How to make the most of the pandemic for business development

Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the way we do business development and sales. In my humble opinion, there's a way to take a lot of positives from it. I tend to look on the bright side, and that's always been good for me.
Here's what's changed for the better:

1. People accept videoconference meetings

Before Covid-19, going to meet a prospect was highly regarded. We used to think that traveling would probably win us points. But, let's face it, we often travelled for nothing. Once you've reached your destination, you quickly realize that a prospect isn't for you. They're looking for a price rather than a partner, for example. We were used to phoning a prospect to qualify him before making the trip. Now, it's perfectly possible to qualify them over the phone and carry out the entire sales process virtually. Can you imagine how much time this saves? With fewer hours of travel, and if we invest this time in preparation and meetings, we'll definitely increase our conversion rate.

2. Adapting a presentation in real time

Thanks to virtual presentations, it's now so easy to present certain elements that are more difficult to present in person, simply because of a lack of computer equipment (computer, large screen). Now, when we're asked a specific question, we can present our answer using screen sharing to illustrate our points or provide an even more explicit answer. So we can easily turn a prospecting meeting into a solution demo, or present examples according to the context of our conversation.

3. Broaden target regions

There's a lot of talk these days about buying local. That's a good thing. However, when it comes to selling services, there are B2B sales opportunities far beyond our borders. Since people don't meet face-to-face anymore, they're much more open than they used to be to collaborating with companies located in other regions, or even another province or country. People used to say that you absolutely had to have an office in the USA to do business there. Right now, it's not advisable to travel to the U.S. for business development meetings. There's a window of opportunity that may close in a few months, so take advantage of it!

4. Participate in virtual trade shows that were previously inaccessible

Sure, there are fewer conferences than there used to be. But many conferences have been organized virtually. In fact, I've been lucky enough to attend conferences in the U.S. that I wouldn't have dared go to before. The travel and accommodation costs were too high, and I didn't think it was cost-effective.

I'm very happy to have had the chance to take part in theEOS congress, which takes place every year. In 2020, it was virtual. Even though I had gone to the Inbound conference organized by HubSpot in Boston in 2019, there was an economic advantage toInbound 2020 being virtual. Several members of my team were able to attend, and costs were much lower. 4 hotel rooms for 4 days in Boston isn't cheap. What's more, the majority of virtual conferences are recorded, and for some it's possible to access the recordings for 1 year. For Inbound, for example, we now have access to hundreds of videos. In previous years, with around twenty conferences taking place at the same time, it was impossible to take advantage of so much content.

What does this have to do with business development? Most conferences offer the possibility of contacting participants via chat. What's more, it's usually quite simple to find the LinkedIn profiles of attendees, or even conferences, and thus expand your business network.

5. Virtual networking activity

Contrary to popular belief, networking is entirely possible virtually. For example, my business development colleague and I joinedbusiness clans from the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, and it was very interesting! The 2-hour meetings with around 15 participants are very productive. Since we don't have to travel, we save an enormous amount of time. And unlike face-to-face networking, we get to present our company to all the participants at once.

It's also easy to set up 15-30 minute meetings with all participants. All this is possible without having to travel. Believe it or not, it really works. Plus, it's easy to network with people in other regions. People we wouldn't have been able to meet otherwise!

As I said at the beginning of this article, there are many obstacles to business development in a context of confinement and cancellation of all networking activities. However, don't think that it's completely impossible. In fact, there will undoubtedly be many more virtual networking activities in the future, so get used to it now. People will be much more open to virtual encounters because they now see the many advantages. But don't worry too much either, face-to-face networking events will be back!