Stay calm: Give yourself permission to feel a little awkward with your first few interactions with customers and prospects. Know that everyone understands these are very challenging and unique times.Be positive: Maintain your tone, words and body language on the positive side. Introduce things about yourself, your family and fun things you are doing while at home.
Reassure: Let your customers know you are thinking of them and remaining available to the furthest extent possible.
Missing them: Let your customers know you are thinking of them and miss them.
Social Media is an inexpensive and easy way to connect with your customers (and prospects). With social distancing measures in place, many people are using social media to stay in-touch with friends and family, engage with local businesses, and find ways to keep up to date on the latest news.
Whether you are an essential business still operating in some capacity or one that is completely shut down, you can still engage with customers and prospects in interesting and useful ways.
Customer engagement must be intentional, scheduled, thorough and encompassing. It’s easier to engage with those who are willing, but the real win is engaging those who are disengaged. For customers who seem disengaged:
Recorded: Send a daily or weekly video message to your customers via email and/or social media. Message content will depend on your industry. You can also send daily or weekly video messages to your staff – especially those who are working remotely or are furloughed.
Live: Use live video for a variety of purposes – host virtual meetings with customers (or staff) to allow them to connect or provide a real-time updates. You can also deliver pitches and consultations via private video meeting.
Be cognizant of which windows and programs are open on your computer before conducting a screen sharing session. You want to avoid exposing your customers or staff to any confidential information.
Noise: Limit unnecessary noises that could become a distraction during the virtual meeting. It may be wise to establish certain times during the day where external noises are fewer.
Physical Appearance: Branded items are good pieces to have in the background. The area should also be clean and free of clutter.
Distractions: As the person leading the virtual meeting, it’s easy to lose focus because of other people or things happening that your customer or staff member can’t always see on camera. Position yourself to be able to provide full attention and focus.
There is little that is more frustrating than constant buffering or screens becoming frozen in the midst of a conversation. It not only takes you out of your flow, but also causes the person on the other end to lose focus. To avoid this, be sure that the location you are using to conduct the virtual meeting has a reliable internet connection with enough bandwidth to support the video call.
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