Written by Sean McPheat | 

Are you using online sales meetings throughout your sales process?
More and more companies are going down this route especially those that sell software, SAAS products and online services.
Sometimes it can save you a ton of time if you can jump on a video conference call with screen sharing capability.Ā Do it correctly and it can work wonders for you.Ā Do it wrong and it can completely ruin the sale!
Here are 5 mistakes to avoid at all costs!
I absolutely hate it when at the start of an online meeting people canāt login to the session or they need to download some piece of java script for the session to work properly.
It ruins your opening and itās then hard to recover from thereon in.
Be prepared and make sure everyone knows what they need to do to access the session beforehand.
Thereās nothing worse that people logging in late and some have heard your message and some havenāt.
You just lose all momentum and it always seems to be the decision maker!
One company was pitching me some software and we had a screen share on ā his screen.
All of a sudden one of his mates Skyped him a message āAre we going out on the lash tonight? See if you can bunk off work early and say you’ve got a sales meeting somewhereā
If the ground could have swallowed him up!
The lesson? Close down all of your other applications!
You know that if youāve got email open or some other application that the people on the call will be looking!
Be aware of your appearance.
Approach the meeting just as you would a face to face encounter.
And donāt forget chances are there will be a close up on your face too.
Watch out for what is directly behind you too. People are more forgiving if youāre working from home but if in the office not so.
When I work from home I work out of my home office and thereās lots of movie and sport memorabilia on the wall.
People love it and itās a great rapport starter. If Iām on a call with a client, prospect or a supplier and I am taking it from home I let them know about it in advance.
If I were meeting you face to face I would turn my mobile off so you need to do the same in a virtual meeting as well.
Itās just good manners.
Thereās nothing worse than being interrupted to the Match of The Day theme music because youāve forgotten to turn your mobile off.
Awkward!
Virtual meetings are different to face to face.
There is a knack and a technique to them that is different to face to face encounters.
Itās harder to read body language, peopleās attention span is more difficult to maintain and you need to present information/demos in short, sharp chunks.
And talking of demos donāt just present your products and services in a one way monologue.
Instead find out the pain points and then tailor your demo/presentation to the areas that are most applicable to them.
If youāre looking to deliver more impactful online sales presentations, then our Online Sales Course can help.
We run a LIVE webinar training event on how to hold interactive online meetings and webinars.
So you can see it all in action as you learn the techniques.
Itās not a case of do as we say, itās a case of do as we do.
Alternatively, as a Sales Training Provider we have a variety of Sales Training Courses including our Selling Skills Training.
Happy Selling!
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training
Updated on: 13 April, 2020
Related Articles

Search For More
