{"id":1622,"date":"2023-09-22T17:53:55","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T17:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revenuelibrary.com\/?p=1622"},"modified":"2023-09-22T17:53:55","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T17:53:55","slug":"group-video-calls-are-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revenuelibrary.com\/es\/group-video-calls-are-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Group Video Calls Are Hard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s be clear off the bat. There is no replacement for an in-person meeting. Body language queues, intimate interaction, and the social components of an in-person, face-to-face encounter, cannot be duplicated on a video call. However, the world has changed. Clients and partners are less willing to set up in-person meetings. <\/p>\n

Organizations are less willing to set aside large travel and expense budgets, and certain mainstays of business relationships have just not resurfaced after the three-year hiatus that we took. Over time this could change, but in the meantime, as sellers, it is important that we take the time to improve our video conferencing skills and make sure that we are as effective as possible in these settings.\n<\/p>\n

One-on-one video calls have their challenges, but the skill set that is needed to be effective on a one-on-one call is somewhat similar to the skill set that is needed to be effective on a phone call, which is something that most sellers have a lot of experience with. So, while there is a lot to be said on that matter, we should leave it for another day. Group video calls are another beast, and although there is some crossover with the skill set needed to be effective in an in-person group meeting, there are significant differences, and significant challenges when it comes to group video settings.\n<\/p>\n

There is a funny thing about group interactions in business settings that most sellers have experienced, the more people that are present, the less likely you are to get a response. This is true for group emails, and slacks, and it is also a reality for group video calls. With the proliferation of video meetings, it seems like we should all spend a bit more time inspecting our Zoom\/Teams\/Google strategy and reflect a bit on how it is different and how it is similar to in person meetings, and what we should do to get the most out of these interactions.<\/p>\n\n

Here are a few tips to make sure that you are really connecting with the people on your group meeting or demo, and ensuring that you are doing your part to be as effective as possible given the challenges presented by these settings:\n<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Level Set: Often you are speaking to a group of people who are lacking context regarding prior calls. It is extremely important to level set and achieve buy-in on the agenda and the proposed goals of the meeting. This is important in any group setting, but it is extremely important in a video call setting. Where video calls differ from in-person meetings is that in a video call setting it is paramount to make sure that you get buy-in from each individual on the call (of course there are limits to this, if there are 80 people on the call, focus on the 3\u201310 most important decision makers). You can use the burden of the video meeting as a prompt and as permission to spend more time doing this than you would in another setting. You can say something to the effect of, \u201cListen, Zoom meetings are tough, and I want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to have input on our goals so that we cover all of the most important information and get to the right place for everyone at the end; so, I want to spend a bit more time than normal checking in with each of you to make sure no one gets lost in the shuffle and that we are all on the same page\u201d.<\/li>\n
  2. Ask Questions: Prepare questions ahead of time that you believe will make those on the call have to think. This is not a magic bullet, and many people will disregard the questions and use the cover of the group to mentally check out, but without questions, this will certainly happen and it is likely that it will happen with a larger portion of your audience. You are likely to get answers to your question from the same one or two people each time you ask something, which gives permission to the others on the call not to answer, but you should be prepared to ask other individuals by name to chime in and you should prompt them to do so by expressing your opinion that they are likely to have a different take on the matter, and a different point of interest. You can probe for others to get involved with a lead in like, \u201cJulia had an interesting answer to that question, but since she is on the operations team, I expect that her interactions and expectations for our tool will be somewhat different than for the marketing team; that said, I\u2019d love to hear your take as well, Andrew\u201d. At this point you should repeat the question in order to make sure that you don\u2019t antagonize anyone who did not listen the first time. If anyone feels antagonized, they are likely to put up defenses and become more hostile to the meeting as it progresses.<\/li>\n
  3. Use Names: People love to hear their name. It also triggers them to pay more attention and to engage. Here is what Dale Carnegie, legendary author of \u201cHow to Win Friends and Influence People\u201d had to say about using names, \u201cA person\u2019s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.\u201d He went on to write at length about saying people\u2019s names and repeating them over and over again. He stressed that saying people’s names makes a positive impression on them; it makes them feel noticed, and important. This is especially important on video calls as you are fighting a constant battle against the distractions of a person\u2019s physical setting to make sure that they are still engaged with you. It also plays a logistical role in keeping order and retaining your claim to the leadership position on the call. Video calls can easily descend into disarray as people try to figure out the best time to interject and be heard without being seen as overly aggressive. Your ability to use names to keep order can be helpful logistically, affirmative of your leadership, and socially advantageous for you.<\/li>\n
  4. Return to the Problem: Returning to the problem is always important in sales. When a buyer compares your solution to a perfect world or the ideal solution that they want, you will often lose, but when a buyer compares your solution to the status quo, you have a much greater chance of winning. This is why it is a seller\u2019s job to constantly reframe the conversation around the problem. This idea is even more important in a video call setting. Every buyer on a call will have their own benefits and features that they care about most, but they can be united by the broader pain that the status quo is causing for their organization, and further, they can each be reminded of the pain that the status quo causes them, individually, each time a new part of the solution is discussed. This is incredibly important in a setting where engagement is a consistent challenge and where it is easy for your buyers to drift off into their own world and start thinking about the problems with your solution independent from the problem they are trying to solve.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

    At the end of any meeting it is important to recap, but it is especially so at the end of a video meeting. It is imperative to make sure that the level setting that you did early in the call is still valid and shared. Ask the individuals on the call to tell you their takeaways and ask them if they got everything out of the meeting that they needed to get out of it. It is important, as mentioned above, that your questions set the expectation that you want to hear from everyone, and that you facilitate that process by using people’s names and focusing on individuals in an organic and conversational way.
    \nTeams, Google, Zoom, any demo or meeting that is not in person will present challenges, and none of the tips above are a silver bullet, but it is important to prepare with these ideas in mind so that you can do your part to make sure that your interactions are as effective as possible.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Video Calls Can Be Challenging \u2014 You Can Be Effective<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

     <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Competing for attention and engagement on a group video call is not easy but its is an important skill in the current business world.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[319,320],"tags":[313,314,315,312,311],"class_list":["post-1622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-power-dynamics","category-presentations","tag-account-management","tag-sales","tag-sales-coaching","tag-sales-leadership","tag-sales-learning"],"yoast_head":"\nGroup Video Calls Are Hard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's not easy to lead a group video call or demo. But, we live in a world where it is an important skill for most people in the corporate world, and certainly for sellers and account managers. 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