Do Webinars work for customer interaction? Which ones are the best? There are so many choices that it's difficult to know who to go with. I would appreciate your experiences and choices.
Comments (8)
Marty Sos
Chief Operating Officer at Stagirus, Inc.
Hi Frank,
I have used webinars very successfully. They give customers an opportunity to participate in an information/education session without feeling like they are in a sales pressure situation. I used to schedule regular "First Tuesday" sessions , where the first tuesday of every month, we would have a webinar on some topic of interest to customers. That would always generate traffic to our web site for more information or directly to sales.
I have used ReadyTalk ( http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ereadytalk%2Ecom&urlhash=mN0e&_t=tracking_disc ), it is easy to use and it works great. You can run campaigns, measure them easily, show your slides online in parallel with a conference call...and have it recorded, moderated by an operator if you choose...have a chat window for questions...and capture any kind of registration information you choose.
I am a fan of webinars.
Best of luck,
Marty
http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=6906610&authToken=q5Qo&authType=name&goback=%2Eanh_93801
Delivering Fujitsu Storage Love'
Have used WebEx mostly, expensive offering - but becoming corporate standard in most places. Most WebEx offer the same feature/functionality, regarding customer interaction, I think having a customized presentation is the most important thing based on the end-user information / problem, if you're just going through your vanilla presentation you may hit a lot of points which may not be pertinent to them and they will zone out altogether. (easier on Webex than in person where you can gauge response and easily adapt)
Amy Boyd (Conroy)
Director, Channel Partner Programs, NGT
I have found webinars to be extremely beneficial, especially in this day of reduced travel budgets. They are especially good for introductory product information, ongoing refresher training, or drill down on product details when a rapport has already been established. Fusion has a great service that is relatively inexpensive. It has the same capabilities as WebEx but without the hefty price-tag. Let me know if you want a contact at Fusion. http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efusiontel%2Ecom&urlhash=G00R&_t=tracking_disc or send me an inmail and I'll give you my contact's name and phone number. Good luck!
Darren Bibby
Program Director, Software Partnering and Alliances, IDC
In case you want to do a more formal "pre-recorded" presentation, I have been impressed with what Adobe Presenter can do. Apparently a few vendors have been using it to quickly create training and other marketing communications messages for partners. Here's a link to how Adobe explains its own partner program. http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eadobe%2Ecom%2Fpartnerportal%2Fabout_partners%2Fspp_overview%2F&urlhash=l3hy&_t=tracking_disc It's pretty slick and it seems easy. It is an add-on of sorts to PowerPoint.
In terms of webinars, I'm a big fan of the really interactive ones. Most Webex or LiveMeeting type applications allow you to run polls or quizzes during the webinar to keep people engaged. Good luck.
Alan Hill
Experienced Marketing Manager - with focus on channels and technology
Hi, I just wanted to also "chip in".
I too have used Webex as a platform for both Webinars and training of resellers throughout Europe (on IT products). I was forced to drink the house wine, since it was the software of choice for the company I was working for. But to be honest, I would use it again and will. They (webex) have been recently bought by Cisco, which give them huge credibility.
It worked really well for me on an international scale, where network band-width was an issue. Customers dialed into a phone conference for audio (you can automate this from within webex - NEVER do audio over the web!) and I found that I could not only present, but also "interact" with my audience (typical size - 30).
Hope this help? Feel free to contact me directly with any questions.
P.S. you can go get a free trial at: http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewebex%2Ecom%2Ffreetrial%2Ehtml&urlhash=GAkU&_t=tracking_disc
Good luck, AlanRob Rae
Manager of Partner Development at Level Platforms
Our organization runs a LIVE education and product demonstration seminar around Managed Services for Solution Providers twice weekly and we have received only positive feedback. We get a great turn out and rarely have any hiccups. We are running audio both over the phone or over the web (we offer the choice now but Alan offers some good advice). We have even started to run videos in the middle of it (they are a little more touchy but get the message across none the less). We keep our phone lines muted, to keep the demo on track but offer up a Q&A panel so Solution Providers can type in their questions and get answers - real time. We've been using WebEx as well and they have been solid.
I've found webinars to be a powerful tool.Terry Miller
Marketing Programs Manager at Citrix
Hi Frank: I have found webinars to be a very successful way to reach customers and partners. We mute lines during the presentation, but at the end offer 10 minutes of interactive Q&A. We then archive the webinar and publish the link for those that want to view at a later date. We use Gotomeeting and/or Gotowebinar. You can receive a free trial version at http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egotomeeting%2Ecom&urlhash=a0jh&_t=tracking_disc
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Alan Hill
Experienced Marketing Manager - with focus on channels and technology
Hi Frank,
You have many great suggestions here, given freely by industry experts. Do you care to comment? Has it been useful? What conclusion have you drawn? Please leave some feedback on this thread.
Alan
LinkedIn: ChannelWeb Network: Discussion
