Although the most effective way to build strong relationships with your customers is still face-to-face, that’s not always practical. Fortunately, web video conferencing can be almost as effective. Even if your potential customer or prospect lives on the other side of the world, it’s still necessary to set up meetings and sales presentations – the impersonal nature of email will only get you so far.

There are several great and easy-to-use solutions for hosting your online meeting or webinar. Personally, I’ve used and participated in WebEx meetings many times and have always had a positive experience, although the costs can add up quickly as meetings get larger or more frequent. There are more affordable web video conferencing options that are just as capable and reliable, also for online meetings or webinars.

Here are my top 6 best practices for getting the most out of web video conferencing for successful sales presentations:

1. The first thing to remember is that you should treat the web video conference meeting as you would a “real” face-to-face meeting: dress professionally, plan your agenda carefully, don’t multitask (close your email and other applications before the meeting starts so you don’t have distractions).
2. Choose a service provider carefully: you need to make sure they can meet your meeting objectives in a professional manner;
3. Be considerate of participants’ time: In a web video conferencing session, they are not a captive audience and will be distracted by email and other business demands if you don’t maintain their interest;
4. Put together a clear agenda, with meeting objectives and strategies to achieve them;
5. Have a plan to encourage live interaction. You could have a few questions to ask your customer to stimulate discussion, or include someone whose role it is to ask the first questions or add comments to start the interaction;
6. Have a clear call to action at the end of the meeting. Too often, web meetings end abruptly (after all, since you’re not face-to-face, there won’t be the usual opportunity for small talk or discussion of next steps as the client walks you in the door). Include time on the agenda for recaps and next steps, with clear action items for attendees.