Presenting with WebEx

m62 visualcommunications is one of the world’s leading presentation production company. Founded in 1997, m62 specialises in the delivery of dynamic, memorable PowerPoint presentations. It has developed a method for delivering successful visual presentations that combine technology with quality presentation techniques, using proven psychological principles to maximise the amount of information retained by an audience. These presentations differentiate m62’s clients from their competition and can transform the results of their sales operations. Using m62 presentations to sell to prospects, its clients have won over 85 per cent of their key bids.

In the 10 years since being founded, m62 visualcommunications has delivered over 6,500 advanced presentations for global companies including Jaguar, Bayer, Imperial Tobacco, Proctor & Gamble, Symantec and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The company is based in Liverpool, with international offices in Singapore and the US.

The Challenge

“Seeing our product in action is absolutely crucial for all prospective customers,” explains Richard Newman, Director of m62 visualcommunications. “We sell our presentations based on their visual impact, so demonstrations are an integral part of the sales cycle – from initial contact through to the completion of each project.”

The sales process begins with an initial visit to prospects to demonstrate m62’s credentials and give examples of the kind of presentation the team can create. If these leads are converted into sales opportunities m62 first creates a storyboard to outline the overall direction and content of the presentation, then upon signoff from the client starts work on the final version, with customer approvals required at several key stages. Timing and collaboration are essential as even small delays can derail the whole project. The demand for close collaboration with its customers was taking its toll on m62’s employees, who faced lengthy periods on the road. With midproject approvals usually done on very short timescales, some employees were spending more time travelling to and from meetings with customers than actually in the meeting itself – hardly a productive use of their time. “As the company grew, we realised that we would need a solution to this problem, especially when selling to a global market,” says Newman. “It became clear that we should take advantage of technology and find a way to present our product online.”

The Solution

Web conferencing, where technology allows people to meet online and share documents and presentations, was identified as the answer. The company needed a service that would not only do justice to its brand of dynamic, highly visual presentations, but would also be accessible and easy to use for all its customers, requiring minimal time and effort on their part. Initially, m62 chose Macromedia Breeze – but the product couldn’t match the company’s high demands. “Breeze was very rich in functionality and easy to use,” continues Newman, “But the one essential component – our presentations – didn’t function at all well and were left extremely limited. Because our PowerPoint slides are far richer in graphics quality and sophistication than the average ‘bullet-point’ slide, animations and graphics didn’t display properly and it just wasn’t a viable solution.”

On investigating other online collaborative solutions m62 decided to try the industry leader WebEx. WebEx offered the accessibility and ease of customer use it needed, plus had no problem delivering the presentations remotely. Its Meeting Center service allows all attendees to view the presentations as they were intended, no matter where they are located geographically. All attendees can also annotate in real-time and share any document or application on their computers. In addition, WebEx could give m62 the ability to create webinars for broadcast to new and existing customers – a valuable marketing tool. Deciding it was the correct option to choose, m62 implemented WebEx in spring 2006.

The Benefits

Since choosing WebEx, m62 has seen several benefits. Using WebEx Meeting Center m62’s employees can fully demonstrate its presentations to customers without leaving the office. The first benefit of this is that sales leads can be pre-qualified before making a face-to-face visit. The difference this has made is significant, as Newman explains: “Before we started using WebEx, prospective customers could only really understand our product after a face-to-face visit – a large time investment considering we often had no idea what their reaction to the service would be. We now use WebEx for all cases where a prospect is interested in learning more after the initial call.” This allows employees to reach far more prospects in far less time, and gauge their interest more intuitively than before. By concentrating on the best leads, m62 has improved the effectiveness of its sales team. “Around 80 per cent of prospects who agree to a five-minute WebEx meeting go on to request a face-to-face appointment,” says Newman.