How to Sell While Social Distancing

The Corona Virus is a cause of great concern for all of us... It has caused a pandemic that threatens to kill us all with no cure in sight to stop it. Right now, the best methods the whole of humanity, in all of its wisdom and science, knows to slow the virus down include the common-sense practice of proper personal hygiene, and separating and isolating your self from other people, aka Social Distancing.

Whether or not the Corona Virus does kill us all eventually, there are still a lot of other concerns that are enough to keep business owners up at night before then. One of which is "with everyone self-isolating, How do I sell my products and services". Because let's face it. Social Distancing or not, we still need money - and maybe now more than ever. And to make money we need to sell products and services.

"While social distancing has caused a drop in people-out and about, internet traffic has surged up 70% around the world and social media use has jumped a whooping 22%" - Nadine Shaw

The thing about #StayHome and #LockDown is that everyone is at home now. This means that now more than ever, everyone is turning to the internet to connect with each other - and that includes your customers. And a lot of them don't have much to do right now than to participate in some amazing, inspirational, funny and sometimes silly social media "challenges", the truth of the matter is "the best way (and really the only way) to reach your potential customers during this pandemic is online" - otherwise known as "Digital Marketing".

BUSINESSES HAVE BEEN SELLING WHILE 'SOCIAL DISTANCING' BEFORE NOW

A lot of businesses have been using digital marketing to connect with their customers across the globe long before this pandemic, with a few becoming so proficient at it they have built several business models around it. For businesses like these, it is going to be much easier for them to maintain their connection with their customers and continuing selling their products and services to them. Even if their products and services are non-essential during this pandemic, the sustained connection with their customers will make it so much easier for them to bounce back after the pandemic is over.

Yet, there are even more businesses that either haven't been digital marketing at all or have been making a halfhearted attempt at it. The reasons these businesses haven't yet taken full advantage of digital marketing yet vary. A common reason is that they have been using other traditional marketing strategies, like networking for instance, which have been working for them just fine, so they haven't felt the need to start using digital marketing or take it seriously.

And this may have been you, but now we are all 'Social Distancing', there are no events to network at, and everyone (who still has a job) now have to "work from home". What does this mean for you? Does it mean the end of your business? It doesn't have to be. You can still secure your business if you start connecting with your customers via digital marketing now!

HOW TO GET STARTED SELLING REMOTELY NOW

There are 3 major digital solutions you'd want to employ right now to bridge the gap between you and your customers and connect with them:

1. Set-up video conferencing to talk to your customers.

The next best thing to talking to your customers in person is talking to them via video call. The reason, why despite the advancement in digital connection, in-person communication is still the most effective way to connect with a prospect is because we are able to communicate on all levels of communication.

It is a popularly held belief that what we communicate made up of 55% body language, 38% our tone of voice, and only 7% are the exact words we say. In-person meetings allow us to communicate 100%. However, when we communicate over a phone call we lose all the ability to communicate with our body language meaning about 55% of our communication gets lost. And when we communicate over text or chat, we lose the ability to communicate with our body language and our tone of voice. That's a loss of about 93% of our communication.

Video conferencing let's us at least retain some of our ability to communicate through our body language.

The popular tool everyone seems to be using now is Zoom. Check out their website to learn about its feature and how to get up and running with it. However, with recent news that Zoom may be leaking email addresses, it's attracting malware attacks, and more than 500,000 Zoom accounts are being sold on the dark web, you might also want to check out other available options like Skype, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or just plain simple WhatsApp video call.

2. Get really good at selling on the phone.

You are probably already used to making "follow-up" or connect calls to leads to schedule in-person meetings where you can better close the sale. Now you'd need to learn how to connect with a potential customer, explore his/her/their challenges and goals, and also present or pitch your solution/product/service to them all over the phone.

This is a whole different ball game from selling in person. In-person, you have the advantage of being able to communicate on a 100% level. Over the phone, and even video conferencing, you'll need to make up for the loss of communication through your body language. This requires special skills. Some people may find out that they are naturals at this, especially emotionally intelligent people, but others might require special training.

You can get started by reading Remote Sales: How to Sell Successfully From Wherever You Are. However, if you find that you need more detailed guidance, you will Hubspot's Inbound Sales course to be very helpful.

3. Develop a strategy for getting leads online.

The most popular method for getting a good amount of leads offline has been by exhibiting at trade shows. We looooved exhibiting at trade shows at JAAD & 4STONES, a trading company I used to work for a while back. We'd get so much leads that we had to work overtime to ensure we followed through with everyone before they got cold. This proved to be impossible sometimes, but it was so damn effective we exhibited at least one trade show every year. Fast forward to today, there are no trade shows to look forward to and there are no networking events to attend. So how can you generate leads online?

There are different ways and strategies to do this, and the specific tactics will vary for different business and products/services. However, the quickest strategy to get 'pre-qualified leads' for the short term is social selling.

All you have to do with social selling is to find the online channels where your target customers are and connect with them there. Connecting with your customers online is done by engaging and interacting with them and also providing useful and helpful content to them. At this point in time, you may want to keep your helpful content to specifically how your products/services can help them during this period.

FINAL WORDS

There you have it, 3 digital strategies that will help you sell while social distancing. The great thing about these strategies is that while they'll work well for you in the short term during this pandemic, they will continue to help you sell even after all this is over. They are strategies that double well as both short term and long term strategies.

As a bonus tip, if you don't have one already, you might also want to consider building a website. And if have built one already and have not been using it actively to connect with your customers, then it is time to take a second critical look at it.

Your website is much like your beautifully setup front office where your customers come to meet you (which cannot happen any longer because of social distancing), It is a place you can manage and design to create the right aesthetics and "ambiance" to connect with your customers. It is also where you answer any questions they might have and provide the necessary information and content that they need to know to trust your business enough to buy from you. In essence, every lead generation strategy you employ should lead your customers here.

A website can help you greatly optimize your sales time and decrease the time you spend talking to each customer by first providing all the essential information to your customers so when you are talking to them there is less to be said.

Finally, if you need help setting up video conferencing, getting started with social selling, and/or building a website, Feel free to send me an email at [email protected] or send me a WhatsApp here.

Stay safe, stay at home, and wash your hands regularly. Hang in there, we are going to beat the shit out of Corona Virus.