Video, Audio Quality and Mess!

In this post, I'm going to talk about one of the biggest mistakes I see people make in business, and if it gets fixed, it will help you close more leads and make more money.

This is something I see time and time again, even on a call that I had yesterday - so let's talk about what that is, why it matters, and more importantly, how you can make sure you aren't falling into the same trap.

INTRO

First up and If you're new here then hi my name is Pete. I sold my MSP last year and now I coach and mentor other MSPs and IT Business Owners to be more productive, grow their business, and live a happier, healthier life.

SO WHAT'S GOING WRONG?

The biggest mistake that I see, that drives me nuts, in 2021, is when I'm on a video call with someone and everything is wrong.

You can't hear them because it's too quiet, or it's muffled, or the mic is miles away from their mouth. Also the room they're in is... well it's just a mess.

Honestly, if you're an IT Business and trying to sell professional IT services to other professional businesses such as accountants, lawyers, realtors, recruitment agencies and you're background is a total mess. what do you think that says about the services that you offer?

If your background isn't organised, then maybe you're not organised either?

I can't explain how frustrating it is to be on a call where I can't hear the person who's talking, because they're muffled, and their background looks like they're running their business out of their basement or garage, and oh - it looks like they're a hoarder.

This is so simple and CHEAP to fix, that it makes it even more frustrating when I see people making this mistake.

For the audio issue, buy one A Rode NT-USB Mini. It's a USB Microphone, you plug it straight into your Mac or PC, and your audio issues will be gone forever.

I'll link down below to my kit page where you can see these recommendations easily so go look for that if you need to.

Most video conferencing systems like Zoom, Teams, and Google meet have nailed the audio feedback issues on the head. so you don't need to use headphones, you can just use your normal speakers and this microphone, and the software will stop feedback coming out of your speakers and into the mic.

Worst case, grab some headphones - they don't need to be anything amazing, Airpods or even the old wired versions that most people have lying around in their desk drawers somewhere will do just fine.

Onto the video issue now, and there are 2 ways to attack this.

Firstly, upgrade the quality of your webcam. Go and grab a Logitech C920 which has finally come back down in price and back into stock, after the rush we had last year. These are like the industry standard of webcams, so if you think your video quality is bad, grab one of these.

If you really want to upgrade your webcam experience, then instead you could grab an actual camera as I have as well, it's the Sony ZV1 and it makes you look SUPER sharp on video calls.

Ideally, you want to put the camera just around eye level, but obviously, most people won't be able to because that's where your monitors go, so just on top of the screen is fine too.

That's the audio and video fixed, now - go tidy your room!

Don't make this more complicated than it needs to be. Find the easiest way to get a clean-looking background.

This could mean that actually, you move your desk around so it's in the middle of the room and the background is just a plain wall.

You could try angling the camera to avoid showing your socks and dirty washing, or stacks of boxes and junk.

Or you could use a blurred background, though this always depends on which video software you're using as not all of them support a blurred background.

You could even just buy something like a sheet that you hang behind you to block off all of the mess, or perhaps even something like a bookshelf or the IKEA Kallax shelves, which you could then stack with things that tell us a little bit about your personality or the business - maybe awards that you've won over the years, tech that you love - it doesn't have to be much.

But please just think about this, think about what's behind and around you when you are on video calls with your prospects, your customers, and your peers because it sets an impression.

The question is, what impression do you want to set?

Links in the description for everything I've talked about, subscribe to my YouTube channel for more tips on growing your business, sign up for my course for all sorts of useful MSP-specific resources using the links down below and I'll see you in the next post.

MY 2021 GEAR KITS

🔸 Camera Gear I use for YouTube: https://kit.co/petematheson/my-weekly... 

🔸 Beginner YouTuber Kit: https://kit.co/petematheson/starter-v... 

🔸 Livestreaming Setup: https://kit.co/petematheson/live-stre... 

🔸 Podcasting Gear: https://kit.co/petematheson/podcastin...