How to Build Sales Relationships in a Virtual World
Ami Tully Lotka, co-founder of Maximum Impact Partners, highlights that in a virtual sales environment, building strong client relationships—especially when products are commoditized—requires converting face-to-face rapport into engaging, interactive digital experiences through techniques like breaking content into smaller segments, calling on individuals to maintain alertness, managing participation, and using structured skill assessments to foster meaningful learning and client trust.
Ami Tully Lotka, co-founder of Maximum Impact Partners and expert in sales strategy and mobilization, emphasizes the importance of building deeper and better connections with clients. She shares her expertise on the following topics:
- The importance of positive client sales relationships
- Ways to promote engagement and meaningful learning, even in digital spaces
- The value of structured, objective skill assessments in identifying future learning opportunities
1. Differentiating With Sales Relationships
Lotka notes that in many industries, especially where products are commoditized, the salesperson becomes the key differentiator. The challenge is converting face-to-face connections into equally powerful virtual relationships. Key questions to consider include:
- How can we help our clients through this?
- Who really feels understood?
- Which of my clients feels that I’ll take care of them?
- Who feels best about the context of our company, our product, and my own personal knowledge of them?
If clients don’t feel well served, they may seek out competitors with similar products but better relationships.
2. Adjusting for Virtual Settings
Lotka shares a teaching experience in Japan, highlighting the importance of interactive learning. In virtual environments, she recommends breaking content into smaller, interactive segments to maintain engagement. Without interaction, participants can become exhausted and disengaged. Adapting to digital platforms is not only possible but can be better if approached thoughtfully.
3. Maintaining Engagement & Alertness
To keep participants engaged in virtual settings, Lotka uses the following techniques:
- Calling on individuals: Announcing at the start that she will call on people specifically, which encourages alertness and participation.
- Managing dominant participants: Calling on and unmuting one speaker at a time ensures everyone has a chance to contribute.
- Keeping groups small: Preferring 10- to 15-person seminars for more engaged learning.
- Interactive methods: Using breakout groups, directed questions, and polls to foster participation.
4. Identifying Individual Training Needs
Lotka applies the concept of sports drills to sales training, similar to the NFL Combine. This approach allows managers to:
- Identify important skills needed for success
- Quantify good performance by observing skills across many individuals
- Compare performance on an even playing field
- Determine who needs practice in specific areas, enabling tailored training
Managers often assume all team members need the same training, but targeted assessments reveal individual needs, making training more effective.
Adapting to the Current Needs: Becoming a Hybrid
Lotka argues that hybrid selling and learning is not just a pandemic response but the way forward. Embracing hybrid approaches allows for greater flexibility and effectiveness in building relationships and delivering training.
Learn More
To learn more about Ami Tully Lotka and her work with Maximum Impact Partners, you can contact her at ami@gotimpact.com or visit GotImpact.com.
To learn more about building sales relationships, check out episode 5 of The Adapter’s Advantage.