Managing customer relationships in a virtual world

In recent months, we have been responding to the challenge that many of our clients have been facing in working in a largely virtual world due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. We have designed a number of training solutions to help our clients’ Sales and Account Management teams make effective use of the virtual world to manage business relationships.

One of our most recent engagements was with IHC Employee Benefits. We delivered two highly interactive virtual sessions that provided guidance and support to their Sales and Account Management teams on how they could adapt their approach when selling to, and managing, relationships in the virtual world. It was tailored to reflect the specific nuances and challenges of both their business and the different needs of two distinct groups, to ensure a high degree of applicability and relevance to their roles and approach to relationship management.

“In these difficult and challenging times, it is good to stand back and reassess the way we communicate in the new virtual environment. Customer Attuned, in a positive and empathetic manner helped us to understand both the pitfalls, and advantages that this medium provides for ensuring our message is understood, and appreciated. We have since extended this training to all staff, since both sales consultants and support staff play a key role in maintaining a professional relationship with clients, suppliers and internally within the business”

Nick Lipczynski, MD, IHC Employee Benefits

During the two workshops we looked at areas such as:

  1. What is going on – why is virtual different?
    1. What are the differences we need to be aware of when selling and managing relationships in a virtual world
  2. What could I do to harness the potential of the virtual world?
    1. What do you need to do to sell and manage relationships effectively in the virtual world
    1. How do I sell my message effectively?
  3. Managing engagement – is anyone there?
    1. How do I know if my message is landing effectively in the virtual world?
  4. Watch outs and pitfalls I need to avoid and/or how to counter

The feedback from attendees has been extremely positive with quotes such as,

 “I enjoyed every moment of it, and it was nice to get a bit of fun interaction with Alan and Dr Mark but also learning more about what we could do in virtual meetings.”

“Great work. Loved the workshop. Usually online training feels very tiring but this one was not. Lovely breaks in between and team work was great. Thank you”

More information

If you would like find out more about how our programmes can help your business navigate through these challenging times, please get in touch with our Head of People Capability, Alan Thompson.

Alan Thompson