Written by Thomas SpanjersSales Manager

Breda, 18 May 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on both the real world and the world of business. In 2021, an unprecedented number of emerging trends found their way to sales: the rise of AI, an increase in the impact of video, the automation of various sales processes and more.

Despite all these developments, humans remain hardwired to connect with others. Many organisations fail to appreciate the importance of personal communication because it is difficult to measure, yet its importance to shaping the corporate culture, team engagement and sales results should not be underestimated.

If you want to build relationships and close deals, it is essential to understand what drives the other person. We have to remember that face-to-face sales are often the first time that our end users are introduced to our brand; PlateButler, products and services.

Our products are high-tech in nature in terms of both software and hardware and it is best to show and demonstrate them to end users, so they can fully grasp the benefits of these technologies.

Personal contact is therefore as important as ever for us at Lab Services.

Faced with fewer opportunities for face-to-face and personal interactions, we have developed new techniques and strategies to boost our credibility and inspire trust in a virtual environment. With the help of empathic custom messages sent to end users, we remain an engaged partner and understand their needs. Where we used to rely on lengthy meetings, we now schedule a large number of brief check-ins to keep the end user and Lab Services apprised of each other's recent developments.

By critically selecting the contact moments where a face-to-face meeting offers real added value, these moments have become even more valuable. These are often the moments at which our clients and we find common ground, shared values and a shared vision of a higher goal, which allows us to develop concrete relationships.

Lab Services is in a constant state of growth and development. COVID-19 has had a clear impact on our methods. It has expanded our opportunities to interact with our end users through the implementation of virtual means and further increased the value of personal interaction. This has been a difficult time for us all, which has resulted in myriad improvements and a greater appreciation of the importance of personal contact!