Hi there. This is Shama Hyder, CEO of Zen Media. Since everyone’s working remote right now, let’s talk about unconventional ways to engage your team and prospects remotely.

This is a hot topic that’s been requested by many of you who’ve sent messages and said, “What did we do? Our teams are now remote. Our prospects are remote. How do we really engage with them?” So here are my top five strategies on how to engage with your teams and your prospects while everybody’s working remotely.

My number one tip is to consider bringing in an outside speaker. That’s right. So while many of you might know that I am a keynote speaker. I’ve keynoted all around the world, and of course, like most speakers, many of my keynotes for this year were postponed. But I found something really interesting. Most of these organizations said, but we’d still love to do something remotely. We really love what you talk about. We think it’ll help the team’s morale. And I think it’ll give them strategies. And I love that idea.

And I know many of my fellow speaker colleagues have done the same. Think about bringing in an outside speaker who can really help boost your team’s morale or bringing someone that might help your prospects with challenges they’re facing. So very similar to what you might do at a conference or an event where you bring in outside speakers, know that that is not off the table. And in fact, you can probably find a lot more availability in most speakers’ schedules that you wouldn’t have had before. So in this crisis, there’s definitely room for opportunity. So consider bringing in an outside speaker.

I’ve always thought it was interesting that sometimes organizations that would bring me in would say, “We love what you were talking about. This is exactly what we’ve been trying to tell the team.” And sometimes I would stop and say, “Well that’s great. We’re on the same page.” And they said yes. And it makes a huge difference when someone on the outside says the same thing. So my number one strategy is consider bringing in an outside expert and speaker to keep your teams engaged, keeping your prospects engaged and giving them value. I think this is absolutely a phenomenal strategy. So think about a subject or topic that would make sense for your remote team and that would make sense for your prospects. So definitely something to look into. You could do this through a webcast, you could do this through a webinar. There’s so many ways to bring in outside expertise to keep your team excited and engaged because when you’re working remotely, that is an absolute crucial part of the overall strategy.

Second, snail mail. Yes, Amazon is dealing with some serious delays right now. Lots of stuff is backed up for month or two, but our mail service is still going strong. So don’t underestimate the power of a care package. Your favorite books, some vitamin C packets, a handwritten note can make a big difference. I’ve gotten people sending me hand sanitizer and sometimes finally toilet paper. I think it makes a difference when you just show someone that you care. And so while I’ve always been a fan of direct mail along with digital… you’ll never hear me say that I think traditional is a terrible idea. This is definitely a great opportunity for you, as my second strategy, to think about what can you put together for your prospects, for your team, that you can send out that is a physical reminder that you care, that you were there.

This is my second tip on how to keep your team and your prospects engaged, because let’s face it, we’re all dealing with a very different paradigm, even for those of us who work from home. Zen Media has been remote for 11 years, and it’s still different, I think, when the entire world is going remote. So definitely think about snail mail as a solid strategy, and don’t underestimate again the power of a care package, the power of even something small that says, “I was thinking of you, especially in these times.” One of our clients, for example, how to show canceled and they were going to do a golf set at their booth. And so instead, we grab mini golf sets that people could play at their desk and we shipped those. So that’s a great opportunity.

The third strategy I have for you is play the long game here, folks. Let’s create content. It’s the videos you’ve been putting off. It’s the blog post, you know you needed to update. It’s the newsletter you keep talking about that you never get around to. This is really a good time to evaluate your brand assets, to get all these things in line because eventually things will go back to normal. It might be a new normal, but you definitely want to be prepared at that time, and having your assets all lined up, making sure that you’re doing the things that you haven’t done, that you wanted to do, but they’ve just been sort of pushed aside. This is that time to play that long game, to create that content, to build goodwill, to build massive visibility in front of your audience and absolutely think about the moment that you have right now and how you can use that moment to drive momentum, because that’s really a lot of what we’ve been about.

And so when we’re working with clients, we’re definitely looking at what’s the moment here within the industry? How can we leverage that? So think about podcasts, infographics, Alexa briefings. Play the long game right now. I am begging you.

The fourth strategy is set up a hotline.Think about setting up a hotline for your employees or for your prospects that is just there, that helps them with anything they may need. So for example, let’s say you’re in the restaurant industry and you’re selling software. Well, they might not be buying the software right now, but if you set up a hotline, for example, that can help your industry with almost anything they may need. Maybe they just need to vent. Maybe they need to hear someone who understands what they’re going through. Maybe they have a problem they’re trying to solve and you can connect them with the right people.

So think about setting up sort of a crisis hotline in some ways, but really something for your industry. Like I said, you could do this with your internal team. You could combine this with the first strategy of bringing in an outside expert and doing office hours with them. Giving your prospects, your team a chance to connect one-on-one and have some of their favorite authors, speakers and have some Q and A. So these are just some ways in which you can keep folks absolutely engaged during remote times that are slightly unconventional, but I promise will pay off.

So my last strategy, speaking of unconventional, is create a Spotify playlist. If you’ve never done this before, they’re frankly very easy to set up. And you can create a creative Spotify playlist for your own industry. Something fun, something that really speaks to your people. Maybe it’s an inside joke, maybe it’s something that only folks in your industry would understand. Absolutely. And maybe it consists of podcasts and music and whatever. But think about a playlist that you can curate, because right now it’s very much about creating and curating. And that’s how you’re going to drive momentum, not just right now, but long-term.

Now I want to give you a bonus tip of what absolutely not to do as you are trying to engage with your team and your prospects. This is not the time to push too hard. This is true for media. This is true for your vendors. This is true for your prospects, your team. Everyone could use a little more gentleness right about now. So don’t push too hard for that sale and end up maybe burning a bridge, that if you just acted right, could really lead to long-term profits long-term gain. So guys, play the long-term game here.

And so hopefully these strategies were helpful to you for engaging with your team and your prospects. If you have questions, shoot them my way. I’m doing my best to help as many of you as possible. I really appreciate you watching. Leave a comment. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. I’m here for you. Our team is here for you. If we can be of help, reach out.