6 Best Practices for Hosting an Effective Online Sales Meeting Using Web Video Conferencing

Although the most effective customer meetings are still face-to-face, web video conferencing can be almost as effective and sometimes more practical. Even if your customer or prospective lead lives half way around the world, it is still necessary to host sales meetings and presentations - the impersonal nature of email will only get you so far.

A number of excellent, easy-to-use solutions exist to host your online meeting or webinar. Personally, I've used and participated in WebEx meetings many times and always had a positive experience, although their costs can add up quickly as meetings get larger or more frequent. There are more affordable and just as capable and reliable web conferencing choices out there also. For example, iLinc (www.iLinc.com

) offers a strong product for hosting online meetings or webinars which has received some excellent reviews and the customer feedback I've seen has been very good. iLinc provides Web and audio conferencing solutions that are secure, reliable, and incredibly easy to use - Get Your Free Demo Today!

Another affordable option for both online audio and web conferencing is Unlimited Conferencing: High quality conference calls for only 6.5¢ per minute.

Here are my 6 Top Best Practices for getting the most out of web video conferencing for sales presentations:

Treat the online meeting as you would a "real" face-to-face meeting: dress professionally, plan the agenda carefully, do not multitask (close your email and other applications before the meeting starts so you have no distractions).
Choose a service provider carefully: you need to be sure they can meet your goals 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 get distracted by email and other business demands if you don't maintain their interest;
Put together a crisp agenda, with meeting goals and strategies to achieve them;
Have a plan to encourage live interaction: You could have some questions to ask of your customer to spur discussion, or include someone who's role it is to ask the first questions or add comments to get interaction going;
End with a clear call-to-action: I've attended too many web meetings that are ended abruptly without clear next steps (after all, since you are not face-to-face, there will not be the usual opportunity for small talk or next steps discussion as the customer is ushering you to the door). Include time in the agenda for wrap up and next steps, with clear action items for the attendees.