Webconferencing's Impact on Enterprise Software Sales in 2009

In a recent article from Selling Power Magazine's website, there is an interesting observation on the impact of web conferencing on general sales across all industries.  However, there has not been an industry more impacted from web conferencing than the enterprise software industry.  To take things a step further, I will review some of the common benefits and pitfalls that this generally accepted sales tool has created in the enterprise software industry. 

Business Travel

Web conferencing has created the biggest impact on business travel since the adoption of airplane travel.  While the majority of strategic business meetings (and less strategic in many cases) have historically required air travel, web conferencing has created the ability to second guess common reasons for face to face meetings.  Specifically, enterprise software can leverage web conferencing to deliver the all to important "software demo" without physically being in the same room.  The cost and time savings are massive for both the buyer and seller, but the opportunity to connect and form relationships that are critical to project success are often lost.  So, where is the balance? 

Resources

In most sales presentations, there are a variety of resources required to effectively present a given solution.  In the case of enterprise software sales, supporting resources are even more critical as unique technical and industry knowledge is often required from resources within the organization.  It is obvious that a web conference allows greater participation as conflicts are easily addressed with a 1 - 2 hr commitment.

Bottom Line

Web conferencing is not a one size fits all solution for all enterprise software sales meetings, but it is a viable option for at least 25 - 40% of meetings.  I would suggest looking into this medium and potentially leveraging wherever possible without losing the human touch when it comes to customer/client management.

Comments

[brian]

That is a GREAT post on conferencing, which is really gaining speed in the market. I can recommend a great conferencing guide for newbees to use when figuring out how to get started. The “Quick Start Guide for Web Conferencing”, which I got on Amazon.com, got me up and running in about 25 minutes:

http://www.amazon.com/Web-Conferencing-Quick-Start-Guide/dp/1448649781/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250795732&sr=8-1

I read that the www.webconferencingcouncil.com had a non-technical relative of equipped with a a Dell E6400 with Windows XP, complete with built-in camera & microphone test this book to see if it was truly a quick start. This relative was able to start a multi-point meeting in 17 minutes, was able to share her desktop and present an online presentation (Microsoft PowerPoint) in under 25 minutes, and even started using the voting and whiteboarding features within 30 minutes - all of it witnessed but uncoached. I was a little bit faster but I am more technical than most.

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Software University’s November class with guest instructor Lincoln Murphy of Sixteen Ventures was dedicated to a topic that’s been in the SoftwareCEO news since 2002. Back then, SaaS was merely a blip on our radar screens, but the experts promised that ISVs could create more enterprise value and capture the attention of a wider group of investors if they added SaaS to their repertoire.

[Logan]

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