Rant: Webinars, does anyone have time for them?
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Seems like too many vendors or companies I turn to has a Webinar they'd love me to sign up for not as a but as a first gut reaction to a potential lead instead of other options.
No I will not give you an hour of my time for you to sell me product, give me a clear concise document/recorded video or just be there on email when I have a question.
On websites, in conversations, I keep running into this cycle:
"Can I get a demo of your product?
"No sir but if you just subscribe to our upcoming webinar"
" I need to evaluate 9 different products in a short space of time, I don't have 9 hours of webinar time, please may I have a demo as I might be short-listing this product for purchase."
"But sir our product is very nuanced and special, we need to walk you through it so that you can understand it fully."Does anyone have time for them and or watch them? I can understand if you are an existing client they might be great to check out how to guides, new feature releases but when you are brand new.
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I like 'em. Or rather, I prefer to spend an hour on my own watching a webinar than have to spend an hour making small talk with a sales rep who barely knows or understands the product he's trying to sell.
They're more often than not badly done and boring, though. But a good, highly technical, webinar is great, and far more time and cost efficient than going to seminars which is what I used to do in the nineties..
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We have taken the stance that if you don't want to let me at least have a personal look around forget it. We are pretty lucky here and get to demo tons of stuff. Webinars are a waste of everyone's time.
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Setting up a demo will nearly always require a much greater amount of time and effort than participating in a webinar.
A lot of the ones I've found useful are where companies have just posted their webinars onto youtube and allowed anyone to watch them. I guess that at that point they're not technically webinars.
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Webinars?
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So here is what is weird, I find them odd and almost always pointless. Not completely, but often. I like the "guided tour of a product" or "seminar that happens casually online" but a YouTube video would often be better, but you can't ask questions in real time then, I guess. I never have time for these and even when I try to make them, like the one that @art_of_shred did a few days ago, I always have a meeting, emergency or something happen during the slotted time since they are invariably in the middle of the work day, that I miss it anyway.
But I present in webinars and lots of people attend. So they definitely work, lots of people are able to block out time and attend them and actively do so.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Setting up a demo will nearly always require a much greater amount of time and effort than participating in a webinar.
That's very true. Webinars, in my mind, fill a middle ground between a YouTube video or screenshots and a full install trial. If you want that middle space AND the ability to interface with the presenters or someone on staff, webinars are a low overhead means of filling that space. If it wasn't for the need to schedule them at popular times and have the times be so rigid I would find them pretty useful. It's only the scheduling that really kills it for me.
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I find that I have to BLOCK out time for webinars, not just make them. I don't go to many unless I know there will be an active chat. I make sure one of my other colleagues can cover for me while I am in the webinar, and unless there is an earth shattering, department stopping issue, I am usually able to attend said webinars.
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I can't block out time because I am production support. There is no such thing as blocking out time.
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@scottalanmiller You can't have one of your minions --erm... colleagues cover for you for an hour?
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@dafyre said:
@scottalanmiller You can't have one of your minions --erm... colleagues cover for you for an hour?
Nope
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@scottalanmiller You should hire better minions, lol.
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@scottalanmiller said:
I can't block out time because I am production support. There is no such thing as blocking out time.
You can multi-task though. The pace of webinars is normally pretty slow.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
I can't block out time because I am production support. There is no such thing as blocking out time.
You can multi-task though. The pace of webinars is normally pretty slow.
Yes, I can often do that, except that I often get pulled into meetings that cause issues.
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My philosophy is that webinars should be educational - you do a good job at that and then you earn a short pitch for the product at the end. I can't believe vendors won't give you a demo and want you to watch a webinar instead. I'd always have time to demo Webroot for anyone who wants it.
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Exactly @Nic! Webinars that are for true training purposes are great! But if a sales person isn't willing to take the time to work one on one. Not worth it.
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@Minion-Queen said:
Exactly @Nic! Webinars that are for true training purposes are great! But if a sales person isn't willing to take the time to work one on one. Not worth it.
Yep, if they're a pain in the ass before the sale, imagine how bad it will be after. I also like to call tech support before the purchase just to see how long the queues are, and how competent their support is.
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@Nic said:
I also like to call tech support before the purchase just to see how long the queues are, and how competent their support is.
That's a neat trick. I shall try that next time
