Keith Rozelle, Sales Marvel
May 1, 2020
Updated: Mar 11, 2021
I hosted a webinar earlier this week on Go to Market Strategy for SME Business owners; it was due to last 60-minutes, including a bit of time for Q&A at the end.
The miracle of social media meant it was well attended, with more than 30 people online from all over the world from California to Queensland.
During the webinar however, something remarkable happened.
Quite naturally and without influence, I noticed that people were engaging with each other in dialogue, using the chat box function. It wasn’t disruptive at all but, as the speaker, I did notice it and was happy for it to continue as it was a positive behaviour.
Even out of lockdown, this is still an anxious time for many of us. It was clear that a very basic human need to interact with others was being met for the people on the webinar, yet that wasn’t really the purpose of the webinar, it was an unintended consequence.
The participants of this webinar happened to all be like-minded business owners who wanted to improve themselves and learn new skills in order to trade their way out of this terrible COVID 19 crisis.
The interaction of the participants both intrigued and inspired me at the same time and in equal measure. Lots of “goodness” was created during the call without any of that nasty “in your face selling” taking place – a very powerful dynamic. In effect, they were networking with each other at a non-networking event.
And that’s the point, networking is not always something you specifically do or an event you go to – it can be the incidental benefit of attending a learning or other event – whether online or real-world.
I’m also a member of Ralph Watson’s international virtual networking group which attracts participants from all over the world. Ralph always has an excellent guest speaker to talk on a particular topic and, that particular week, Lynda Holt spoke on the subject of bravery.
A significant additional benefit of this particular group is that you also get the opportunity to “pitch” your business to the other participants on the call.
Whilst pitching is a great opportunity to promote your business, it’s important to respect the time allocated for your pitch; for example, each pitch may only take 30 seconds but if there are 30 other people online that also want to pitch (you’re not required to), then it could take 15 to 20 minutes to get through just the pitches – a significant part of the overall call.
However, if you take just your allocated time and deliver a perfect pitch, you will stand out amongst the rest of the people on the call. I recently produced an article on pitching which you can read here.
Be 2-minutes early for the call; when the host starts, you’re all ready for them – be professional
Dress appropriately – that doesn’t mean you need to wear something formal but it does mean you shouldn’t still be wearing pyjamas. I like to call this #ZoomCasual
No eating during the call; drinks (non-alcoholic) are almost certainly acceptable but make sure you observe Point 4 below!
Keep your microphone muted unless you’re actually talking. Where many of us are working remotely or from home at the moment, it’s easy to for extraneous noises (children, animals, fire alarms etc) to distract and undermine an otherwise effective call…especially if it’s with a client
Look directly into the camera lens whilst talking to participants; it will appear to everyone that you’re looking directly at them and fosters an enhanced level of communication, whilst building trust at the same time
Keep simple acknowledgements non-verbal such as nodding your head when agreeing or show a “thumbs up” and don’t interrupt each other. This way, you’ll avoid “audio conflict” which occurs when your audio crashes into another person’s audio and you’ll sound like a broken Dalek. I see this happening all the time and it’s very frustrating
If there is a large number of participants on the call, use the raise hands button if you want to say something. It will come to the moderator or chair’s attention and they can introduce your question – or they can unmute your mic so you can ask the question yourself – at the most appropriate point
Zoom meetings should – as far as is possible – emulate an in-person meeting experience; if everyone observes these tips, there is a good chance you’ll all have a high-quality meeting that everyone gets so much more out of!
The ability to actually see and effectively interact with other human faces can create a valuable, life-affirming experience for those working remotely who may not otherwise get to see anyone else.
Stay safe everyone.
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keith@salesmarvel.co.uk