Mastering Video : How COVID Transformed Business Communication and Boosted Productivity

How one free tool can save you time, get better results from your staff and impress your customers.

COVID has been the biggest catalyst for businesses to catch up with the use of technology. I’m sure most people are swinging through the Video Conference world now because you have to. It may not have been planned but this change in the way we work can be great for productivity.

One great thing to come out of COVID is that people are realising that video can be so effective even if it’s not nicely edited and professionally produced.

Here’s a tip that may help if you are new to some of this technology.

Video Recording as a briefing tool. Having a video conference or a face to face meeting requires the participants to be online or in the same place at the same time - what about if you want to send a video to a team member to help explain something. This can be really useful and a great way to replace that time when you could walk over to someone's desk and explain something or show them some drawings/plans or product specs that relate to a job.

I have used this tool a lot - sending a quick video of my screen as I explain something on a plan, specification, graph, software or just talking through an issue - saves me typing a long email that will probably not get read anyway. A couple of these handy apps I used are www.loom.com and www.screecastify.com - both have free versions and install on your desktop or in your browser.

Just say you have a technician swinging past the workshop tomorrow morning to pick up some gear and head out to a job - normally you would meet them at the workshop, show them the drawings and go over the scope. But in this new world that’s not always possible so you can do a quick video - you don’t even have to show your face if you don’t want to. Here’s how:

1. Install Loom or Screencastify

2. Open the drawings/plan/scope on your screen

3. Hit record on the app

4. Start talking and explain the job using the cursor to point things out and maybe create a markup as you talk - just as if you were next to the person

5. Hit Stop Recording and send the link

6. The technician can look at the video when convenient and get an idea of the job

7. They can come back with some questions

Benefits of this:

• You save time trying type an email

• Your techs don’t read your emails anyway

• Not dependant on you both being on line - you record when it suits and they view when it suits

• You don’t have to be face to face.

• You can cover much more detail by using the visuals of drawings, specs, etc. than in an email.

• If the technician gets to site and has a question they can refer to your video to double-check

This is not just for internal use, you can also use it for customers too.

1. Quotes - when you are sending a client a quote, you probably don’t have time to visit them and explain the proposal.

2. Open the quote and the drawings/specs - hit start and record a quick explanation of what the quote covers:

3. Why you took a certain strategy

4. Why you chose this particular product

5. Cover off what you think their questions are.

6. Send the link with the quote - it’s going to set you apart from the competition and build trust and rapport all without you even being there. Brilliant!

7. Job Completed - with the invoice you can also send a quick video, say thanks for the work, explain how it went, show the photos, before and after or progress shots, explain the next steps if there are any. Your customer now gets a personal touch from you and all from the comfort of your home or office.