For most people in sales and relationship management roles, there is simply nothing as effective as meeting face-to-face with customers and prospects. Of course, there are some among us whose roles are truly designed to be virtual, but for a majority of us, being in person is what we would prefer.

This is increasingly challenging for many. The restrictions associated with Covid-19 changed how many customers worked, and some have never reverted to how it was before. The impact to us? It’s harder to get face-to-face with customers, so it is harder to build deeper relationships and gain valuable insight.

If it is no longer “normal” to get together in-person, you could try to create an event to help make it happen. For example, trade shows and conferences still bring people together. Many of them make the list of attendees available. Reach out to people you would like to meet with ahead of time and arrange some time together. You could also leverage a site tour or a meeting over a meal or coffee.

Since these in-person meetings are harder to come by, try to make the most out of them. Look around. Who else can you meet? Who can you talk to? What’s on the walls? What is the mood or morale like? Take in everything you can.

If you are still doing more virtual meetings than you would like, consider these ideas:

• Try to have your virtual meetings with cameras on. You could even mention to your customer ahead of the call, “I will have my camera on for the call”. They are more likely to do so as well if they have a bit of a heads up.
• Consider your questions. Try to ask more interesting and impactful questions. Questions like, “How do you feel about the trend toward digitalization in your industry?” can help get the customer engaged and invested in your call.