Your prospects are busier than ever and harder to meet with face-to-face. They’re bombarded with requests for sales meetings—an activity they don’t like that much, as it takes too much time and delivers too little benefit. If you want to sell more in this environment, you need to address this reality.
Technology provides some solutions. Email is changing the sales game, making it easier to “get in front” of the prospect without the hassle of voice mail. But it’s impersonal and doesn’t provide the opportunity to build rapport the way a face-to-face meeting does. But if you add an online conference platform like GoToMeeting with your email strategy, you add the relationship-building element of a face-to-face meeting.
Online meeting programs work for prospects because they feel less pressured than in a face-to-face meeting, and they require a smaller commitment of their time (they control when it starts and ends). It works for the salesman because it’s less expensive than driving across town, and it frees up time to make more calls in a day.
Despite the potential this technology offers, ineffective use of it can backfire and hurt your sales effort. The key is to marry email and an online meeting program into an effective sales process. Use email to set up the call, and use the meeting software to conduct it.
Tips for effective online meetings
The first key is addressing the prospect’s potential lack of experience with technology. Many prospects are not computer literate. They require set-up and training assistance, which is OK because it provides you with an excellent opportunity to build rapport as you show them how to use it. They learn something new while you get to demonstrate expertise.
The second key is controlling meeting time and content. The best ways to do this are: 1). Keep the meeting short, and 2). Rely on visuals. I recommend simple and attractive graphics/photos with perhaps one or two “verbal” slides (see example below).
Ten to 12 slides are more than enough for a 30-minute meeting. Be sure to keep the meeting under 30 minutes unless the prospect wants more time. Short meetings are appreciated. And the point of the meeting is to get the prospect to commit to something, not to review every aspect of the project/contract. That should have happened in a series of preparatory emails.
If you want more face time with the prospect, and you want to do more in a day, you must use technology. It benefits both you and the prospect. I know this from experience. My sales process uses both email and teleconferencing. As a result my productivity (number of calls per day) has soared, and my close rate is significantly better. And all it costs is $50 per month, or about what you spend in gas driving to/from a few calls in a week.
