Three of The Top Considerations for Sales

Although this blog is primarily concerned with web conferencing, I wanted to take a step back and talk a little about sales. Web conferencing can be a versatile business resource, but naturally, I think web conferencing can have a direct impact on sales.

I’m constantly reading up on how I can improve my own sales, and I stumbled across this great snippet in the LA Times by Karen Klein late last year:

Track sales performance. See where your sales leads originate and which ones are most effective. You can’t identify what’s working if you’re not monitoring it closely.

“Identify the real drivers of your business, and stop throwing away money on what’s not working,” said Jeff Solomon of Leads360, a Los Angeles software firm. “Chances are, one or two sources generate the bulk of your revenue.”

Instruct your sales staff to respond to inquiries within five minutes, send follow-up e-mail and stay in touch with potential customers.

Sales origination, sales performance and sales inquiries are three big considerations that too many people forget about. Many often find themselves in the grind, and never take a moment to step back.

As simple as Karen’s suggestions may have been, I’m confident they can have a profound difference on my performance if I stay conscious of their impact.

How To Get a Webinar Started Off Right!

It's crucial to have your audience engaged from the beginning of a presentation. If you lose them off the bat, you'll have a tough time getting them back on track.

Too often people "tune out" before they really tune in. As Patricia Fripp outlined, pique their interest from the get-go:

Use looping slides. Once your audience tunes in, how do you make sure they are entertained and feel involved even before the talk starts? The best way is with a series of looping slides.
Using looping slides is a great way to convey important information and keep attendees entertained while they're waiting for your presentation to begin.
These slides should communicate:

• when the session will begin
• the conference dial-in number
• your photo, name, and title
• what the audience is going to learn
• what to do in case of problems.

You might also have quotes about the content they will be learning.

Not to say surprises are a bad thing, but I particularly like providing an overview for what the audience can expect. What other things do you like to convey as the crowd is gathering for the presentation?

What Are Some of the Businesses Benefits of A Web Conferencing Solution?

Business communication was forever changed for the better when web conferencing hit the market. For conveniency and efficiency's sake, business professionals have become much more productive over the last decade especially.


As aptly outlined on WebinarFAQ, here are seven major benefits to incorporating web conferencing into your day-to-day operations:

• check in with business partners and remote employees
• conduct focus group research
• discuss business issues with clients and customers
• have face-to-face training seminars and sessions
• hold media briefings
• hold regular staff meetings
• launch new products

It's no surprise that bottom lines can be impacted positively. What used to take months to get deals done can now be done in one "face-to-face" interaction. As the article went on to say, "The only way that video conferencing can be limited is by your own imagination." Always dream big in everything you do -- you never know what you can accomplish.

What Does The Web Conferencing Spectrum Presently Look Like?

Identifying the best and most affordable web conferencing tool for your business can be an undertaking. Yet, I want this blog to become one of the resources you can depend on for helping you make the best decision in a timely manner so you can get back to the real work!
The market leaders, WebEx and GoToMeeting, have a lot of great features, but they primarily cater their businesses towards the Fortune 500 crowd. Although many may not know, the space is pretty crowded beyond those two and each smaller web conferencing solutions brings different pros and cons to the table.
I wanted to list out a bunch of the different options so you could easily find others to explore for yourself: Adobe Connect, Netviewer Meet, FUZE Meeting, WebConCentral, Yugma, GoPresent, Infinite Conferencing, Intercall, MS Office Live Meeting ... the list goes on, but hopefully that is plenty to get you started.
In the coming weeks, I'll break down my rationale for the existing rankings atop this blog by category. Thanks for reading thus far!

Screen Sharing: Why It Can Be So Important For Sales

It was not too long ago when business meeting required cross-country trips to make the sale face-to-face. These days, there's enough web conferencing options that would make any business professional from the 1960's drool.
Screen sharing is just one of the many new features that can make your life so much easier. Whether you're trying to make your way through a powerpoint presentation or looking to analyze a video, you never should have to worry about the other end looking at a different screen ever again.
Gabriela Warren outlined some of the most important considerations for a screen sharing session:

• Know your net meeting tool - This is especially true for those who are new to web conferencing. Know how screen sharing works with the tool you have chosen, and be well aware of what portions of your screen will be visible to meeting attendees.Webex for example, will not show private chat messages between the meeting host and a participant, but other tools do expose the entire screen. This means that if you start a private chat with a meeting participant, for example, everyone in the meeting will be able to see the conversation, which could potentially expose confidential or even embarrassing information.

• Close all non-relevant programs before the meeting - Instant messaging tools, e-mail programs and any other software that will not be needed during the meeting should be closed. You never know when a new e-mail or instant message could come in and disrupt the meeting. Also think that incoming communication could have confidential information that should not be exposed to all the web meeting participants. Remember to close any web browser tabs that are not relevant to the meeting - you probably don’t want your colleagues or clients knowing that you access gossip websites on your lunch break, for example.

• Ensure all presenters are ready to share their screens - If you are starting the Internet meeting for someone else, or if your web conference has multiple presenters, it is a good idea to inform them privately that you will be sharing their screen before you do so. This way, you do not start sharing their screens (and potential confidential information) suddenly and without them realizing it. It is also good to practise screen sharing with all presenters prior to the meeting, so that the transition from one screen to the next goes quickly and smoothly.

Other important considerations include testing your presentation beforehand and keeping your screen appropriate at all times. By being mindful of these suggestions, you'll be able to maximize your efficiency and save all kinds of time and money relative to the old days.

Top 10 Most Important Features in a Web Conferencing Solution -- What's #1?

Shawn Shadfar at omNovia did an excellent job describing the Top 10 Features You Need in a Web Conferencing System. In his post, he outlined the following considerations:

1. Reliability
2. No Software Installs
3. Versatile Desktop Sharing
4. Integrated Voice
5. Ease of Customization
6. Full Recording
7. Flexible Recording
8. Powerful Slide Show
9. Configurable Chat
10. Controllable Document Sharing

While each is worthwhile for different purposes, he did a great job summarizing why reliability is probably the most important concern of all:

If the key word in real-estate is Location, Reliability applies to web conferencing. No matter how good the features, the up-time of the system and its ability to automatically correct problems will determine your success during your webinars. The majority of web conferencing platforms (especially some of the recently developed low-cost systems) provide a “good-enough” platform that works 97% of the time. But web conferencing when used for business critical applications is similar to electricity. It is “not good enough” to have 3% of the time technical problems. It has to work all the time. Many systems allocate 1 server to 10,000+ users to reduce their costs. Reliable systems cost a little more but provide servers with less users, high availability and more importantly the ability to instantly and seamlessly switch to another server or servers in case of technical trouble.

Especially if you're in sales, that 3% can be extremely costly. Make sure that you consider the most important characteristics when you're making your web conferencing software selection.