While the most effective way to build strong relationships with your clients is still face-to-face, that’s not always practical. Fortunately, web video conferencing can be almost as effective. Even if your potential customer or prospect lives in the middle of the world, you still need to organize sales meetings and presentations; The impersonal nature of email will only get you so far.
There are several great, easy-to-use solutions for organizing your online meeting or webinar. Personally, I have used and participated in WebEx meetings many times and have always had a positive experience, although their costs can quickly increase as meetings get larger or more frequent. There are more affordable, equally capable and reliable web video conferencing options available for online meetings or webinars as well.
Here are my top 6 best practices for getting the most out of web video conferencing for successful sales presentations:
- The first thing to remember is to treat the web video conference meeting as if it were a “real” face-to-face meeting: dress professionally, plan your agenda carefully, don’t multitask (close your email and other applications before you start the meeting so you are not distracted).
- Choose a service provider carefully; You must ensure that you can meet your objectives for the meeting in a professional manner.
- Be considerate of participants’ time: in a web video conferencing session, they are not a captive audience and will be distracted by email and other business demands if you don’t hold their interest;
- Prepare a clear agenda, with goals and strategies to achieve them;
- Have a plan to encourage live interaction. You might have a few questions to ask your client to stimulate discussion, or include someone whose role is to ask the first questions or add comments to help the interaction unfold;
- Have a clear call to action at the end of the meeting. Too often web meetings end abruptly (after all, since you’re not face-to-face, there won’t be the usual opportunity for a little chat or discussion about next steps as the customer drives you to the door). Include time in the agenda for the summary and next steps, with clear action items for attendees.