When I retired in November of 2018, I knew I wanted to continue to chase my other passions: writing, public speaking, and consulting. When I finished my third book on sales, “The Art of Sales, A Book of Sales Stories,” earlier this year, the publisher, Vicara Books, told me that I needed to get active with social media and I hired a savvy partner, Sean Newman, to help me do that. Then the pandemic hit.

Being confined at home mandated that our methods of communicating with others take entirely new directions. Prior to COVID-19, many of us may have occasionally held virtual-meetings or attended webinars online, but they were not central to our day. Now, platforms like Zoom, Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft Teams, etc. have become our primary way to conduct face-to-face business communications.

Bloomberg reported on June 3, “Zoom Video Communications Inc. demonstrated that paying customers have flocked to its virtual-meeting software, transforming the once-niche appmaker into a popular communication service and positioning it to benefit as the nature of work, school, and life is upended. Zoom reported sales soared in the three months ended April 30, when the coronavirus pandemic spurred a wave of stay-at-home orders for millions of people worldwide.”

Have We Tipped?

Malcom Gladwell in his book “The Tipping Point” demonstrated that when paradigms begin to shift there is a “stickiness” factor, a sudden break in the norm causing a tipping point and a change in the way we function. When the coronavirus is over, we will not be back to sales business as usual. All of us have been using virtual-meeting software more than ever before. We have entered a new paradigm.

During this crisis people read and “liked” my posts on LinkedIn and I began to request what I called “Zoom Coffee Chats.” These sessions allowed me to demonstrate my organizational skills program. Today, I am conducting weekly, 3-hour consulting sessions with small businesses and my new chat business is booming. Best of all, the cost of entry into this type of consulting was reduced from an expensive trip involving time and transportation to a one-hour face-to-face virtual chat.

What About You?

How are you taking advantage of the new virtual selling opportunities? Comment below. We would love to hear about your innovation.

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