Chat is not exactly the richest or most compelling medium for communicating with clients and prospects.  But, until recently it was the only affordable alternative to holding online meetings.  Not any more...

Let's Have A Meeting

A new category of online software and services is emerging, called "groupware", that is racing to provide comprehensive, virtual meeting capabilities to anyone with an online connection.  Most online groupware solutions will offer basic online collaborative tools, such as:

• Chat - yes, this is still the main means of real-time communication between meeting attendees, (at least until bandwidths allow group video conferencing)
  
  
• Virtual White Board - gives participants the ability to mark up a shared image (e.g. business charts, spreadsheets), where everyone gets to see changes being made real-time.  You can use this to discuss, mark up, and comment on new marketing materials your designer just finished for you, in real time without having to visit their offices (a huge timesaver!)
  
  
• Document Sharing - allows the viewing of a document by all participants, even if they don't have the proper software typically required to open it.  You could use this to show and discuss CMA's, contracts, marketing plans, etc., in real time with clients and prospects from around the country.
  
  
• Application Sharing - allows participants to manipulate any application active on the meeting moderator's computer.  Imagine discussing a spread sheet with projected closing costs where the client themselves could manipulate the data to see the bottom line results of various options --with your guidance of course!
  
  
• File Transfer - the ability to transfer files between participants while the meeting is in session.  Similar to sending attachments through e-mail only it uses the browser to send and receive files.  Very handy for sending marketing or transaction related documents to clients while discussing them.

Some groupware products even offer voice and video conferencing.  However, unless all the participants have a very fast Internet connection, its practicality typically does not live up to the vendor hyped-up promises.

Your Place Or Mine

While there are a growing number of products that offer virtual meeting capabilities, two in particular are worth mentioning:

Microsoft NetMeeting - is a full-featured online groupware product that is available free from Microsoft.  Many corporations use it for intranet group collaboration and for real-time client support.  This is primarily a "client-side" product in that the software on each attendee's machine does most of the work.

Webex.com - a server-based solution that allows you to set up a free "virtual office" through their Web site, which includes all the online meeting features listed above in addition to scheduling and creating forums (i.e. bulletin boards).  The advantage of this kind of approach is that since it works through your Web browser (after installing a plug-in), almost anyone can participate --not just people with Windows based computers.

While the current offerings that enable you to conduct online "virtual meetings" are good, they barely scratch the surface of what's possible when collaborating online.  Over the next year or two we will see frequent and dramatic innovations in this important area of doing business online, especially as bandwidth steadily increases.  

The real payoff in using these capabilities however, is that your client or prospect becomes involved, part of the process, and feels in control as a result.  Now that's rich communication!