3 Ways COVID has Changed the Way We Communicate

COVID has completely changed the way we communicate going forward. It’s never going to be the same. That’s what I want to talk to you about today. Three things COVID has done to change the way we will communicate for the rest of our lives.

We are Forced to be Better LIsteners

Look, it is no secret that COVID has changed the way that we’re going to communicate for the rest of our lives going forward. In the intro this morning, I was wearing my mask, and that’s the first thing that I want to discuss. Talking to somebody about business items when they’re wearing a mask is excruciating. What it’s done is it’s forced us to become world-class listeners. We have to listen as hard as we can because of muffled voices. Diction is not there. It’s just really, really tough, and if you’re in an environment where there’s background noise, you might as well scrap it.

But here’s the other thing. I was talking to my buddy, Jason Cass, about this a couple of weeks ago. You can’t get a read on somebody when they’re wearing a mask. You don’t know if they’re happy if they’re sad. Are they smiling under there? What’s their emotional state right now? And as a salesperson, we rely so heavily on body language and facial expressions when we communicate, and when we listen, that this COVID thing has thrown everything for a loop.

We are Forced to Hit the Phones

The second thing that it’s done is it’s forced us to hit the phones. Now, I know that for most salespeople that I talk to, they hate the phones. The phones are the worst. The phones are the devil. They’re the enemy. They want nothing to do with them, but they don’t have a choice right now because you can’t just email your way into all of these accounts. You got to pick up the phones. You have to work with them. Honestly, sometimes that’s easier than having the in-person conversation with somebody wearing a mask. You can hear inflection very well over the phone, but you got to tighten up your game because everybody is hitting the phones, and everybody’s working to tighten up their game. So stay tuned, got another post coming out about that real soon.

We are Forced to Use the Internet

The third thing is we have to use the internet. We haven’t had to adapt much in my firm because we’ve been using video proposals for several years already. But when you throw in video proposals, video conferences, educational webinars, and all of the things that the internet brings to us, if you adapt to that, that is a huge advantage that you will have. And guess what? People realize that they like it, and it’s stuff that’s going to continue going forward.

So we definitely, will continue to use the internet and its power as much as we possibly can, even though we miss talking to our clients in person. If you haven’t recognized those three things, hopefully, it sheds some light on what you need to do to adapt and bring your game to the next level. And when you do, you’re going to kill it in commercial insurance.

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