Covid-19: Changing Business Practices.

Covid has forced us to connect online with clients, partners and prospects more than we would like.  Do you agree? 

I was raised on the maxim that you don’t truly make a connection in business until you have met a person 3 times.  Content Innovo is in a growth phase; we need to reach out to as many prospects as possible.  How do we make a meaningful connection when face to face meetings are unvavailable? 

I don’t have a definitive answer to that question, but what I can report is I’m not the only one.  We’re all in this together.  Whether you are trying to sell something, or logging on to a webinar because you want to learn more about your next business-critical purchase, or you’re connecting with prospects or vendors, there seems to be a great acceptance that the current method of communication is not perfect.  There seems to be an acceptance that we’re all trying to do our utmost to represent ourselves and our businesses in the best light.  

And we’re all failing misearbly.

The Good Old Days?

I remember 20 years ago when you would go to someone’s offices to present your idea, and the advent of technology meant you could use powerpoint to provide amazing visuals.  You would ask the person you were meeting to book a boardroom and give you access to a big screen and the wifi code. 

Those were the days, because you a had a stunning visual presentation on your laptop — life was good.  This presentation was not only going to blow their socks off, it was going to seal the deal — but —  if your presentation didn’t load instantly and on command… that was it. You were done.  That client would never speak to you again.  You would instantly lose credibility. 

In the new reality, technical difficulties are the norm.  

Grace Under Pressure

Content Innovo was recently part of an accelerator program called Beyond Boundaries, put on by the Halton Region Innovation Centre, Haltech, and part of the Canadian government’s push to empower women entrepreneurs.  Halfway through the program, everything shut down because of Covid-19 and we had to go online.  No problem. We all agreed to meet at the appointed hour and click the link to participate.  

The presentation for our first fully online session was hosted by an accountancy firm.  A firm that had a vested interest in sponsoring the program and engaging its participating members in the highest quality format and presenting themselves in the highest quality way. 

But guess what? As bizarre as it sounds, the mac users couldn’t see the shared content when the pc users could, and vice versa.  And that situation went on for 10 minutes.  

But here’s the thing, no one left.  Our host, to her credit, taught me a lot in that very moment about staying calm under pressure. And the fellow participants taught me a lot about accepting that this is not an ideal situation for anyone.  Everyone was understanding, and had likely been through similar situations, themselves, in recent weeks.

I have loads of examples of bizarre things that happen when trying to organize a video call with multiple participants —Zoomwobble, anyone? — and I would love to hear your tales.  I also have loads of examples of hosts and participants dealing with these problems in real time, in a way that wouldn’t have been acceptable 6 months ago.  But we’re all in this together. 

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