WEBX article on CNET:
Trim Your Sales Travel With Online Conferencing
By Greg Holden
(7/31/00)
Forget planes, trains, and automobiles. With Web-based conferencing services, businesses can now conduct real-time meetings--conferences via audio or video, whiteboarding (collaborative drawings or diagrams), or software demonstrations--using only a Web browser. In fact, if you teach your support staff to use Web conferencing, your business can even give tech help online, reducing phone bills and the number of disgruntled customers.
Trims the Travel
CMstat Corporation, a San Diego configuration management company with 20 employees, is a perfect example. CMstat provides software to businesses around the world, and its clients rely on demos to decide whether to buy CMstat's goods. In the past, CMstat sent a team of employees to each prospective customer one or more times. "We were making approximately eight trips per month for a total of $12,000," says Mike Gearhart, marketing manager for CMstat. "Our dilemma was to increase sales, yet keep expenses low. In addition, we wanted to shorten the sales cycle, which can be 6 to 12 months between demos." Then the company discovered WebEx.
Enter WebEx
Right off the bat, WebEx, one of the best-known Web-based conferencing services, charged CMstat a hefty $2,500 setup fee and $900 per month to provide online demo services. (In contrast, demo software such as Symantec's pcAnywhere costs substantially less: only $192). But according to Gearhart, the Web-based solution ended up saving money in the long run.
"pcAnywhere is a good tool, but not every prospect or client of ours has it or knows how to use it," says Gearhart. In contrast, WebEx requires only Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer (versions 4.0 or later), a 56-kbps or better Internet connection, and a small application from the WebEx site that participants must download. Once WebEx automatically installs this plug-in, all participants can view demo software and even click icons to add data to the app's forms. (WebEx also lets customers run Java applet demos, but only the host can use the program being shown.)
Now, CMstat conducts twice as many demos with the same size staff and gives about half of its demos online. Although the company performs the other half in person, these require travel for only one employee; technicians run demos from their home or office via WebEx. Ta-da! CMstat cut its sales cycle almost in half, from a year to about six months.
Added Bonus: Tech Support
CMstat also uses WebEx for tech support, essential in helping the company compete with bigger players. Now its technicians solve problems online from the office simply by watching customers go through the procedures in question. All told, CMstat estimates that it saves $26,000 per month in total sales travel and tech support costs.
Shop Around First
But WebEx isn't the only Web host that provides online conferencing, and it might not even be the best choice for your business's needs. PlaceWare and envoyglobal.com also rent online meeting places. To try whiteboarding and shared applications without signing a conferencing service contract, try PlaceWare's free online meeting service, My.PlaceWare, which hosts interactive Web meetings and presentations from your desktop computer with up to four remote participants.
Do Your Homework
No matter which service you choose, comparison shop first. And while you're researching the costs and potential pitfalls of conducting demos online, consider the following:
Security. Some Web-based conferencing services charge for protecting sessions with a username and password or through encryption. Always ask ahead of time if the service charges for this.
Connection speed. The faster your connection, the better your online meetings will look.
Java. Some of your clients' browsers may not support Java applet processing. If so, look for a provider that has a non-Java option.
Flexibility. Find out if your service lets all participants interact with the software during a demo; some allow only one "driver."
Audio. Make sure your service offers a conference call center that makes it easy to join discussions.
As Mike Gearhart urges, "Time is of the essence, and often, whoever gets there first succeeds. Do whatever you can to work faster, better, more effectively, or less expensively, including Web-based conferencing."
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