Many people create a strong impression through their physical presence and body language when walking into a room. Once that’s gone, people who were great at sales before the pandemic lose an edge they didn’t even realize they had because it came naturally to them.
• Adding people to a Zoom meeting is more straightforward than getting them to find the time for a physical one. Sales meetings can suddenly include more than one decision maker you didn’t expect instead of a one-on-one conversation, which is especially intimidating if you’re not ready or you haven’t interacted with some of them before the call.

How to Overcome the Challenge

Here are a few essential tips to help you boost your confidence and help forge new connections over Zoom:

• Dress professionally, as you would for a regular meeting
• Prepare a short presentation to keep people engaged
• Speak directly to the camera and don’t focus on your screen
• Create a professional-looking background
• Practice your speech and presentation in advance.

All these tips can help; however, the most crucial step to improving your Zoom presence is to work with people who specialize in this area – such as people who work in remote SDR and remote sales. These people have experience in working and selling over Zoom. While walking the floor and creating a flawless face-to-face impression is your strength, they help you carry your skills to the virtual world.