By Ellen Barnes Pfiffner, EBP Business Consulting
As concern over COVID-19 sets in, people around the world are rethinking employee safety, customer events, marketing strategies, and of course, briefings. Many customer-centric companies are being forced to cancel or postpone tradeshows, conferences, seminars, and other customer events.
Programs have been impacted differently. Some programs are holding all briefings virtually. To reduce customer and employee travel, a few programs are sending “Briefings in a Box” to field sales offices to host a briefing locally. Companies that are still holding in-person briefings in their EBCs are being told to make plans to take their program virtual.
Twenty-eight years of ABPM research (Benchmarking Research on the Effectiveness of Briefings) shows: “Executive Briefings are the preferred method for customers to obtain information on solutions.” We believe effective Briefings can be delivered virtually, because they are highly customized, personalized, and relatively small events.
ABPM launched a snap poll on March 9th and the response was, “The membership wants to identify and exchange best practices for delivering effective virtual briefings.” Briefing teams are committed to serving customers/prospects and sales teams by implementing informative virtual briefings that build relationships, keep the company top of mind, and fulfill the customer-centric brand promise.
In this article, the first of a series on “Executing Effective Virtual Briefings,” I am providing a few tips to keep in mind when thinking about virtual briefings.
EBP Tips
If you are converting an in-person briefing to a virtual one, pare the agenda down to include only the top 2-3 topics. Keep virtual briefings as short as possible. It is hard to keep a remote audience focused and energized for more than a couple of hours. Some companies are using virtual briefings as a “tease” to reschedule an in-person briefing.
Planning is critical. To ensure you are addressing the customer’s “care-abouts,” it is important for the customer to have input in the planning process and to pre-approve the agenda. If the agenda exceeds two hours, consider having two short briefings.
Engaging virtually is a challenge. Encourage your discussion leaders prepare personalized and customized materials. To jump start their thinking, share Mandel Communications list of Virtual Presentations articles. Depending on the features of your virtual platform you may be able to do polling, build word clouds, collaboratively “mark-up” a graphic with virtual pens, etc. Develop virtual product/service demonstrations to increase excitement and interactivity.
Cameras on or off? Because so much of communication is non-verbal, it is best to turn on cameras. Some companies make it a policy that cameras are on for all briefings. We can’t mandate that the customer turn on their cameras, but we can suggest it during the planning process and role model it in the briefing. Also, no one in the company should be multi-tasking. During the virtual briefing, put away all devices, close all non-essential computer programs, and focus on the customer.
Another engagement suggestion is to have someone the customer knows well participate on the call. It is often the account team, but sometimes it could be an executive or a colleague from the service side of your business.
Facilitate the briefing. It is important to open the briefing by introducing participants, understanding the customers’ objectives and reviewing the agenda. Introduce each presenter, tie together the topics, and make purposeful transitions. If the meeting is going off track, remember to refer back to the meeting objectives and/or agenda and let participants know that they have a few options, which include: “parking” the item that has taken the discussion off track for handling later, skipping another agenda item in favor of continuing with the current topic, or scheduling a follow-up meeting with some or all participants. Summarize key points frequently, tying them back to the meeting objectives. At the end of the briefing review all action items.
Expect technical issues. A good practice is to provide a first level trouble-shooting list to the participants in advance. The provider of your platform often has checklists available that you can share. Appoint a person to be the contact for all technical issues and include his/her number with all the pre-briefing materials. For high-stakes virtual briefings, schedule a test call the day before.
Be authentic! These are unusual times. Set up the call early and let people talk as they “arrive” to the briefing. Dogs may be heard barking or a microphone may pick up the musing of a toddler. Relax and enjoy the moment together. Susan Pinker, psychologist, columnist, and author of The Village Effect reminds us, “There is no substitute for social interactions. They are proven to bolster our immune system, sending positive hormones surging through our bloodstream and brain, and help us live longer.”
While many other customer events are cancelled; the briefing program has a key role in supporting customers during this difficult time. Experience has shown: customers who felt encouraged and important during challenging times are retained and express their loyalty with purchases after the crisis period.
Whether your briefing program is already doing virtual briefings, or this is a brand-new initiative for your program, watch the ABPM website for news about webinars and best practice articles. Together we will all gain new strategies, tactics and tips.
Note: My mother named me Ellen, our family name is Barnes and I married Tim Pfiffner. When I started consulting to Executive Briefing Programs 15 years ago, I just knew I had to name my company EBP Business Consulting. I welcome your questions and feedback. Contact me online or by phone at 214-789-3571.
Ellen Barnes Pfiffner, M.Ed., CMM – Ellen is the principal of EBP Business Consulting and offers benchmarking, tools, and consulting to executive briefing programs globally, on-site ABPM Competency courses, and customized training programs including Facilitation Skills. Active in the ABPM for 15+ years, Ellen has published Briefing articles on numerous topics and , has served on the ABPM Advisory Board . She can be contacted online or at 214-789-3571.