Are you struggling to sell virtually, maybe you've moved from in-person face-to-face selling
to virtually, or maybe you've taken on a new role where you're now selling in a virtual environment,
but you're simply not seeing the success that you'd hoped for. If so, it's quite possible.
You're just missing one of the six steps that you need to take in order to be successful
in selling virtually hit that subscribe button below. If you'd like to stay up to date and
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you're notified by I'm Shawn Casemore, I've been selling and more importantly, studying the habits
of top performing sales professionals for over 20 years, which means I started at the age of seven.
It's not the case, but I wish it was anyways, an increasing number of sales professionals
in today's environment need to get not only comfortable with, but be effective in selling
virtually let's face it. The world, as we know, it has changed at least to some degree.
And having the capability to sell virtually is not only an asset. It's a necessity. If
you really want to perform and sell in today's new economy. So I'm going to walk you through
the six key steps that you need to take in order to be successful selling virtually. And I'll give
you a hint. It's not about turning the camera on these. Aren't simple strategies that you know,
by now, I know, you know, you're doing when I'm here to do is help you to improve what
you're doing so you can be more effective. So with that said, let's jump into strategy.
Number one, the first strategy that you really want to nail down when it comes to selling
virtually is creating what I call a virtual connection. It seems like when we move from
selling face-to-face into a virtual environment, we get really hung up on the technology we're
using. So is my camera positioned correctly? Am I looking into the camera? Right? And to some
degree, these are important. Obviously it's hard to sell if I'm facing over here, but here's the
key. You still need to create a connection with the person you're dealing with. Now,
how do you do that in this kind of environment? Will you still need to be observant? So just
like you would in a face-to-face environment, you want to be looking around at what's in the office,
that you can notice that maybe you can strike up a conversation around, right? Or make sure you watch
their facial expressions, their tone, ask them questions to understand what's going on in their
world right now today, tomorrow, what are their challenges don't get so hung up on technology
that it pulls you away from creating that connection that you so need to build.
If you want to have the opportunity to sell. So the strategy number one is focused on the
end of it. Joel, and focus on building that virtual connection. The second strategy that
you'll need to nail down, become a effective with, if you want to sell virtually is what I call
provocation. Now you've heard of that word before, but let me define it for you. In terms of virtual
selling, you know, buyers that you're dealing with are dealing with salespeople each and every day,
they're hearing all sorts of pitches, but what they're also hearing is very common approaches,
right? We book a meeting, we get online, we'd had some pleasantries. I run through my slides. I ask
a couple of questions. We book our next meeting, right? And they're accustomed to what's going on.
If you really want to get their attention in, stand out, you need to provoke them a bit.
Now, not suggesting you irritate them, but that is kind of what provocation is now. How do you
do that in a virtual environment? You want to make sure you ask questions throughout the conversation
and ask questions that they might not normally expect. So you might ask a question, like,
maybe ask you question, why are you looking at making this investment
right now instead of in the past or in the future? Right? That's kind of an odd question
because most salespeople would hope that you're going to make the investment rather than ask
why you're making the investment. So consider the questions you're asking
and make sure they're a little bit unique, a little bit different, and that they stand out
because it's through provocation that you get the other person's attention and keep their attention
when you're selling to them virtually. If you're enjoying these tips, a few things first off hit
the subscribe button. So you can stay up to date and all the new videos that I release
On sales selling, and specifically how to sell more in today's environment, you can hit
The bell to be notified each and every time I release a new video, which is pretty much
every week. And then last but not least. If you have strategies you'd like to add to this list,
comment below with them. I'm always interested in hearing from viewers, the third strategy to
selling virtually that you're going to have to get really good at. It's what I call constructive
mirror. Now you've heard of the term mirroring. If you've been around sales for any period of time,
right? If I'm sitting in your office and you lean forward, I lean forward. If you sit back,
I sit back, go, Hmm, I'm going to do something similar, although I shouldn't copy, but that's
mirroring. And the whole idea is that I'm mimicking you to a degree. And to the extent that,
which you start to believe that, Hey, this person understands me, my world what's going on, right?
It only supports your case. Problem is in a virtual environment. You don't necessarily
have that opportunity. And what I find is here's my pet peeve. When you talk about mirroring a lot
of sales professionals, I know if they get on a virtual presentation to get on a screen like this
and their buyer turns off their camera. So do they, that's not the kind of mirroring we want
to do. If your buyer turns off the camera, you should still have yours on because it's
pretty hard to sell when everybody's in the dark. So I use what I call constructive mirroring. And
that is that you want to do the things that are positive and constructive and move you towards
building a rapport and some relationships, rather than those things that simply mimic and mirror
exactly what your buyer is doing. Because again, virtual is different than face-to-face so focused.
If they smile, you smile. If they lean towards the camera,
you might do the same. But if they turn off their camera, you're not going to turn off
their camera. Right? You're going to focus on the individual and continue focusing on them questions
and making sure you engage them in the conversation as you work
through your presentation. So I talked a little in constructive mirroring about making sure you focus
on the individual, but I want to really speak to something that's critically important when you're
trying to sell virtually, and you're doing anything online,
whether you're having a conversation, you're making a presentation. You want to do what
I'm doing right now, which is have what I call dot fixation. Now this little guy right there,
you may know from doing your own videos, that.is not necessarily where I would normally
be looking. If I was to look at the center of my screen, this is what that would look like.
Right? And worse yet. What I find is some people will present with a couple of screens on the go.
So they'll have slides on one, and then they're talking to their buyer. Who's over here by the
way. And they're looking here. No, you want to have dot fixation. The way to build rapport,
build a relationship. Demonstrate understanding in a virtual environment is to make sure you're
looking at the person in the eye. Now they're not looking at you. If they're looking off like this,
that's fine. You still focus on that dot and have what I call dot fixation, because that is how
you're going to build some sort of relationship in this screen to screen environment that we're
in. So that is strategy. Number four, let's jump in to strategy. Number five. This next strategy is
a little simpler. It's not quite as complex as the other ones, but it's important to mention.
Now you've heard people talk about the fact that you need good lighting. It's important to say that
again, because I still see people that are on a camera doing a presentation, and they've got dark
lighting. You can't really see their face well, but let's set that aside for a moment. Here's,
what's really important. If you want to have a positive, strong, first impression with your
buyer and obviously maintain ongoing positive conversations, you need to have natural light,
not just the lighting of any kind. So right now, my setup, I've got a light over here. I've got
a light over here and then I've got a window directly behind me. Why? Because natural light
brings this aura about that. You just won't get from artificial light. Now you may say, Sean,
I can't do that. My office is a closet. It's dark. Fair enough. But if you have the opportunity,
you would be better off to situate yourself in front of a window to get some natural light.
Now I know that might sound crazy and that's not like a strategy that's going to launch you from,
you know, onto the moon here. It's not going to take your sales to the next level, but
if you're selling virtually, you've got to create as much of a natural environment as possible. And
natural lighting helps that if it's too fake, too dark, it's just very, very difficult to see facial
expressions and to build any sort of rapport. So that's my strategy. Number five, use natural light
when and where possible to the extent that you may even just go outside for some conversations. As
long as the sun is not glaring into your camera, that would have a better, more natural approach to
being on camera. Then would just sitting in the dark or sitting with a bunch of artificial lights.
So natural light strategy, number five, strategy, number six, you never thought you'd get here.
But here we are. Once again at the end of these strategies, now I'm going to mention again,
comment below. If you have anything to add to these, because I'd like to build this
repertoire up, to be able to help others who are out there selling in a virtual environment, but
strategy number six is chat. Okay? Most of the tools that you're going to use, the software,
zoom teams, you name it, they'll have chat and chats. Great. But what I find
is a lot of sales professionals start to drive their buyers to go to chat. Hey,
I added a link to chat for you. Hey, I just attached a document in chat for you. Now,
what does that do for the buyer? It takes them away from this, right? They're not looking
here at you anymore. They're over here in the chat. So what I would suggest you do is this.
If they're putting information in chat, by all means, you may have to address it. So they say
I've put something in chat for you. Great. Give me a second. Just let me have a look at that,
right? So you acknowledge what you're doing. Then you come back and you speak to it or
acknowledge it or whatever the case might be. But I strongly recommend you do not use chat,
do not add information to chat. Why? Because you want to make sure that you're focused on the
individual and you can take this information and send it to them after. So if you've got
something that's an additional resource, Hey, I want you to have a look at this. You would
simply say following our discussion today, I'm going to send you some additional information.
Once you've had a chance to have a look at that, let's have another quick call.
I'm interested in your take on this. I'm interested in your perspective. I'm
interested in how you see this fitting with what we're discussing here today.
Let's set up a time to speak. How about Tuesday at 10? O'clock right. So try not to use chat
yourself. Okay. If you need to respond to chat, acknowledge what you're doing and then come back,
but use the opportunity. Post this conversation virtually to send that information to your buyer
and to book a follow-up okay, because then you can stay focused on the camera. So those are
my six strategies for how to sell virtually and be effective at it in today's new environment.
As I mentioned, make sure you hit that subscribe button. You can stay up to date and all these new
videos that are released each and every week, you can hit the bell, which will notify you.
And most importantly, comment below with strategies that you're find are working really
well for you. So we can share with the broader community. Now, if you are mastering these skills
and you're becoming good at selling virtually, you need to make sure there's some other skills that
you're incorporating in this new environment. So make sure you watch this video next
to understand what those key skills are, so that you can be as effective as possible, especially
when trying to sell virtually. And if you'd like to sell more virtually, I've added a link below
on the resource and it is my guide to how to sell virtually in today's marketplace. So it's a quick
guide. It'll take not only these strategies, but other strategies and build upon them and give you
a multitude of different things to consider that you can incorporate into how you're presenting and
interacting, which will drive your sales results and accelerate them faster than ever before. So
there's a link below, make sure you grab that guide to how to sell virtually. You're going to
love it, and it's going to help you accelerate your sales results. So until next time,
appreciate you joining me, make sure you get out there, sell something virtually using