Web conferencing is a great way for small businesses to expand their reach and cut down their costs. The cost of web conferencing software and web conferencing services has come down considerably making it very affordable for small businesses to take advantage of its use.
There are several web conferencing companies out there who offer a different set of features, benefits and price points. Look at what you need and how web conferencing fits into your marketing and business growth strategy before you decide upon a service to use. Read on for tips on how small businesses can use web conferencing and webinars.
1. First contact
Rather than thinking of web conferencing as a means to eliminate all travel permanently-which may not be an option for a small business that relies on its ability to make and maintain relationships-use it to eliminate needless trips.
How many times have you turned everything on its head and shelled out hundreds to fly across two times zones to conduct a sales trip, only to have people cancel at the last minute? How many times has an initial meeting been a complete waste of time because the person sent to meet with you has no authority to make purchasing decisions? Unfortunately, this happens a lot when you’re meeting with new customers. But everyone needs to pursue new customers because that is how we grow our business.
However, if you use web conferencing to vet new clients, you can save those useless flights out of state. You can get a read on a potential client’s seriousness and commitment to actually doing business prior to stepping on an aircraft, before you ever lay out money for a ticket.
That is time and money saved. In fact, other small businesses just like you are cutting their travel costs while growing their new business.
2. Slash meeting costs
Gathering everyone in the same place to brainstorm is the old way of doing business. But that is not the most cost-effective way to do business in today’s market.
You can get all your employees together online and work through a problem without having to shell out to have them travel to your office. If you have salesmen spread out in a variety of territories, you want to minimize the amount of time you pull them off territory to be in a meeting. Web conferencing helps you accomplish that.
You can all view the same document. Anyone in the meeting can have the floor and show their desktop or a document on their computer. Everyone can see and hear the same thing-just as though you were in the same room.
3. Cut training expenses
Training is an important part of running your business. After all, you need to keep everyone abreast of any changes or new protocols and knowledge. How do you do that without incurring massive travel andvaccommodation expenses? With web conferencing, of course! Another benefit for training is that it limits the time your sales force is off their territory. That helps increase revenue and limit lost profits.
Article Source: http://www.teleseminarlive.com/teleseminararticles/2011/11/30/3-web-conferencing-tips-for-small-businesses/