How Web Conferences Can Help in a Recession

Author: Christopher Blanchet

Last Thursday (October 16) The Big Idea, a business show on CNBC, had Jim Cramer as their guest. While Cramer is an investment personality who provides great advice to average, blue-collar investors, he also knows a great deal about business and the economy. His view is that this upcoming recession will last long and cut very deep. A couple of independent business owners called in and without getting into the grimy details, Mr. Cramer\'s message was quite clear: Keep the American Dream alive any way you can. Quote Stork Solutions agrees with Mr. Cramer\'s position and offers solutions (products and tutorials) on how you can do exactly that.

For some folks including one caller in particular who expected to see just 20% of his forecasted sales this year (a sad reality that essentially wiped out decades of hard work), this fight has meant cutting into the payroll and laying of a large percentage of employees. Of course, reducing expenses is an important component to any business plan and at times like this, Reduce has heightened importance especially with respect to a venture\'s long-term survival.

However, Reducing expenses alone will not keep your business alive. Your business like any other needs one important component at the end of a recession: customers. So how do you pursue business development objectives and reach a wide range of prospects and existing clients when the economy encourages deep reductions?

Through a web conference of course. A lot of small businesses and entrepreneurs might have previously hosted seminars for new and existing customers and may still be putting on such events. These might have taken the shape of an open house, an information night, or other group meeting at some central location (hotel ballrooms are common for larger events).

Web conferences provide great cost savings compared to the traditional seminar. With the right service, you can eliminate the expenses associated with a hotel ballroom rental. And forget about booking those rooms weeks or months in advance. And also forget about losing your deposit should your event fall through. Web conferences cost nothing more than a monthly fee that, annualized, is less than a single room deposit for a traditional seminar.

Another benefit to you is that you won\'t feel that terrible sinking feeling when confirmed attendees fail to show up; with a web conference, your attendees won\'t see empty chairs. In fact, attendees won\'t know whether 1,000 people confirmed and only 10 showed up, or whether 10 were invited and all 10 showed up.

The simplest web conference solution on the market is GoToMeeting, which will run you $39 per month and allow meetings for up to 15 attendees. GoToMeeting uses 128-bit encryption, which means your meetings are secure. Another great selling feature with GoToMeeting is that you can record your web conference for later playback, allowing you to improve your delivery for future meetings. The process generally starts with an invitation through e-mail or instant messenger (GoToMeeting integrates both), and allowing your attendees to click on the link to the meeting. They will then see and hear your web conference through their own web-enabled computer from anywhere in the world. At your discretion, you can even allow interactivity with attendees. For larger projects, GoToWebinar will allow up to 1,500 attendees for a marginally higher price.

At this time, GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar offer a free trial. Through ProBusinessReview and QuoteStork.com, enjoy another $10 off.

For your GoToMeeting: Free Trial and $10 off visit Pro Business Review . And don\'t forget to sign up for our Free Tutorial.