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Some Ideas to Add a Spark of Life to Online Meetings

6/10/2020

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Hopefully, one of the positive effects of remote working is that meetings have been pared back to what’s strictly necessary. This has probably helped everyone’s productivity. But there are still plenty of meetings going on (judging by the number of Zoom fatigue posts and articles doing the rounds).
 
And we shouldn’t forget that meetings sometimes have a value beyond their immediate purpose in helping to build team cohesion and identity. This often comes out of the small talk and casual asides, both of which can become casualties in the world of online meetings. 
 
It’s also harder to make spontaneous interjections when it involves unmuting or catching the eye of the chair from your tiny corner of their screen. Meetings risk becoming a more passive experience for many participants.
 
So here are a few tips that might help everyone feel more engaged, and make meetings more productive and maybe even enjoyable.
 
Try to Shake Things Up
The normal approach is to have a conventional structure: here’s the agenda, here’s who’s taking the lead on each item, chip in if you have any comments. Is that the best way to get everyone’s input in an online meeting? 
 
Why not be creative and look for opportunities to get people to speak or participate in some other way? Maybe circulate questions in advance and ask for verbal feedback on these during the session. This could stimulate debate and interaction and get more ideas and different perspectives out on the virtual table. Participants will be more actively engaged with the subject matter.
 
Keep tabs on the time though. This type of exercise can easily run away with you if you’re not careful. When I use this approach I explicitly set a time range for the discussion. Don’t be afraid to let it run on for a couple of minutes though (if the content is very good), or cut it short if things look to be drying up. Better to end on a high and cut it short before it loses its momentum. 
 
Try to summarize what was said and by who. People will definitely stay engaged if you set yourself a challenge to accurately summarise their input.  It also recognises their input – and who doesn’t enjoy that!
 
Get Slides Off the Screen Quickly
It’s likely that you’ll have to do a bit of screen sharing to show slides and visuals. Leaving these on the screen when they’re not needed can cause engagement levels to drop off. Get them off ‘shared screen’ as early as possible and let people see one another again. You can always flash the visuals back up again if somebody wants to pick up on a particular detail.
 
It’s important to guard against people disengaging and getting distracted by doing another task (like checking email or social media) when they think they’re out of sight or if that part of the meeting doesn’t interest them.
 
More positively, having faces rather than slides on the screen helps improve engagement with one another.  That is especially important in these times of so much social isolation and home working.
 
If slides or other visuals must be shown for a significant portion of the time then try to make them more engaging. One of the easiest ways is to ‘build’ them so that when your key message changes so do the slides. Of course this is good practice in any situation, and is particularly important when working remotely.
 
Actively Engage
Another great way to keep people engaged is to ask them to pose questions to one another about themselves or the topic being presented (whichever is most relevant). You could even set up a couple of quizzes or polls. 
 
Explicitly ask people for their thoughts, rather than waiting for them to offer opinions. You should only do this if you know they will feel safe to be explicitly asked. By exploring thoughts and opinions everyone learns something. This could potentially help identify where to focus your next session or the remaining time within the existing one.
 
My final tip: keep it short. In my experience 30-45 mins is the optimum length. Any longer and you should think about a break so that people can rejoin the conversation feeling refreshed.
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The Single Thing that ‘Opportunity Harvesters’ Understand and ‘Opportunity Chasers’ Don’t

20/9/2019

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Photo by Michal Janek on Unsplash

Some firms and some individuals seem to have the knack of client relationships. Somehow they seem to find it easier to attract and win bidding opportunities. In the USA they call these ‘rainmakers.’ While everyone else is anxiously scanning weather maps, they seem to make it rain opportunity whenever they need it. 
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We’re not American so maybe let’s talk about ‘opportunity harvesters’ instead. What do these organisations and people do that others don’t? Why does opportunity seem to come to them when everyone else has to chase it? You might think that it comes down to deploying clever sales tactics, but in my experience it’s something much more basic.

What these people understand is that clients buy when they are ready to buy, not when we want to sell. They don’t try to sell every time they contact the client. Rather they are showing a healthy interest in their business for its own sake or they have something of value to give or share with them.

Encouraging Openness
Usually subconsciously, we choose how much or how little information we are prepared to share with people. Nothing causes a client to ‘clam up’ more than when they think you’ve contacted them to sell them something or fish for opportunities. When you think about it, that’s a very one-sided relationship.

If they feel they are getting value from the communication and relationship this leads to them feeling more open. They might reveal more about their objectives and concerns or tell you things that are more ‘sensitive’ to them. This isn’t necessarily anything confidential or commercially sensitive, it’s just information they might otherwise choose not to share or not even think of sharing with a supplier.

That information may or may not be useful to you. But if you can refer back to it at a later date when communicating with them, or better still, discuss potential solutions that might not benefit you commercially, this should encourage them to update you and maybe share other information. They sense that your interest is in understanding more about their business and being helpful to them.

Having shared some information this leads them to believe they are safe to go even further - so you learn more and more.

In my experience this objective approach pays significant dividends over time. It keeps you at the forefront of clients’ minds for when they do need something. They may ask you for help even if they realise you can’t help them directly, but may know someone who can. Or they may simply want to share their problem with you as a trusted confidant. The more you know, the more you can adapt your offer and approach to be more in tune with their objectives.

Changing Client Perspectives
Clients are starting to recognise the benefits of more productive relationships. Some, such as Highways England, Network Rail and several utilities companies are reshaping relationships with major potential suppliers. And they are adapting their procurement processes to focus on relationships and outcomes, as well as outputs. 

Maybe their motivation is to achieve their objectives of better productivity and cost efficiency. But so what? Even if this is the case there is a benefit to both parties in doing so. It brings better relationships and knowledge of forward work pipelines for contractors and better productivity, capacity, results for the clients.
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If you want to attract more opportunities, it’s time to forget the mantra of ‘always be closing’ and replace it with ‘always be discovering.’


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What Does it Mean when a Client Relationship Seems to Cool?

12/1/2018

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Much of your business success has probably been built on personal contacts, direct knowledge of your clients and the relative directness of their purchasing procedures. Relationships are critical.

But nothing stays the same. The world has become more competitive. Clients want ‘more for less’ and may decide at any time to explore beyond existing relationships. They want to see if there are better ways to meet their business needs.

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    Hugh Graham

    Hugh Graham

    I have many years of senior sales and account management positions.  

    This experience taught me how to interpret exactly what clients are seeking, and what they need and expect to see and hear from the successful bidder. We draw on this experience to give your team an additional competitive advantage by building on their existing strengths while improving their team-working and self-awareness.
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