Building Confidence with In-Person Meetings

Having the bulk of our meetings on a video call is now the norm. But that doesn’t mean that in-person meetings have disappeared completely from B2B sales – and getting people physically in a room can be really powerful from a sales perspective. The challenge is – many of us are out of practice at presenting in person and holding in-person meetings. We’ve lost some of our confidence and our skills are rusty.

In-person B2B sales meetings – are they still a thing?

Pre-Covid, at least in Australia, in-person meetings were still the expected norm as part of the B2B sales process. B2B salespeople were expected to be available to meet with prospects and customers in person. It was normal for me to be doing three to four coffee meetings in a day.

During Covid, our habits changed – and we all realised that switching to Zoom meetings meant not only that we could work from home, but we could squeeze more meetings in, literally lining them up back-to-back.

This has been a pro and a con for salespeople. Yes – it is easier to squeeze in a half-hour video call than an hour face-to-face meeting in terms of scheduling. But meeting someone for coffee was a much more relaxed affair, the person you were seeing could find it a bit of a break from their usual routine as a way to literally get out of the office. A video call can be seen of more of an additional burden to their day, so they may be less likely to fit you in.

Also, meeting in person has all the advantages of getting a much better feel for how the meeting is going. You can read body language more easily and have more time for getting to know the person with more casual conversation. At the very least you get to know their coffee order!

Then there are the more formal B2B sales meetings, the boardroom-type presentation. If you have eight people on a Zoom meeting, it is very difficult to read how they are taking your presentation. In fact, while you are presenting online, it is often very difficult to even see those at the other end. They may not have their video on, or you may be juggling with screen sharing and looking at lots of very small windows trying to read facial expressions while you are presenting.

People often multi-task on a Zoom call, in a way that would be considered rude in an in-person meeting – which can make it really tough as a presenter.

Not to mention that even when you try your best, you are never really sure who you are making eye contact with...

But in-person meetings feel so weird now…

So – we don’t want to do away with in-person meetings completely. There are certainly advantages to meeting in person, both for us and our customers. The thing is, when we do get people physically in a room today – it can feel a bit weird.

I know that the first couple of times I presented post-Covid – I was so rusty, and I know I didn’t do a great job of it. I was literally out of practice – I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to be doing!

But more than that, I had lost confidence in my personal presence. I used to be able to walk into a room and present without thinking. That feeling of confidence in being able to perform had gone.

Also, I realised, those in the room with me were also out of practice. People were starting to work on their laptops while I was presenting, then catching themselves. Giving our undivided attention to the presenter was also a skill we got out of practice with.

So where does this leave us now? We no longer do as many in-person meetings – but we do sometimes want and need to do them.

How to build your confidence presenting in-person

When we do present in-person – we want to show up and have an impact. We want to do this with confidence, in a way that is not only professional but comes across as authentic and grounded. We want to show up with authentic presence.

There is a fundamental shift in the meaning of the word authenticity that comes into play in this part of the sales process. I am sure you have heard the saying – it’s not what you say but how you say it. 

I have the great pleasure of working on this with Johanna De Ruyter, who has been involved in the field of presence for over 30 years. Johanna uses techniques from her study of drama and theatre performance, both scripted and unscripted, to run training at all levels in organisations in building awareness and learning to harness their presence for all manner of influential communication.

Johanna teaches that in your pursuit of building trust, rapport, and buy-in, confidence in your personal presence goes a long way. Being prepared is important but equal to this is your ability to show up and make an impact – to stand out, be seen, be heard, be felt, be in a relationship.

By learning to understand presence, you can learn how to harness it to support and bolster your confidence when selling, with authenticity.

If you would like to learn more about how you can find and build your Authentic Presence, come along to our 2-hour Workshop.