Video Conference can expand your geographic market and increase sales efficiency
May 6, 2010 5 Comments
It is no secret that video conference can expand your market to new location and increase sales efficiency. But you may not know how cost effective and user friendly it has become in the last few years. Skype is free to use; Microsoft offers Live Meeting would cost you US$4.50 per month and even GoToMeeting and Cisco WebEx are a little bit more expensive, it is still only US$49 per month. And your attendee does not need to pay anything!
It is simple to use. All you have to do is to install a very small piece of software and available broadband internet connection; you don’t need an IT consultant to operate it. Your services provider provides a secure, reliable, enterprise grade infrastructure and you can deliver a presentation, kick off a project, brainstorm ideas, edit file, collaborate on whiteboards and negotiate deals at a fraction of the cost and without the hassle of travel.
You can use video conference to deliver online meetings, events and training. Video conference does not just include video and audio; you can add other rich media such as PowerPoint presentation, Word / PDF document, electronic whiteboard, and even online application demonstration plus more. Video conference is suitable from one-to-on collaborate meetings to large training events.
You can integrate video conference with onsite workshop; e.g. you can deliver a workshop at the headquarter of your client office and at the same time, staffs from branch offices all over the world can attend the same workshop through video conference. You can also record the workshop, so that whoever misses it can watch the workshop from the internet or download it to their iPod later on. You can save your travel time and your clients’ training budget at the same time.
During the video conference, you can use interactive whiteboard and other annotation tools to improve online collaboration and deliver more informative and dynamic presentations.
You can also engage your audience with question / survey or even deliver handouts during the meeting. You can trial the services and choose the one that is most suitable for your business. Video conference is a very cost effective and user friendly tool that can help you to develop new market and increase sales efficiency. Try it today and you would love it!
Andrew Chan is the owner and founder of ALG Inc.
About Andrew Chan
Go Beyond Excel 
SAN FRANCISCO — Internet calling service Skype plans a public “beta” test of a group video chat function that lets up to five people participate in a video call simultaneously.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gO4iqKI11feBS4zB3oGRFbquLmOAD9FGMS4G0
Hi Andrew,
Interesting comments, many organizations have been using video conferencing for some time. The IBMs, Microsofts of the world are utilizing this at meetings regularly. Depending on the market that is being targeted, video conferencing can be used to facilitate communicating the message to large numbers of employees or clients.
I am new to Toastmaster but I really hope that Toastmaster can grow with technologies and very soon we would have training / workshop on how to use this new platform. There would be challenges but challenges and opportunities always come together.
I have been told that there is a way to show PowerPoint presentations using Skype. I don’t knowhow to do it but wouldbe interested in learning how ot.
You can share your screen with your customer / prospect with Skype. So you are allowed to show your PowerPoint presentation, your insurance contract, and even software that evaluate your prospects’ financial needs and policy illustration. All you have to do is to follow the steps from Skype:
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/features/allfeatures/screensharing/
Good Luck! And please come back to share with us your experience.