Tips for a Video Meeting with a Client
As the businesses become more international, and communications push the borders away, it’s increasingly common to do business through the Internet. We no longer need to be physically present where our client is, but we are still humans and it is important to take care of details when we are holding a video meeting with a client specially, so they still feel that they can trust us and how involved we are in their project.
In order to guarantee that we are going to have a successful video meeting, we must familiarize ourselves with the technology we are going to use and with the actual etiquette that an online meeting requires.
So, to do that, here are some of our best tips to make sure your client feels close to you during a video meeting.
Tips for a Video Meeting with a Client
-
Send an agenda
Once you send the invitation to your virtual meeting, it’s a good idea to send a follow email with an agenda to everyone that will be attending the meeting. This will allow all of the attendees the proper time to prepare, and what they’ll be talking about during the meeting.
If you need to attach any other documents that you might deem necessary for the meeting, you can attach it along with the agenda. Since the agenda will outline the whole meeting, the documents you add with the agenda will make the meeting be smoother.
-
Test the connection
At a virtual meeting, it’s vital that your connection is running smoothly; having a poor connection is inconsiderate to all the other attendees of the meeting. So before you begin the conference, take about 5 minutes before hand to test your connection. You can ask one of your colleagues in the office to do a mock video conference so you can test your video connection, make sure that your sound levels are alright, and test to see if you can share your screen without any hiccups.
-
Remove any Distractions
Just like you would in a normal person to person meeting, you would want to eliminate as many distractions as you can so you can all focus on the meeting. When you have a videoconference, the same rule applies. Before you begin the video call, check your surroundings for things that could be a distraction. If you can sit in a space that has more a neutral background, that will help minimize the distractions that you could bring to the video call. It’s also important to remember to silence your cell phone and close your emails.
-
Don’t speak all at the same time
Video calls can be difficult because there will be times when everybody wants to speak and answer a question that has been asked. Adding more people to the video call just makes this problem worse. It can be hard to stop yourself from responding right away to a question that has been asked, but it is important to make sure that you wait a minute or two for the host to be finished with the question, and to make sure that the question was directed towards you. Practicing this will make your video calls much more efficient.
-
Dress appropriately
Even though you won’t be in a physical space for the meeting, it’s still very important that you dress appropriately for the meeting. Before you begin the meeting, make sure that you are dressed as though you would dress for going to the office. This will be good for everybody, because there will be less distractions than what could already be. Dressing appropriately will also help you be more in the mindset of being at the meeting. So you should ditch that zany tie, and not wear your bright pink striped shirt to the meeting, and dress in more subdued colors.
Video meetings and conferences are becoming more prevalent as the technology grows and becomes more integrated in our society. Mastering a video meeting will help you become a better professional and can help bring more clients to your doorstep.
