PPB June 2020

embrace the new normal will do more video conferencing. The paradigm shift has happened. It is time to get on board because your clients and prospects are already there. The Digital New World From Facebook and LinkedIn to Facebook Live and Pinterest, the list continues to grow on the many ways you can communicate online, over the phone and through email. I am not just talking about presentations here, but the many ways you can stay in contact with the people you need to stay connected with. Sure, up close and personal has its advantages, but you can still brainstorm over live feed via the internet. There is also something to be said for the efficiencies these methods afford. You can connect with many more customers in a single day than you can driving or flying to see them. If you have spent as much wasted time on the 405 freeway in Southern California as I have, you can certainly appreciate howmuch easier and less taxing it is to hold meetings from the comfort of your own home office. If you are a little nervous about the thought of doing video, that’s good, because it means you care about doing a quality job. If you are camera shy, join the club. The best way to get over the jitters anytime you are “performing,” whether speaking before a group, singing on stage or going on camera, is to simply do it so many times that the jitters become a thing of the past. Try this: Do a Zoom presentation session without an audience and record it. Play it back. Repeat it. Keep doing it until you know it so well that you can’t wait to give your presentation to your audience. Keep an eye on alternative Zoom-like systems from Microsoft and Apple, because this is the way of the future. Don’t worry if your hair isn’t perfect or that you accidentally recorded in front of a messy kitchen counter: you’ll gain staging savvy quickly. It is far more important that you get over your reluctance to be in front of the camera. Do your best each time and provide great value through content and your audience will laugh right along with you at that part in the programwhen your cat walks by. A Word About Community We all love community because we are social beings. We gravitate toward physical interaction, hugs, personal stories, conversations and demonstrated caring. We enjoy those side-note conversations that always happen in meetings and presentations, and we love not feeling isolated. When you are preparing to call an old contact or prospect to catch up with them, remember that they might be isolated right now, but they are social by nature. Remember, too, that you have the marvelous opportunity to find new ways to serve them. You can bring joy and solid support into a world of uncertainty. You can explore new fields of possibilities, both for yourself and those with whom you connect. Speaking of connecting, it is a very good use of your time to revisit your list of clients, prospects and associates to see what information you have in your files about them. If you only have base information that anyone else could get from a business card, you don’t know them. You don’t know their story, their history, their current challenges, their aspirations, obstacles, dreams, fears and what condition their condition is in. Call them up. See how they are doing. Reintroduce yourself. Get the conversation going again and not just about business. Be honest with them; tell them When you consider all that you have learned up until now, don’t be surprised if you find yourself able to help and support someone else, regardless of what you do for a living right now. Your experiences can help you help them, because you know where to look. 72 | JUNE 2020 | THINK