In my world things change fast; there is always some new information that comes along that I need to be able to share with my staff quickly - to get them up to speed so that they can, in turn, serve our clients. Because we deal in computer software it’s not enough to email someone information and let them fly with it. Instead, disseminating information in our company requires a certain amount of instruction. Complicating matters even further is the fact that we have offices all over the country; so communication does become something of a challenge when we need to move quickly and deliver information fast and accurately.

Helping us on this front has been our continued use of webinars. Through this online web conferencing platform we can accomplish a number of tasks most efficiently including:

Speaking to a multitude of people at once. With offices all over the country we need to be able to dial in our staff members simultaneously and webinars allow us to do that.

Save time. Obviously having to do separate conferences with each office would slow down our process considerably. A webinar allows us to do it all at once. We schedule dates and times which everyone is expected to attend and that way the process flows smoothly and is most effective.

Maintains consistency. Webinars give us the ability to maintain our consistency in our message. By delivering our information all at once - at one time - we can ensure that everyone is getting the same information delivered the correct way. We know that we are all on the same page.

Supports productivity. Most importantly delivering this information allows us to best serve our customers and clearly it’s in our best interest to make sure that every member of our staff has the proper tools that they need to get the job done right.

Popularity: 13% [?]

As someone who has been in sales for twenty years I have seen a lot of things change - especially with the growth of the Internet. What used to be contact made only through the telephone has, over the years, opened up to different methods of communication. We are just as likely to email new business prospects as we are to make a phone call and this has actually helped us to make our case and to present our products and services in a unique and creative way. What we have also discovered is the fact that many prospective clients respond in a more positive manner to email. They don’t feel as if they are being backed into a corner and email gives them the opportunity to read and consider the information. It also gives us the ability to familiarize them with our company before making our introduction on phone. It warms people up to us which can be much more effective than a cold call.

Further to this point, webinars have become a great way to introduce prospective clients to our products and services without putting undo pressure on them. The way in which we have worked webinars is by:

Scheduling several weekly webinar dates and times. We assign people to each webinar time who have a clear understanding of the topic at hand and an interesting way to deliver the information.

Identifying prospective clients that we have made previous contact with that we would like to invite to the webinars.

Sending invitations to those who we wish to include in our webinars.

Webinars have been enormously effective in getting the attention of prospective clients and giving them insight into what we have to offer them without pressuring them with a hard sale. We have found, as a result, that we get a very high return on our webinar conversions. Those who join us in our webinars often want to find out more and we have found many new clients this way.

Popularity: 13% [?]

In the last post we talked about the ever-expanding business community and how that community has grown to include virtual workers who maintain their offices at home. This is becoming more the norm each and every year as businesses look for ways to reduce their overhead and still respond to their clients effectively - clients who may be around the country or around the world. Web conferencing is one of the state-of -the-art technologies that utilize the Internet to give users the ability to navigate the changing business environment. Web conferencing gives people the ability to meet online from a multitude of locations - to interact and to access and discuss documents.

There are a variety of benefits that are offered through web conferencing. As we already discussed some of those benefits include the ability for attendees to put a face to their name. The Internet is a wonderful tool but it can also strip personal attention from an experience. Web conferencing allows people to meet as they would traditionally without having to be in the same physical location. Additionally, web conferencing allows at-home workers to be involved in day to day business dealings and gives companies the opportunity to service their client fast and effectively.

Some additional benefits that web conferencing offers for home offices includes:

The ability to manage projects day to day. Ongoing projects are clearly a part of business and they need to be managed appropriately. Web conferencing gives businesses the tools to manage projects effectively and professionally.

The opportunity to offer visual appeal. The great part about web conferencing is that it offers the tools of the Internet. Any meeting can be complemented with visual documents that can be seen by all attendees.

Responsiveness. Those who are working from their home offices are not physically connected to the businesses for which they work. Web conferencing gives them the ability to reach out to their co-workers and to company management so that they can stay in the loop and get the answers they need.

Popularity: 11% [?]

The current business climate is one that supports versatility. We are operating in a global marketplace where business professionals are not necessarily working in a traditional office environment during traditional business hours. With differing time zones a part of the mix and many companies employing staff who work from their home offices, it is important to have the appropriate mode of communication for all parties involved. Web conferencing is not just a part of the modern technology available to us today but it’s an important way for making the virtual work environment successful. Web conferencing brings multiple parties together online - creating a virtual meeting space where attendees can meet even if they are across the country - or across the world - from each other. Over the Internet, web conferencing attendees have the ability to interact with each other in the next best way to a traditional meeting. Attendees can talk to each other, hear each other, share information, and access and discuss documents. Web conferencing has opened a new door for virtual workers who want to communicate in the most effective manner possible.

Web conferencing offers these benefits to home office workers:

The ability to put a face to a name. Phone conferencing and email have its place but when important business is on the line it’s often important to have a personal touch. Web conferencing gives everyone the floor to interact personally with each other just as they would in a traditional meeting.

The opportunity to bridge distance. Those working from a home office have the advantage of no commute and the convenience of working flexibility but it’s also easy to feel cut off from day to day business. Web conferencing allows for workers to get involved from their location - no matter where that is.

The ability to work quickly and effectively. We all need to be able to respond to our clients most effectively and as quickly as possible. Web conferencing can make that happen.

More in the next post…

Popularity: 13% [?]

In our line of work the relationship between client and vendor is paramount to success. We don’t just provide a service, we work with our clients hand in hand, as partners to complete very specific projects that have a clearly defined beginning and a clearly defined end. We need to work within the parameters of this arrangement in the most effective way possible, following a carefully created strategy. So it stands to reason that we need to have a good relationship with our clients; and more specifically than that we need to have a communicative relationship with our clients. Those clients that are in the same city as we are have proximity on their side and they will likely see members of our team on a weekly, if not a daily basis. Those clients that are in other states or countries have the power of web conferencing on their side.

Web conferencing is something that we have long used in our industry to help us stay on top of all the components of a project at hand. It’s perfect for being able to meet with clients without having to actually meet with them physically. It’s the perfect complement to our business and the next best thing to our weekly meetings that we have with our local clients. Through web conferencing we can have a back and forth conversation with attendees, share information, ask questions, and, most importantly, access and share the documents that we have to go over to keep the project on track.

In our business, web conferencing has opened many doors for us; we are able to meet just as comfortably with our out of town clients as we are our local clients - giving us the ability to remain effective across the board and confident in leading the projects at hand.

Popularity: 13% [?]