The displeased body language, the passive-aggressive questions, and checking the watch—it’s not hard to detect the signs that your business meeting is going south.
Sometimes, no matter how well you have prepped, your meetings don’t turn out as planned. The consequences can be unfavorable for your business if a potential client backs out. Worse, what if they spread negative word of mouth to other prospects?
In this age of virtual meetings, the probability of things going berserk is even higher. An American Psychological Association study reports that remote meetings induce passive fatigue, which lowers cognitive performance. If someone already has low work engagement – like a disinterested auditor who didn’t want to turn up – they may feel worn out faster.
There are a few things you can do to salvage a meeting that’s headed to disaster territory.
1. Emphasize Value Creation for Clients
Many business meetings go sour because the host fails to emphasize how the proposition will create mutual value for all the parties. In marketing and sales, stakeholders may be paranoid about whether your proposal will benefit them. Unless you tailor your messaging to the audience, the meeting outcome will unlikely be positive.
Harvard Business Review recommends the “triple fit canvas” for better results. It focuses less on selling and more on creating new growth opportunities.
Three components your meeting should emphasize are planning, execution, and resources. Going overboard with planning and not discussing the necessary resources will make your listeners skeptical. Where will the required workers and funds come from?
If you perceive the meeting as sub-optimal, shift your communication to highlighting the central message. Product-focused professionals may struggle with viewing the big picture. However, reiterating your proposal’s collaborative value creation will grab stakeholder interest. You can proceed with the details later after you’ve recaptured their attention.
2. Reignite the Spark With Avatars
Digital meetings have become ubiquitous since COVID-19 fundamentally changed modern workplaces. Clients may keep the video off during meetings on Zoom or Google Hangouts. Even offices don’t necessarily enforce a visibility policy. When you cannot see the other person, you miss their visual cues – the expressions, the secret smiles, the smirks.
As more businesses embrace the metaverse, you have a fabulous solution to restore interest in a meeting that is not going well. Present yourself as an avatar. Your choices are abundant, like a Japanese anime character, a talking bunny, or a customized avatar that resembles your appearance.
Before you dismiss it as an outlandish idea, check the possible advantages: renewed interest, easier human interaction, and a suggestion of creativity. Gesture mapping between the real you and the avatar version has become ultra-precise, which lets you use your hands more naturally, as in face-to-face conversations.
A new Forbes feature notes that you should let the purpose and audience of the meeting guide your avatar. For instance, sales pitch meetings can benefit from an avatar with a clear voice, neat appearance, and minimal background clutter. A fox in a suit can be a fun choice for hiring interviews. As the interviewer, you will make the candidate more comfortable without revealing much about yourself.
Many companies now use avatars for their catch-ups, trying to keep things amusing. Zoom notes that its avatar feature does not employ facial recognition. So, you won’t give away any identifying information.
3. Book a Backup Meeting Pronto
This is your last resort. Nonetheless, it can be the one step that repairs a business relationship for good.
If you feel there is no scope to save the current interaction, come out and say it. Accept that something is amiss about the present situation and recommend a do-over to assess things afresh.
A backup meeting can benefit your prospective client or investor as well. Perhaps they are giving up on a glorious opportunity because of misplaced first impressions, such as the host arriving late or attending too many emergency phone calls. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the host – in this case, you – does not value their business. It was only a bad day.
Consider booking a fresh space to give your attendees a practical opportunity to reconsider. Since they have agreed to this as a favor, you must make it worth their while. For example, if you are in the historic city of Soho, you can help your clients plan a visit to the famous OK Harris Gallery—an art gallery. You can book a meeting space in Soho that provides quick access to transit and options for entertainment, shopping, and dining.
An alternate setting can boost everyone’s mood. The Farm Soho notes that invigorating meeting rooms can have a therapeutic advantage. Plus, dedicated onsite staff means you needn’t fret about malfunctioning conferencing facilities or no one being around to greet your guests.
Business is a risky affair. As an entrepreneur, executive, or independent contractor, you know the challenges of getting funding and finding meaningful partners. Moreover, running successful meetings doesn’t come naturally to all of us. Some people work better in isolation and fail to sound persuasive, even when their proposal is full of promise.
Next time you feel a business meeting going off the rails, try one of the techniques discussed above. Things might get back on track.
