In an article from the BBC in May 2021, “almost all of 50 of the UK’s biggest employers questioned by the BBC have said they do not plan to bring staff back to the office full-time.” With that being said, it seems that flexible remote working and the closure of offices are going to be a souvenir we take with us in a post-pandemic world.
But how will this impact us as Account-Based Marketeers?
Over the last year, like the rest of the world, we have had to become adaptable within lockdown life. With borders closed and restrictions in place, we haven’t been able to hold our workshops in person with our clients, both within the UK and on a global scale. The office boardrooms have now been replaced by virtual versions, on platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
Financially, this has had some benefits as the costs of travel expenses have been reduced. By holding virtual workshops, this has also allowed us to hold more people in one virtual room and in effect, enabled us to still connect with our clients, no matter where they may be based in the world.
However, like any method, it hasn’t been without its challenges.
From our perspective as marketeers and strategists, holding workshops are essential in order for us in order to gather the insights we need to build out our personalised ABM strategy. However, this can certainly be difficult when you’re in a virtual room of 20 attendees and only 2 are contributing throughout the session. Whilst in-person meetings often encourage attendees to all contribute at least once, the virtual rooms have given them the new option to hide behind a mute button.
With this challenge, it can certainly impact our strategy and messaging if we are unable to get the insight, we so desperately need to formulate our ABM plans.
However, for every obstacle we’ve been faced with, there have been solutions to overcome it.
Whilst some attendees may not be comfortable talking on screen, platforms such as SLIDO, have remedied this, by being able to produce online polls that can be integrated and filled out anonymously during live Teams sessions. Similarly, Swedish-based app Mentimeter also creates interactive presentations with quizzes and questions displayed with real-time responses and the option to share results post-workshop.
Such technological advances mean that we can still carry out our workshops as usual, without compromising the quality of our insights.
And as we now move into a post-pandemic era, our virtual sessions still continue to produce excellent discussions and help us to still deliver the high-level ABM programmes that we pride ourselves on.
How has the virtual method of conducting workshops impacted your ABM strategy and planning? How have you overcome this challenge in the last year?
Wherever you may be based in the world, we can help you deliver excellent ABM programmes (even if it is now done virtually!). Contact us today to find out how we can help you start your ABM journey.
