Today's post is from Josiane Feigon, author of the bestselling book Smart Selling on the Phone and Online, the sourcebook for inside sales. Her Cubicle Chronicles blog is voted among the top 25 sales blogs. She is founder and CEO of TeleSmart Communications, a 20-year veteran and thought leader of the industry, Josiane is recognized as one of the world's leading experts on inside sales team and manager talent, providing consulting, coaching, and training solutions for hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies. Visit Josiane's website: www.tele-smart.com to read her blog, purchase her book, and download her latest e-books and white papers.

Imagine switching on your HDTV eager to watch a show at 9. There you are, popcorn in hand, only to find a blank screen. Then a voice comes on and says they're waiting for a few more people to tune in, "please stand by." Meanwhile, they offer a static page with the name of the program and a tacky graphic. A few minutes later the voice is back saying they're going to get started, but since folks are still tuning in, they'll wait a few more minutes before diving into the actual program. More static screens pop up, this time asking you to answer a few questions using your remote control. Four questions later, it's quarter past the hour, and you're starting to wonder why you tuned in in the first place.

Does this sound familiar? If you've logged on to any webinars recently, it probably does. In fact, the scenario I described in the last paragraph, sans popcorn, was from a webinar about doing great webinars. Over the next 45 minutes, more slides trickled by; none were in any way engaging. In between slides, the screen went blank. The voice, full of false enthusiasm, chattered on about the need for great content, an engaging personality, etc. To be honest, he sounded more like one of those slick morning radio personalities--the same sing-song style--the same Red Bull-induced zeal. Fortunately, the audio dropped out twice, so that limited the exposure.

To be fair, I'd tuned into this particular webinar because I'd just done one myself and frankly, was embarrassed by the performance. Lot's of technology glitches, awkward hand-offs between speakers, horrible audio, etc. It's not like I hadn't prepared. I probably spent 5 days preparing for it. It's not like we were using some unproven technology, I don't want to name names, but it was one of the big ones. It's not like I'd never done one before, I had. And it's not like I'm an inexperienced speaker, I've done hundreds of lectures and speeches.

"The least they'll accept is the best they've ever seen," my husband used to say in speeches about the future of technology. Largely, that's been true. Once you've played World of Warcraft, you're not going back to Donkey Kong. Once you've watched HD, you're not going to settle for less. So what's with webinars?

While I've seen dozens of inspirational or motivational speeches, I can honestly say I've never attended a webinar that was anything better than ho-hum. Heck, I'd even settle for one that made me feel like it was time well spent.

I've pondered the problem some and while I've come to no real conclusions, here are my thoughts:

• In spite of the big names in the business, the technology side of webinar delivery is clumsy at best. Uploading programs is pretty simple on most platforms, but voice inputs are clunky. Even prior testing doesn't ensure the sound will be good. Some platforms don't even give you the ability to talk to co-presenters "off camera," before the program starts. If you're in the habit of tuning into a webinar early, or staying late, you've no doubt heard speakers who didn't realize or have forgotten this. Oopsie.
  
  
• With all of the unknowns, why aren't more people pre-recording webinars to get them just right, and answering questions live?
  
  
• The voice and methods you use as a speaker, doesn't work on a webinar. Pregnant pauses that create anticipation at live events, are dead air when the audience can't see you. My reaction to the "radio voice" of the speaker I mentioned earlier notwithstanding, I wonder if some radio training would help webinar speakers. After all, engaging the unseen listener is what they do--some more effectively than others.
  
  
• Those of us who are used to public speaking, find it hard to be 'on' without the enthusiasm of a crowd. It's like practicing a speech--very uncomfortable and stilted. How do you replicate the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd?
  
  
• Knowing your subject is only part of the battle. You also have to understand pacing, know how to engage, understand the technology, and if you're going to use them, know how to design interesting polls. Most importantly, you need to be able to create engaging graphics; ones that complement what you have to say without confusing or boring the audience.
  
  
• Most people, myself included, multi-task while listening to a webinar. Imagine giving a speech where the whole audience is surfing the web on their laptops or talking on their phones. I think part of the reason for this is that the webinars aren't engaging enough, but it may just be a function of a multitasking culture. Recognizing this, how do you deliver content that's easy to follow while they're doing other things?
  
  
• Part of the problem is obviously bandwidth. Once that increases, we'll no doubt see better production, but that's going to place an even greater emphasis on the artistic side of things. How will mere mortals cope?
  

Is it just me? Are there any ideas out there for how to give great webinars? Dare I ask, has anyone seen a really good one?

Photo by: Zelda Go Wild

"Why should I blog?"

"How the hell would blogging help my organization?"

"Can't I hire someone to blog for me?"

"I hardly have time for 'real' work, why would I waste my time blogging."

"Blogging is for people who sustain themselves on HoHo's and Diet Coke and live in their grandmother's basement."

These are actual quotes from people I have spoken to about blogging recently.

I've been thinking a great deal lately about blogging, and it's importance as a medium not necessarily for marketing but for delineation.  

As we progress into the deciduous and ever-evolving landscape of the social web, blogging has, in a way, been relegated to the margins of social web status.  When I was in 5th grade in our school cafeteria, there was a table towards the back, furthest from the teachers, where all the cool, rich kids would sit with their Cheetos and their slick hair and their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pez Dispensers.  At the time, I would have choked a baby bunny to sit at that table, but there were only so many seats, and I was still 20 lbs overweight and didn't know who Michael Jordan was.  Now the cool kid table is all Twitter and Brightkite and Foursquare and virtually every iPhone app...but poor blogging is like me, fat and alone with his cheese sandwich, ruing the day he left home.

Well, I am here to tell you, that blogging is still cool, dammit!  In fact, I would postulate that blogging should not supplement, but should indeed serve as the foundation, the very substratum of our communication strategy.  It's less about marketing and more about delineation.  You have something important to say and chances are even if we work in the same field, you have an uncommon perspective that is unique and possess a viewpoint that is indigenous to you alone.

If you read nothing else in this post, the takeaway is this: Blogging affords us the opportunity to define the textures of our dissimilarity.

Inspired by blogging and all it's resplendent geekness, I have posted a video for the handful of you that didn't fall asleep while reading this rant ;)

So that makes me wonder, do you blog? Why or Why Not?

If so, why do you value blogging?

On a side note, in June, my friend, Daria Steigman (who is infinitely wiser than I on this topic), wrote an article for the International Association of Business Communicators on the notion of "Blogging for Business Value".  I would definitely suggest reading her post as it has served as the inspiration for my obsession with this topic over the last few weeks.

Photo by: Kristina B

 

With workshifting on the rise how do you get in front of this "anywhere, any time consumer"? And more importantly, how do we get in front of them with a more personal and conversational media?  This is a dilemma that many companies are currently dealing with.  One short answer that has proven wildly successful for us at Citrix is that we do Webinars.

Brain Carroll, author of the B2B Lead Generation Blog, talks about putting the "human touch" back into marketing and lead generation. What tends to happen when we put all our marketing resources into online marketing is that we pay for the cheapest leads. If we only look at the quantity of leads we often forget about the human connection that creates more quality leads.

Webinars give enormous geographic reach with high touch interactions. That's what makes them unique.

When I asked the audience in a recent Webinar we did regarding SMB Marketing about how many Webinars they planned for the remainder of the year we got the following result...

How many Webinars are you planning to hold the rest of this year?

Of the 300 people who responded to this Webinar poll, the top percentage of people aren't doing any Webinars. What's more interesting though is the second highest percentage are doing is 11 or more Webinars. Nearly 1 in 5 online marketers are holding 11 or more Webinars in the remainder of 2009. MarketingProfs publishes a great annual report on B2B Marketing Trends that confirms this information by saying the 47% of B2B marketers consider Webinars in 2009 more prominent in their marketing mix than 2008.

As the economy and workforce trends make it harder to get in front of our prospects and customers in a meaningful way, more marketers are leveraging Webinars to reach those workshifters.
 
Have you had success reaching workshifters with Webinars? And if you're part of the 1 in 3 marketers who is not doing Webinars, what's holding you back?

I need a brochure website - where do I go?

Having asked a question in the Enterprise Nation forum on the best package to create a brochure website, Steven and Zoe from Cosy Cottage received a mixed response. Some suggested off the shelf packages - others warned against - and advised the business couple to turn to professional designers.  Today I wanted to look at the pros and cons as well as offers links to the packages that were suggested in the responses.  

Kick-start question

This was the question that started a chain of responses:

"We are currently setting up our home business and sourcing products to sell via a website. We will be selling home accessories, gifts and seasonal products.

We have had some quotes for websites of which are out of our price range, we want the website to act as a brochure for our products then to sell using PayPal or something similar.
Does anybody know of or has used a product we can buy to create our own website to get a professional finish.

Many Thanks,
Steven and Zoe"

In response

The responses started well. Mike from Mike's Computers was the first on hand to help and did so by suggesting that Steven and Zoe check out osCommerce.

So far, so good.

Friend of the forum, Emily Coltman was next to step in but with a warning. 'Beware of template websites' she wrote 'they have a nasty habit of looking like they came out of a box and can spoil the individuality of your business.'

Point well made.

At this point, Steven and Zoe may have started to wonder which way to turn. So let's try to offer some clarity.

Box-set versus Pro-designer

In the 20 odd responses to Steven and Zoe's original question, it was about 50/50 in terms of who suggested a package versus professional designer. The main points were:

Buying a website package means having to build the site yourself. This can take technical know-how and pressure to keep up to date with changing technologies so your site stays up to date.

Turning to a professional designer will cost you more but think about the time saved and the fact you're outsourcing what could be a key element of your business to an expert.
Package options

What also became clear is there are a number of packages on the market. If you do decide on the DIY route, here are the ones mentioned:

osCommerce - an Open Source online shop e-commerce solution that allows store owners to setup, run, and maintain online stores with minimum effort and no costs or fees.  (Recommended by Mike Sheppard)

Wordpress with an ecommerce plugin - comes complete with a tutorial on YouTube on how to set up your store in less than 5 minutes.  (Recommended by Edward Robson)



Cube Cart - e-commerce shopping cart used by >1 million store owners.  (Recommended by Sarah Barnard)

UK2.net  - uses wizards to set up your site and 'for a starter website, it's been pretty good'
(Recommended by Lol Lowe)

Shopify.com - a hosted system (you don't need your own hosting for the website although you will for email) that can link in a number of payment options (PayPal etc.) and the admin section of the site allows you to easily manage all your orders.

Trading Eye - a highly featured e-commerce package which costs in the region of £350 + VAT (a one off cost) which comes with a simple template design.

(Both recommended by Andrew Armitage) 

So, there you have it! Plenty of e-commerce packages on the market. My only question now is which one will Steve and Zoe choose? I'll ask them and cover it in a future post! :)

Photo by: Huasonic