Webcast Tips for Boosting Sales

by Hugh Vagt, Communications Specialist

Webcasts are useful in the early stages of the sales engagement process – they are designed to teach, explain, and demonstrate. In marketing-speak, they are lead generators. And although most people tout them because they’re green, cost-effective, and easy to set up, most people forget that they are also excellent for delivering marketing data.

Here are 20 tips for delivering a webcast that drives sales:

1. If you can’t buy web conferencing software, powerful free ones are available, such as dim dim and vyew.

2. Pick a strong topic to cover – your content should centre on a problem experienced by your prospect. Pain attracts attention (read the cover of your local newspaper for proof).

3. For mind-blowing presentation design tips, read Garr Reynolds’s Presentation Zen tips and blog.

4. Product demos are gold.

5. A case study format with a customer demoing a success story is even more golden.

6. A series of webcasts in case study format with customers demoing success stories is more golden still.

7. The Incentive is critical: in your invitation, make note that all attendees will be eligible for a year of free customer support, or 10% off a service, or a free piece of software, a free book, or even movie tickets.

8. If you give away free mugs and t-shirts, expect reprisals.

9. Rehearse.

10. Send out reminder emails pre-webcast, or conduct reminder calls by phone.

11. Before you introduce yourself in the webcast, tell a relevant but interesting story.

12. Don’t spend a lot of time introducing your presenters or your company. Get the main names, titles, and roles out quickly.

13. Let your personality out and refrain from using suicide-inducing clichés: “I’d like to start with some general housekeeping and ask people to please….”

14. You’ll get the best attendance on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

15. Don’t co-sponsor the webcast with another company. It will make measuring event ROI a pain, and you’ll dilute your message.

16. After your introduction, poll your audience with a question asking which business problems they struggle with most. (Use polldaddy or go2poll, they’re free, simple, and powerful.) Show the results immediately to everybody. Address the results in your presentation.

17. Plan for and give away an incentive at the end of the webcast, but only after attendees have completed a survey with qualifying questions (company size, revenue, anticipated growth, plans, feedback, etc.)

18. Simplify concepts and language, talk slowly, minimize text in slides, and use big high-resolution pictures and graphs.

19. Record your webicast and post it on your website.

20. Post-webcast, send a follow-up email with a link to the recorded version. Include contact information, a “What We Learned” summary paragraph (including survey and poll info), and information on your next webcast.

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