Spotty Video Conferencing Leads to Lost Sales | 7SIGNAL | Blog

The success of your sales team and your business depends on a fast Wi-Fi connection that supports high-quality video conferencing

Teams around the world are struggling to adapt to changes in the workplace. Business has gone remote after COVID-19, forcing employees to work from home and adopt new workflows to keep productivity high. The strain of using high-performing applications on a diverse range of home networks is particularly high.

One challenge faced by many companies is conducting consistent, effective video conferences, which require a steady, high-quality internet connection. Sales teams have been significantly impacted, as their job depends on effective communications.

Beyond frustrated clients and employees, poor video can quickly turn into lost revenue. Here's why and what you can do about it.

How bad connections lose you money

We’ve all experienced lousy video calls. The Wi-Fi is in and out, audio is lagging or nonexistent, and video quality is fuzzy. These experiences have become more common as more people use video for everything from therapy to socializing to work.

When it comes to company meetings, these issues can quickly turn into lost revenue. Continual problems in a video conference cause people to get off track with critical points and topics, clients and employees become annoyed, and productivity dips. 87% of office workers become stressed out when the tech doesn't work properly in meetings.

In 2019, ineffective meetings caused U.S. companies to lose $399 billion, largely because of wasted time. And if video calls aren’t productive because of a poor connection and don’t accomplish what they set out to achieve, that translates to lost sales and accounts.

Video conference issues for sales teams

Sales teams have been hit hard by the transition to digital. In-person interactions are extremely limited right now, and salespeople depend on virtual interactions and strong Wi-Fi. 

Sales teams can quickly lose money when they're dealing with low video quality. Clients and leads become annoyed when the information isn't provided in a straightforward way. There are unique challenges to pitching products and services over video, and connection issues make it all the more challenging.

Bad Wi-Fi leads to drops or lags in conferences—unwanted interruptions that companies and customers just don’t have time to deal with. The Doodle research mentioned above showed that 86% of respondents cite video meetings with poor reception as a major irritant. 

And a survey of "1,000 professionals from the United States and United Kingdom who regularly participate in conference calls” by cloud-communications provider loopup found that:

• “15 minutes of each call is wasted simply getting started or dealing with distractions” 
• “This wasted time ends up costing U.S. and U.K. businesses over £26 billion ($34 billion), a cost which has increased 46% since 2015 (up from £14 billion)”

How to deal with video quality issues

So, what can your sales team do to combat typical video conferencing issues? Here are a few tips:

1. Be flexible: First and foremost, your team has to stay adaptable, ready to pivot when the unexpected happens. That means when a video call connection starts to slow down or freeze, a team member can jump in and say the details will be sent over email, or the meeting will pick up with a phone call.
2. Invest in the right platforms: If your Wi-Fi seems OK except when you’re conducting conferences, the problem could be the video platform you’re using. Try switching up your tools to see if something works better. Zoom, Google Meets, and Skype are common options for professionals. See which platform has the performance and features that best support your sales team.
3. Level with your customers: Your clients are likely experiencing the same issues you are in their internal meetings and communications. When you begin an interaction, address any problems right away. Be honest about the limitations of video conferencing. Provide a back-up plan in case something goes wrong with the call. Customers will appreciate the frankness, especially when we're all trying to do the best we can with overloaded tools. 
4. Deploy an effective Wi-Fi monitoring solution: To address most of the root problems, invest in Wireless Network Monitoring tools that provide a continuous look at how your Wi-Fi and applications are performing. The Mobile Eye from 7SIGNAL is installed directly on a sales team member’s device, whether it’s Windows, macOS, iOS, or Android. It monitors the performance of whatever network is being used and how the computer—and specific platforms—run on a given connection, giving you 24/7 visibility. 

Mobile Eye enables engineers and other I.T. staff to identify and fix many common Wi-Fi issues that cause underperforming video conferencing. Many of these problems can be spotted proactively, enabling support teams to address them before a video conference is disrupted.

Your bottom line and your sales team's success depend on a consistent connection that supports reliable video calls. Keep all of your mission-critical devices connected with continuous Wireless Network Monitoring from 7SIGNAL.

7SIGNAL® is a leader in enterprise Wireless Network Monitoring. The 7SIGNAL platform is a cloud-based Wireless Network Monitoring (WNM) solution that continuously troubleshoots the wireless network for performance issues – maximizing network uptime, device connectivity, and network ROI. The platform was designed for the world’s most innovative organizations, educational institutions, hospitals, and government agencies and is currently deployed at Booz Allen Hamilton, IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Walgreens, Microsoft, and many others. 7SIGNAL continuously monitors the connectivity of over 4 million global devices. Learn more at www.7signal.com.