Use the opportunities that are there...

Client meetings by video can offer a different way to use your time. In this 2011 video, I talk about giving talks and teaching from the USA while the audience was in Denmark.

Client meetings by video and talks from afar

I was heading off on a family holiday in California. We’d arranged our lives to include a little more travelling, but also work along the way. Many of my tasks could be handled wherever I was.

From a hotel room in New York, I’d given a Skype talk to bankers in Skanderborg. I explain that the feedback was very positive and on a par with what I normally experienced at an in-person talk.

I’d also given entrepreneurs feedback on their elevator pitches remotely. Those were concrete experiences that made me excited about the possibilities.

Look at the whole calculation of time and travel

I play with an example where you might win slightly fewer clients per video meeting than in person. But if you save the drive, perhaps you can fit in more meetings and have more energy left.

That was a hypothetical calculation. I hadn’t measured all client meetings or what would work in every business.

Questions can go both ways online too

Together with Thomas Rosenstand, I’d made an online programme about living and running a business in the USA. Participants could type questions in a chat, and we could answer along the way.

It showed me that some of the interaction from a room could also be created remotely. The programme was recorded so people could watch it again.

My point was to explore which tasks could be handled remotely and where meeting in person made sense. Skype and Ustream were the tools I used in 2011. My expectations about the crisis in the video were also from that time.

Client meetings by video can make room for a different life

I’m heading off for two weeks in California when I record the video in July 2011. It’s a holiday, but with a bit of work too. My wife and I have an agreement that we take a little more holiday than the average family, and in return I work a few hours a day.

I’ve arranged my life so that almost everything I do can be handled wherever I am. I start the day checking and answering email, write Amino’s newsletter and get the other things done. People don’t necessarily notice I’m away. I just work slightly fewer hours.

When I’m behind the wheel of the large motorhome we’ve rented, I can also think about different things and slow everything down a little. It makes me think about how much you can actually handle from home or remotely.

A hotel room in New York and thirty bankers in Skanderborg

A few weeks earlier, I was in New York with the family. That was a trip combining work and time off too. From the hotel room, I gave a talk to thirty bankers in Skanderborg.

I sat with my computer and Skype. They’d put up a large screen in Skanderborg. So I could talk to them even though I was on the other side of the Atlantic.

A couple of days ago, I received the evaluation. As a speaker, you’re often rated afterwards. Here, participants could choose, among other things, very bad, bad, good or excellent.

As I remember the figures in the video, around 85–90 percent said excellent, and the remaining 10–15 percent said good. I get a little imprecise with the percentages along the way, but my impression of the feedback is clear: Everyone gave a positive rating, and the vast majority were very enthusiastic.

That’s on a par with the evaluations I normally get when I’m standing in front of people in person. Think about that. I can sit in a hotel room in New York and deliver something they respond to just as positively as an in-person talk.

Elevator pitches and feedback from afar

On the morning of the video, I’ve also taught 28 entrepreneurs on an entrepreneurship course. They gave their elevator pitches, and I gave feedback. At the end, I gave them about ten minutes of pep talk.

On Twitter and Facebook, I can see they’re enthusiastic. It’s another concrete experience of teaching and connecting with people working remotely.

I’m not just telling you this as an advert for hiring me to give a Skype talk. I want you to think about how much you can handle yourself without driving around.

Five fewer clients may mean a different calculation than you think

I realise you can’t just approach every new client that way. But if you already have a little dialogue with an interesting client through Amino, Facebook, Twitter or something else, perhaps you can suggest a Skype meeting instead of driving out to shake their hand.

The client might find it a bit odd. And perhaps meeting in person is better for closing the sale. But let’s play with a hypothetical calculation.

Imagine you normally win fifty clients after a hundred meetings. With Skype, perhaps you only win forty-five. Then you’ve lost five clients in this hypothetical example.

But you’ve also avoided a hundred car journeys. You don’t need to start the car, drive from Jutland to Zealand or vice versa, pay for ferries and bridges, buy lunch and come home tired in the evening.

An entire day may have gone into a client meeting. You don’t get the day’s other work done, and the next day you have to try to catch up. That time, those costs and that energy also need to be part of the calculation.

A two-hour online programme with Thomas Rosenstand

I use Skype for meetings from one location to another. I also use Ustream. The week before the video, Thomas Rosenstand and I made a two-hour programme on Amino.

Thomas is a search engine optimisation expert and entrepreneur, and he lives in Florida too. We talked about moving to the USA and starting a business here: Technology, visa questions, the culture, finding clients and keeping your clients in Denmark. Both Thomas and I had the vast majority of our clients in Denmark.

About ninety entrepreneurs were online following along. There was a back-and-forth chat, so people could ask questions throughout. Thomas, how do you handle visas? Martin, what about this or that? Then we could answer immediately.

To me, it almost felt like standing in front of ninety people in a room. We spoke, they asked, and there was a lively dialogue. My impression of the feedback was that people thought it was fantastic. I hadn’t seen criticism, but plenty of enthusiasm.

The programme was recorded and was available to Amino Plus members at the time. That’s another advantage: You can watch it again. And it could just as easily have been a sales seminar.

More meetings and less travel

Perhaps you already use that kind of technology. If not, think about how much time it can save you. You can meet people abroad and in other corners of Denmark without travelling to them.

In July 2011, I’m still very worried about the financial crisis and say I think it’ll get worse. That’s part of why I’m focused on saving time, optimising the business and avoiding travel expenses.

Perhaps you can hold eight to ten client meetings in a day by Skype, whereas you can only manage one or two in person. Even if you win a slightly smaller proportion of clients, it could be interesting if you can reach far more and avoid travel costs in return.

Those are the opportunities I want you to explore in your own business. Use the tools that are there. You’ll find more of my experiences of life as an entrepreneur in Iværksætter til jeg dør.

For the next two weeks, I’ll be enjoying myself in the motorhome in California. Whether I’ll make any videos, I don’t know. I normally relax on holiday, so there may not be much. Or perhaps a lot will suddenly happen.

Best wishes, Martin