My last article explored how “Bad Relationships Can Damage Your Health”. I made the point that we need to be selective about the relationships that we nurture because, based on research, there is a real limit to the number of meaningful relationships we are able to sustain. We need to ask ourselves which of our relationships do we really value, love and need, and then ensure we are nurturing those relationships. But how do we do that in this virtual business world?

Many people I have spoken to recently have been experiencing the same issue. How do we build virtual business relationships? It seems we can nurture and elevate existing relationships in a virtual environment but making and creating new relationships is much harder, and we seem to be struggling to make them effective. So, what’s missing between the physical and virtual encounters?

Is it because we are missing 3 of the 5 senses in a virtual environment? We still have eye contact (sight) and sound (audio) but we cannot mutually share smell, taste, and touch when we were able to engage in lunches, dinners, happy hours, conferences, sporting events, and site visits. So is that the difference? Very likely. Those additional three senses seem to bring us closer together when used with the other 2. They come alive when we can be together in a social setting. So if we don’t have these, and are still restricted to a virtual environment for building relationships what can we do?

Building virtual relationships really is not a lot different than building them in a physical environment. But, here are 5 things we often forget that will help us build better virtual relationships.

1. Do Research

Make sure we know about the other person. Go to LinkedIn and Google and find out about the other person(s). Demonstrate knowledge and interest in their story.

2. Be Curious

Be genuinely curious. Ask questions of interest and above all then really listen to the answers and then ask follow-up questions.

3. Listen

Stop worrying about how you look and/or your virtual background. Switch the view to “Speaker” vs ”Gallery” so that you are forced to focus on the other person(s).

4. Be Genuine

Sometimes we hide behind technology. Be yourself, smile, make jokes (if that’s something you naturally do), and show emotion.

5. Ask How You Can Help

What does the other person need help with? We all need some kind of business help, so is it, connections? resources? advice?

To quote an overused saying, “This is not rocket science”. In a virtual environment, we just need to pay attention to things that perhaps we did not before. It’s an opportunity, not a barrier, to building better relationships.

 

Photo from https://unsplash.com/@linkedinsalesnavigator