205: Virtual Selling: Engaging Decision Making Teams

<p>In a virtual call, what is the maximum number of people who should be joining on the buyer side, to make the meeting effective?  There is a correlation between the number in the group and the number who will contribute during the meeting.  The more people on the call, the greater tendency for people to become less engaged.  Research by the Rain Group says that with up to four people on the call, the level of engagement can be quite good.  Once we get over five buyers, it becomes much more difficult. </p> <p> </p> <p>The virtual world revolves around both camera and audio based communication.  If there are multiple attendees on the buyer side, there is also a strong chance that not all will turn their cameras on.  This is a downer because you now have no chance of reading their body language, fraught as that might have been anyway. </p> <p> </p> <p>This is not so different to the face to face world though, when there are many on the Japanese buying side in the room.  The most senior people are either actually sleeping or are sitting there with their eyes closed, doing a spectacular job of pretending to be sleeping.  Usually, there will only be around three people who will even speak up.  Everyone is there because they have to protect their turf and want to influence the outcome of the meeting.  They are expecting you to make your pitch. Their shotgun breeches are duly snapped shut and then they drill your pitch full of holes, exposing what a travesty it is.</p> <p> </p> <p>The online world will be the same and with the exposure to all of the multi-tasking going on in the background, because their cameras are turned off.  Normally, it is extremely hard to get Japanese buyers to do anything for you in a sales meeting.  They think they are there to listen, then critique everything you just said.  Online it is even worse. We have to go beyond using the communication platform as a tool to speak to each other and must use it to facilitate an experience.  If we were having a face to face meeting and the buyer was high