Video Conferencing for Salespeople – To Zoom or Not to Zoom?

No data or statistics today.  No sales training or coaching either.  This won’t be a lesson for sales managers or sales leaders.  This is my rant of the day.

Netflix?  √
Blue jeans? √
Tee shirt? √
Laptop? √
Smartphone? √
Zoom Meeting room? √

Lately it seems that everyone has a Zoom room so congratulations to Zoom!  They’re adding telephony so they seem to be expanding their offerings.  The question is, if everyone is rushing to Zoom for their advanced meeting platform, why aren’t salespeople taking advantage of it?

Selling has generally moved from outside to inside.  The advantage of selling from ones desk or home office is that it’s much more efficient and far less costly.  The disadvantage is that people still want to meet the people they are doing business with.  Enter video.  Video conferencing allows prospects and customers to see us, without us having to travel.  It’s better than audio-only, otherwise known as phones.

If video enhances our ability to sell from the comfort of wherever we are, why is it that nearly every time I join a Zoom meeting the host’s video is turned off?  Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?

In my opinion, the appeal of the technology has caused everyone to jump on board but the availability has moved more quickly than our readiness to adopt the technology. Many salespeople are either too embarrassed or too uncomfortable being on camera to turn on their camera.  And then there’s the group who turn it on but don’t center the camera on their face!  Do us a favor – you’re the ones who shouldn’t be turning on the cameras!

Video meetings are the future.  Video meetings are important.  The technology to sell by video conference is easy-to-use, ready-to-use, requires no training, and can help you be a trusted advisor – a status you cannot achieve as quickly by phone or in a Zoom meeting without video.

When I’m being sold to I keep my camera off – but for some reason they don’t turn theirs on.  When I’m doing the selling you can bet your bottom dollar that my camera is on, I’m looking at them, I’m animated, and behaving exactly as I would if I were sitting in that prospect’s conference room or office.

Come on people – turn on your video!