I recently attended a sales training course which included the best way to run a meeting on Zoom, so I thought I would share my findings.
- Grab their attention to control the meeting following the brief chit chat.
- Show interest in your potential client / audience.
- Communication ratio – 2 ears and 1 mouth – make sure you properly listen. Another reason we want the camera on, so that we can see them and they can see you.
- Put your feet in their shoes – see things from their perspective, understand what they want, what’s important to them. The ability to empathise.
- Try not to ask questions that require a Yes/No answer – these only give a certain amount of information.
- Ask ‘open questions’ instead. Ask the ‘W’s – What, Why, When, Who and Why.
- Use the ‘If’ word – to help people to think. Ask them a probing question. Example: If we did this, this and this, what would happen?
- Silence is good – but not everyone feels comfortable with silence. Don’t automatically fill silence with anything, give people chance to think and then respond. Don’t try to pre-empt the question you’ve asked before they’ve had chance to think and respond.
- Ask a ‘High Gain Question’ – as this will pull out a lot of information and will really make them think. They may say, ‘that’s a really good question, let me think’.
What about asking some high gain questions!
- In what area would you like to see improvement in the shortest period of time?
- How does this affect you or your client?
- What would happen if you didn’t solve this problem?
- If we solved this problem what would happen?
- What’s the biggest threat/disruptor to your company?
- How are these measured?
- What are your current challenges?
- If you were able to access funding and gain £20,000 next week, what would you spend it on?
- Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
- If you were able to access a student graduate for 6 weeks to work on a specific project for your business, what would the project be?
My biggest take away from this – be careful of the Zoom fatigue!