At the moment, we have little choice in how we run our client meetings. Travel bans and social distancing have replaced face to face communication with video conferencing calls – something that is likely to continue even when we transition back to “regular life” after COVID-19, whenever that may be.
But are virtual meetings as good as the real thing? In terms of relationship building, almost certainly not! Although, they come a surprisingly good second IF you know what you’re doing.
Let’s look at a short clip. Here’s an L & D person, whose boss has asked her to come up with some ideas on how to continue delivering training while we’re constrained and afterwards. She’s to present her ideas at the regular weekly meeting with a view to informing future policy. Have a look at this:
It’s not good but by no means over the top. We’ve seen much worse. You’ll instantly pick out a number of things she could do better. Now have a look at this:
Again, you’ll identify certain things she’s doing much better. There’s a smile; there’s a clear structure, she’s not fiddling with her hair; she has good eye contact. Those are all obvious. However, there are also other things she’s doing which has improved the engagement. The best way to describe this is with the great analogy of eating a good plate of food – you know you like it and you can identify some of the ingredients, but you don’t know the recipe. So what? It makes not a jot of difference to your enjoyment of the meal. However, if you want to cook it yourself, you do need to know that recipe. The same goes for good speakers. You feel engaged and you may well put your finger on some of the tricks of the trade. However, there’s lots more going on – that recipe which is essential to making it work and of which you’re generally unaware.
To find out more, give us a call or email us and we can talk about how to make those virtual client meetings not only really work in terms of the relationship but also save you money, time and the travel related carbon.
