Recently, I spoke with a new prospect, who decided not to participate in one of our webinars because he preferred doing business “face to face” and stated that if I wouldn’t travel to his office in Ohio, he didn’t want to continue in discussions. Understood – that is certainly his prerogative which I’m sure has served him well for many years.
It made me sit back however and consider objectively the pros and cons of online meetings. Online meetings are certainly both time and cost effective, and less intrusive but may lack traditional warm, personal contact. The challenge is to improve the ability to build a strong, personal relationship with customers through the technology.
I have been doing online webinars for almost five years and have used several tools during that time –like WebEx, Adobe and Gotomeeting and others. Regardless of the tool, what I found to be critical to a successful event is to maintain personal contact as much as possible. So here are some suggestions based on my experience.
At the start of the meeting, build a sense of community by introducing the participants to each other. Let them each say hello to each other (assuming the group is small) just as you would if you were standing before them in a conference room. This is a polite courtesy you would do if you met in person, right? If the group is too large for personal hellos, address the group as you would in a larger auditorium with a nice welcoming statement that is as personable as possible. This will help everyone feel both included and valued. Let your personality shine through before getting into your formal product information.
Use of a webcam will let people see both you and your environment and is key to improving a sense of personal relationship. Set the stage! Show yourself as you would for a visit to the client’s facility. Let them know you are a real person and are professional in your appearance. Also, displaying a background that reflects some of your own personality helps.
Follow-up each online meeting with a phone call and a personally tailored e-mail. Each should serve to highlight any questions the individual raised. Try to include something specific to their own situation. Be sure that, although they were a part of a bigger discussion, their insights are relevant and you heard them.
Keep in mind that online meetings are not a replacement for face-to-face sessions, but often costs and logistics dictate that need. And if want to hang on to the traditional practice of bringing bagels to a customer’s site for a meeting – have some delivered!
In the words of Randy Jackson on American Idol: “Just keep it real baby! “
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Dave,
Great post! I happen to agree with the notion that there is just no replacement for face-to-face meetings with business prospects. There is a dehumanizing aspect to technology which creates a degree of loss when using it to communicate, particularly when it’s communicating something that requires a degree of trust to be established.
Nonetheless, I believe that you’re absolutely right, there are things we can do when costs and logistics dictate a need to forgo the face-to-face contact. A web cam is a crucial part of building that element of trust in those situations. Having bagels delivered is also a novel idea!
Dave,
I honestly had never thought about having bagels delivered to your meeting recipients prior to the meeting. What a great idea!
In all seriousness, there is definitely something there. Maybe beyond bagels, delivering something that makes the meeting more real than virtual… like a hardcopy meeting confirmation or something like that.
Many of the small businesses that we deal with are still very rooted in their traditions so bringing it back to terra firma would make it (us) more real to them…
Even today, something as simple as an online meeting can be a mind blowing experience for some of them.
Great thoughts!
I like the hard copy meeting confirmation idea also. It is making me think about what I send my clients before our initial marketing meeting.
Dave, if you do start sending bagels, I would like to sign up for a couple webinars with you myself.