Bars, restaurants, meeting places, coffee shops — everything is closed or is take-out only. How do you keep connecting with customers during coronavirus if you can’t meet face-to-face and shake hands? You take to Zoom or Facebook live meetings and you connect virtually.
We have seen an uptick in the number of virtual meetings, Friday happy hours, online learning and friends who simply want to look at the face of their friends or loved ones and can’t do so in real life because many areas of the country are quarantined.
Connecting With Customers During Coronavirus
Networking and getting to know one another is one of the best ways to grow your business. Relationship building and getting to know, like and trust someone is what can make the difference between getting a new client or not — in some cases.
How can you continue to connect? What if you were attending networking events in the hopes of meeting a new, potential client? What can you do now?
We have some options.
- Attend events being hosted by others. There are so many live, virtual events that if you do a search chances are you will find one that you can attend. Don’t monopolize the entire conversation, but if you find someone to connect with, take it offline after the meeting is over.
- Host your own virtual event. Having a launch of a new product or service? Host a live watch party on Facebook or invite your followers to a Zoom meeting by sending out a newsletter with a link to the Zoom.
- Start, or get involved in ongoing, conversations on LinkedIn or in other groups in which you’re involved. LinkedIn groups are an ideal place to connect and network. Facebook Groups, too are wonderful places where you can connect and network with others who share your same interests OR who are in different lines of work with whom you may be able to connect.
Many businesses are struggling and may continue to do so even after this is all over. Don’t wait until everything has returned to normal to get back into networking as a way to grow your business. Don’t use this pandemic as a reason to kick back and take time off. Chances are your competition is still working and networking, don’t let your business suffer because you’re looking at a quarantine as a vacation.