Prepare

Your Physical Environment:

You’re entering an inherently distracted selling arena where your surroundings will speak volumes. It’s your job to set a professional tone and minimize distractions for everyone.

Start by logging into your preferred video conferencing platform and investigating everything your camera can see. Sure, it’s tempting to use a virtual background, but it all comes back to trust. Virtual backgrounds are simple and clean, but they’re not authentic. We know that trust is a crucial factor for closing deals: According to LinkedIn, only 40% of buyers described the sales profession as “trustworthy,” but 88% of buyers describe the salespeople they do business with as “trusted advisors.” And if trust is the ultimate goal, anything you can do to present more authentically will be to your advantage. However, authenticity won’t do you much good if your background is distracting. Really scrutinize things here. You’re not just looking for easy wins like a professional and uncluttered space, but for the small details that draw a viewer’s eye. For instance: You may have a beautiful office space with windows that look into your backyard, but will that blooming magnolia prove a distraction? What about the exciting modern art that’s hanging on your wall?

You’re aiming for an authentic representation of yourself, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of some careful staging to provoke conversation. If there’s a curiosity in your background, viewers will be unconsciously drawn to it. Use this to your advantage by placing a thought-provoking item in your background. Perhaps you know the prospect you’re meeting with has an interest in endurance sports from your time spent researching their social media presence. As an avid cyclist yourself, you might include an old racing frame at the bottom of your bookcase or consider propping your road bike against the wall. Ultimately, you’re toeing a fine line here: It’s okay to include items that convey your unique personality and interests, but don’t sacrifice professionalism or risk coming off as inauthentic.

With your background sorted, turn your attention to where you appear in frame. You’ll want your camera to come in at eye-level. Consider a standing setup to ensure you’ll be able to project your voice and maximize the physicality of your delivery. It’s also best practice to leave some breathing room between you and your computer. Shoot for around three feet of space, enough to capture your head, shoulders, and the upper half of your chest.

All set? Look at the lighting situation next. Remember that natural lighting will vary throughout the day. Test your camera in the morning, at midday, and in the afternoon to see how your appearance is impacted. Always be prepared to adapt with auxiliary lighting that ensures your face is not in shadow.

The final matter is monitors. Ideally, you’ll want two large monitors. This will enable you to always focus on the meeting participants while maintaining access to crucial apps, the questions you’ll need to uncover meaningful value, and other key information such as solution features and CRM info from previous calls.

Yourself:

Cultivating the right mindset is crucial.

Whatever you need to do to clear your mind and find an articulate and confident space, make sure you allow yourself time to do it. This could mean listening to your favorite pump-up playlist, hopping on your motorcycle for a ride around the neighborhood, or sneaking in a 15-minute yoga session. Strive to make this a regular part of your lead-up process for high-value opportunities.

Once the meeting begins, you’ll need to draw on this confident mindset to overcome the typical challenges of video calls. Since virtual tends to mute everyone’s body language and can make it more difficult to read the nuances in facial expressions, focus on being more expressive, expansive, and careful with the pacing of your speech and reactions.

The Virtual Selling Environment:

Digitally building rapport and trust is an uphill fight. To uncover personal motivations of prospects, be sure to replicate those all-important “walk-in” and “walk-out” conversations by beginning meetings by asking open-ended questions that will enable you to find common ground. The key here is authentic human-to-human connection. If you’re mechanically running through a script and checking off the “ask a personal question” box, prospects will sense this and the exercise will be self-defeating. It can be as simple as asking, “How have you been since our last call?” or “How is your team doing with extended time away from the office?” The question is the easy part. To reap the benefits, you need to present as genuine and actively listen to a potential buyer’s answers.

You can incorporate space for these critical conversations and make the most of every digital interaction by designing a specific agenda that:

• Allows for intros, recaps, and “walk-in” and “walk-out” conversations.
• Includes date, time, duration, web conference links, and call-in numbers.
• Covers a minimum of 3-4 bullets and keeps everyone on the same page.
• Manages expectations such as “Please have your webcam on.” Calls where both parties have video turned on result in higher close rates.
• Includes blocks of time to meet with key decision-makers alone.
  
  

During the meeting, your communications must be clear, concise, and focused. By setting your expectations up-front, you’ll avoid potential misunderstandings. Keep in mind that repetition is often necessary to maintain the attention of distracted audience members. Small tactical best practices like arriving early, starting on time, and confirming that the allotted time and the set agenda are still accurate go a long way toward setting the tone.

Also, don’t be afraid to set expectations around behavior. No matter how good people may believe they are at multitasking, neuroscience tells a different story. Be prepared to proactively manage the virtual selling environment by asking everyone to shut down distracting apps. Often all it takes is leading by example: At the start of the meeting, you might say, “Okay, I’m closing down Slack, LinkedIn messenger, and anything else that might ping me to focus on the task at hand.”

Finally, strive to make the meeting as collaborative as possible.

Remember when wearing seat belts became law in your state or the use of hands-free devices was mandated? We know that directives aren’t particularly effective at driving sustained behavioral change. However, the results are often much better when you’re able to steer the conversation and create the space for people to come to their own conclusions. On a strategic level, this means knowing when and where to use open-ended, probing, and confirming questions to further the conversation. On a tactical side, this might mean inserting polls or running a real-time ROI calculator.

Practice

You only have one chance to make a first impression, and each time you have a virtual meeting you are either expanding, confirming, or erasing that impression. The name of the game is practice, assessment, repeat.

Rehearse and Record Yourself:
Few enjoy seeing themselves on video or hearing their voice on recordings, but training yourself to excel at virtual communications requires both. Practice until you lose your discomfort:

• Simulate the call with a co-worker.
• Log in to the meeting with a secondary device to see exactly what others will see when you share your screen and toggle between demos, presentation software, polls, breakout rooms, and virtual whiteboard sessions.
• Manage your expressions, posture, and environment.
• Switch between tools. Run things backward and forward to avoid being caught off guard if you need to recover certain points. If you’ll be virtually whiteboarding, practice what you will write and where.
• Practice using your voice as a way to stress points, highlight reactions, and underscore questions.
• Be authentic, poised, and purposeful.
  
  

When you step back to assess your performance, avoid being overly critical and be open to feedback. Start by considering:

• Your use of tools: Did the elements feel cohesive and flow effortlessly?
• Whiteboard sessions: Was the information easily viewed and accessible?
• The larger narrative: Did the presentation connect to what you had uncovered previously?
• End with a high-level overview of what was effective and what could be improved. Give yourself three big takeaways to guide future efforts.

Manage Your Voice and Expressions:
Practice using your voice as a way to stress points, highlight reactions, and underscore questions. Be authentic, poised, and purposeful. If you’re accustomed to using your hands as you talk, make sure that these movements are easily seen and convey confidence.

Don’t forget about facial expressions. The camera can alter perceptions or lag at times. Review your reactions to determine if you need to consciously alter their speed. For example, research shows that genuine smiles tend to be slower to form, are more intense, and last slightly longer.

Execute

Get in the Zone
You’ll need to be ready to go at least 10 minutes before your call starts. This means:

• Launching the necessary tech.
• Preparing to deliver your opener.
• Shutting down and closing every app that could interrupt you.
• Reviewing your previous call notes, agendas, and time allocations.
• Ensuring your camera is properly positioned and the lighting is optimal.
• Letting your reservations and nerves melt away by framing a positive intent for the meeting outcome.
  
  

Set the Tone
Managing expectations is more important than managing time. Help all participants become immediately engaged and ensure everyone is on the same page by:

• Starting on time.
• Confirming the length of the meeting and the agenda.
• Recapping previous conversations, stating the goal for the meeting, and asking if there’s anything to add.
• Making the mechanics of the meeting clear. For example, if you’re reserving time at the end to talk one-on-one with a key decision-maker, you might say, “We have 40 minutes for this call, then I need Tanya (the VP of Marketing) to stay on the line afterward for five minutes.”
  
  

Focus on Value
When it comes to virtual sales best practices, sellers' ability to make a strong case for ROI is lacking. Activate this crucial component by:

• Quickly and efficiently reviewing the high points in 2-3 slides.
• Confirming that the key business issues have not changed and that there are no new problems.
• Restating your understanding of their optimal solution.
• Tying your solution to a meaningful financial metric and aligning it with the business drivers.

Match Their Terms, Body Language, and Thought Patterns
Choose your words wisely. When possible, it’s wise to match a potential buyer’s preferred terminology. You’ll also want to pay attention to the cadence of their speech. Do they speak quickly and forcefully, or do they tend to incorporate more pauses? If they speak slowly, odds are they unconsciously connect with others who do the same.

Only 8% of our intended meaning is conveyed through words alone — the rest comes from body language and context. Individuals tend to lean closer to drive home a point. They lean back when another is talking to give them space. They use their hands when elaborating on a point or explaining a concept. Be on the lookout for your prospect’s habits and mirror them.

Take it one step further by analyzing the prospect’s reasoning patterns. Do they prefer inductive or deductive reasoning? Deductive thinkers need you to get to the point before providing the background. Inductive thinkers need context before you hit them with the offer. If you’re able to match their thought patterns, you’ll be on your way to building an impactful business partnership.

Engage

Listening Builds Trust
Trust moves deals to close, but you’ll never earn it if you don’t cultivate active listening. According to research conducted by LinkedIn in European markets, active listening is selling’s most sought-after skill. While this may seem like an obvious point, B2B buyers have noted that sales reps’ ability to concentrate, comprehend, and respond in a constructive way suffers in the virtual realm. When in doubt, remember to confirm their point before addressing it.

Build Credibility Quickly
Meetings have become increasingly tactical, and executives guard their time like never before. If you’re able to secure that all-important first meeting, you’ll need to immediately establish your credibility. Value-based stories are the linchpin of effective credibility introductions. When you open a dialogue with a value-based story, it resonates with the listener that you will potentially bring them similar value.

Use Peoples’ Names and Include Humor
We’re all conditioned to respond to our names from our very first breath. Use names every chance you get to ensure your audience remains engaged.

If you sense there’s awkwardness in the room or stress levels seem high, don’t be afraid to use appropriate humor to help people relax and further rapport.

Finally, remember that authenticity leads to trust, and trust closes deals. Never underestimate the camera’s ability to tone down your personality. Be yourself, even if it feels a little exaggerated at times.

Follow Up

Close the Call to Close the Call
Before you dismiss everyone, be sure to lock in the next steps and set the time and medium for that next interaction. Let them know when they can expect the follow-up communication and what it will contain. Usually, you’ll want to commit to delivering a summary within 24 hours and ask that they commit to providing feedback by a specific date.

If you’ve reserved the last 5-10 minutes of your meeting to speak one-on-one with a key decision-maker, use this time to deepen your connections and focus on the “What’s in it for them?” angle. It’s personal motivations that create a dimension of critical urgency.

Keep Mirroring in Your Follow-up
Your follow-up message should mirror the tone of your intended outcome and blend in the atmosphere you experienced on the call. Writing may not be your strong suit, but remember to communicate to the level at which you want to be perceived. Use all you learned from your call and integrate the prospect’s terminology, formality level, speech, and preferred reasoning style into your written communications.