Mistakes to Avoid when Selling Virtually: by DPHA Fellow Hank Darlington

Many showrooms are including virtual selling and showroom tours during these unusual times. It’s a great way to keep your name, products and services in front of potential clients in a time where people aren’t as comfortable shopping in stores.

Showrooms have a unique challenge to try and out-market or outsell their competitors. You need to find ways to engage clients in conversations and try to connect with the individual person. Both sellers and buyers are experiencing their own unique struggle in how to make this connection.

As many of you start to experiment with virtual communication, you need to be aware that there are a lot of mistakes or problems that can occur that would turn off the client and send them to a competitor.

A June 2020 survey from Rain Group found that buyers (defined as influencers and decision makers who purchase goods and services) noticed a host of issues when being “pitched” virtually. 89% of the respondents cited “experiencing technology problems “ as the leading virtual selling mistake. This is a hard problem to avoid, as internet outages can be out of our control. Even CNN guests and reporters have glitches with their videos.

Roughly 8 -10 buyers cited poor visuals during online meetings, issues with responsiveness and preparedness, and a lack of presentation skills as other top mistakes. These responses indicate that buyers notice the level of organization and professionalism from sellers, who must adapt to this new normal as remote work continues amid the pandemic. These mistakes are much easier to avoid by preparing and practicing.

Following is a chart that reflects the mistakes that buyers experienced while engaging in virtual selling:

• Experiencing technology problems     89%
• Using poor or no visuals during the online meeting     86%
• Not responsive to my questions or concerns     84%
• Not prepared     83%
• Lacking presentation skills     80%
• Sending poorly written emails     80%
• Distracted by people, external disturbances     77%
• Making an unprofessional impression     75%

*Source: Rain Group, “Virtual Selling Skills and Challenges“, June 25, 2020

Hopefully, being aware of these common mistakes will help you avoid them in your virtual selling efforts.