The business world may have changed over time in some regard, but some things continue to remain true and constant over time. For one thing, you have to have a solid product or service. You also need to be dependable. More than anything, people want to see your face and know that they can trust you. As long as you can accomplish these things, then you should have a solid operation. The key, however, is to know how you can be there when your customers need it most, while operating in a world where everyone wants everything instantaneously.
Instant Availability
According to Inc., one of the biggest keys to retaining customers is being responsive. It’s that simple. Obviously, you need to be able to actually follow up with what you said you would do in the first place, and that means having a solid product or service to go with your general operation. However, problems do arise. Questions do as well. The quickest way to make your customers and clients upset is by being unresponsive.
With video conferencing capabilities, however, you have the ability to not only respond quickly, but you can also be available at any time. Using video conferencing means that the moment someone needs you, it is as if they could teleport right into your office. You not only get to hear them and see them face-to-face, but they can also get a more personal type of communication from you. Plus, because the technology for most video conference software is available on multiple types of devices, it means you can have the same response time, whether you are sitting in front of your desk or are using a mobile device while you are on the go. The contact is there, but you the pressure doesn’t weigh on you as much to get back to your office ASAP.
Have Human Emotion and Interaction
Even if you try to communicate with others frequently, you may still be missing out on the whole point of face-to-face contact. Just because you are able to send off a lot of emails, or you are always able to pick up your phone, doesn’t mean that general messages or voice recordings can replace an actual live conversation. That’s exactly why so many business owners are finding the best replacement for sit-down meetings and face-to-face conferences, which are online methods of communication, such as open source video conferencing by Blue Jeans.
When you are able to see the emotion on the face of the person in front of you, does it really matter if they are on the other side of the globe? The point of any meeting is to transfer and convey information. While you might lose out on facial expressions and nonverbal cues with audio calls or emails, you can get every detail you need with a video conference call, as you would if you were sitting right in front of the person in real life.
Share and Show Data and Screens
While you only have your voice to transfer information on a phone call, and even less when it is just an email comprised of text, the ability to transfer real information and present actual data along with the tone of your voice and facial expressions means you can get an experience that is as good as the real thing. The key to any meeting is conveying information. What other information are you missing out on when it comes to video conferencing?
Multiple Parties Included
Another big thing that used to differentiate actual meetings from phone conferences was that with too many people, it could be hard to keep track of everyone. You couldn’t hear more than one person at a time speaking, so you never had the opportunity to pitch in your own thoughts across different functions, and spaces. Even with the information by Eremedia that discusses how many people should attend a meeting, you could still have more than a dozen people to talk to, depending on the scenario at hand. However, it doesn’t mean they can all be heard at the same time if you were to do a teleconference.
That’s exactly why the benefits of having a visual conference opportunity can help your company work better and smarter. Instead of trying to shout over everyone and possibly never being heard, by having a visual space, you can essentially get everyone in the same place at the same time. Besides the fact that it could be hard enough to get different stakeholders all in the same physical location at once, if everyone can see everyone (facial expressions and all), having multiple parties truly makes a difference in the result of the discussion.
At the end of the day, you need to make the organizational decisions that will propel your company forward. Look to the benefits that video conferencing provides now and see if it makes sense to go where the big companies are all heading.
