Posts Tagged ‘Desk’

Increase your Productivity with Conference Calls

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

If you are like most companies you are trying to get more done with fewer resources than ever before. It is simply the nature of business these days. There is no easier more cost effective way to increase your productivity than by using conference calls as part of your company’s communications plan.  Here are some ideas on how conference calls increase your productivity.

  • Save Travel Time – One of the biggest wastes of time for anyone in business is travel time.  Going to and from meetings can eat up a large amount of time.  Even when the meeting is in your own office you still have to get to a conference room and wait for the meeting to start and then get back to your desk when the meeting is over.  With conference calls you can sit at your desk and continue to be productive until the meeting starts and then get right back to the work at end when the conference call is over.
  • Multi-Task – Depending on your role in the meeting you may be able to get other work done during the meeting while on a conference call.  As long as you put your phone on mute you can continue to work on other things without disturbing the meeting.  Many people who host meeting don’t like this about conference calls but the fact is you get more participation from attendees that don’t have the time to attend an in person meeting and all you have to do is engage people when necessary and you can have a productive meeting.
  • Collaborate – Certainly one of the benefits of conference calls is the same with an in person meeting.  You get people to collaborate on a project.  Ultimately bringing additional participants into the process will help move the project along and improve over all communications.

And in case you aren’t sure what activities you can do with conference calls here are a few common applications that you can easily do with a conference call.

  • Sales Meetings – Sales teams are famous for getting together on conference calls.  Many times the sales team is spread over a great distance and it would not only cost a great deal to pull everyone together but think of all the lost productivity.  It is just not practical to get together physically so a conference call is a natural.
  • Company Announcements – If you need to make a company announcement you can easily do it on a conference call without having to pull everyone off their jobs to do it.  Depending on your business you are also saving any travel involved and at the same time making sure everyone gets the message timely and first hand.
  • Project updates – Project management would be difficult without conference calls.  Keeping vendors and employees up to date on a project and making sure dates are met can only be done with regular communication and many times would be impossible without conference calls.

With the low cost of conference calls these days there is no excuse not to incorporate conference calls into your communications plan and you will find your productivity increase along the way.

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A Business Conference Call can make all the Difference

Friday, January 14th, 2011

A business conference call can make all the difference in the success of your business.  Yet, today it is estimated that the market for conference calls has only been penetrated 58% which means that 42% of the businesses that should be doing business conference calls are not.  That is a pretty amazing statistic when you think of it.  And I bet many of you are thinking that there is no way people don’t know about using a business conference call to get people together on issues for their business.  But I can tell you from experience that a lot of businesses still are not using a business conference call yet.  I can tell through the conversation I have with potential customers that there are still a lot of people out there who are not using a business conference call for their business.  And it is hard to believe.  Especially in this economy and the number of new businesses being started up.  A business conference call offers so many benefits to your business without a large expenditure.  Large businesses are big users of business conference calls because they have long understood the benefits they get from conducting regular conference calls with their staff and customers.  Here are some of the benefits you can expect from incorporating a business conference call into your regular business processes.

  • A Business Conference Call Saves Time- When you are a small or medium business or better yet, a brand new business, the one thing you will never have enough of is time.  By utilizing a business conference call when you can you will find yourself saving valuable time that otherwise would have been spent travelling to an in person meeting.  Travel time is very unproductive even with all of today’s gadgets that help keep you informed and allow you to do work away from the office.  You can hardly be working on a document when you are walking through an airport or driving your car.  The more time you can find yourself at your desk the better you will be in the long run.  A business conference call can be used for the initial contact with the customer especially if you need to pull multiple people from your company into the discussion or if the customer has several contacts that need to hear your pitch.  And during the implementation process a business conference call can keep your project on time and make sure that everyone gets the same message all the time. 
  • A Business Conference Call Saves Money – The other thing you can’t get enough of is money.  Especially if you are starting out your capital is a precious commodity.  A business conference call is much less expensive than any in person meeting you can have with your staff or customers.  Many small businesses have staff scattered throughout the country or the world and the expense to travel to visit these people on a consistent basis is just too much.  A business conference call allows you to stay in touch with everyone for a fraction of the cost of travelling to them in person.  And the cost of the travel is one thing.  What about the cost of the hotel, meals, rental car and everything else that goes along with it?  A business conference call can save you thousands of dollars on one trip.
  • A Business Conference Call Increases Productivity – And usually if you own a small business or are just starting a new on you will never have as many people on the job as you would like.  So you need every person as productive as they can be in order to get the job done.  A business conference call allows you to stay at your desk for the meeting and return to work immediately following the conference call.  Aside from the time saving productivity you gain with a business conference call you also benefit by working together to accomplish the task and keep all informed along the way.  A business conference call can prevent a lot of back and forth communication between you and the other parties.

The bottom line is a business conference call can make all the difference in the world for your business.

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A Conference Calling Service Pays for Itself

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

I think what has been lost in the sea of various rates and services you can get from all the conference calling service companies out there is the value that the conference call service brings to your business.  Even at the rates that conference calls were being sold in the early 1990′s a conference calling service easily pays for itself.  But a conference call has become so integrated into the fabric of businesses these days it has simply been expected as part of any businesses communications strategy and the benefits are often overlooked and taken for granted.  A conference calling service provides two main benefits, they save time and money.

  • A Conference Calling Service Saves Time- Think of all the time that is wasted if you have to leave your desk and travel to a meeting.  The meeting could be down the hall, around the corner or around the world.  The longer the travel the more time you waste just getting to and from the meeting.  And even with today’s communication environment there are going to be times during that travel period that you are simply unavailable and can’t work on anything because you are travelling.  And once you get to the meeting there is a lot of wasted time as people do the meet and greet process and everyone waits for the host of the meeting to get things together and so forth.  I know people who have travelled across the country to attend a one hour meeting.  And like everyone I agree with and endorse face to face meetings for certain situations but a conference calling service can save countless hours.  And the saved time naturally translates into increased productivity since you can attend a conference call without leaving your own desk.
  • A Conference Calling Service Saves Money- It really doesn’t matter what you pay per minute cost for a conference calling service because if you analyze it against an in person meeting you will see that a conference call will save you money every time.  The cost of travelling to the meeting is the first place you save.  There are also the costs of the meeting itself.  If you are meeting in person the host many times will feel compelled to provide refreshments for the participants and may even have to rent a room to stage the meeting.  And if you have travelled a great distance you have the cost of local accommodations in addition to the travel cost itself.  There just isn’t a less expensive or more convenient way to hold a meeting.  And if you choose a high quality provider like Zip Conferencing you will be able to conduct your meeting just like you were in the room together without any loss in fidelity and pay a great deal less than many other providers in the market today.

No matter what your circumstance you will quickly realize that a conference calling service pays for itself.

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International Conference Calls are More Popular

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Ever since we introduced easier ways to do international conference calls their usage has increased.  But it seems like lately more and more people are doing international conference calls.  When you look at the factors influencing the usage of international conference calls it is no wonder they are more popular.

  • Businesses are more Global in Nature – Over the past twenty years businesses have been expanding and looking for new markets.  So, naturally businesses have looked globally to expand their businesses.  In order to stay in touch with these remote office international conference calls have become essential to managing their global footprint.
  • Travel is more Expensive – Conference calls have always offered a way to save money on travel.  If you have offices internationally and international conference call provides a great opportunity to save even more money since travel overseas can be very expensive.
  • Time is more Valuable – Visiting your office in Europe or AsiaPac can be great but when you think about the time it takes to make the trip it can be a bit daunting.  International conference calls provide a way to stay in touch with your international business right from your desk.  No time wasted in airports and hotels.
  • Budgets are Tight – In today’s economy more than ever we are all looking for ways to save money.  International conference calls put money instantly on your bottom line that otherwise would go towards the travel expense of going to your international locations in person.  And Zip Conferencing offers ways for the international participants to connect to the conference call inexpensively as well.

So it really is no wonder that international conference calls are becoming more popular with businesses today.  And with Zip Conferencing you can provide your international participants a local number to dial into which is more convenient for them, less costly and will also save you  money on your conference call bill.  International conference calls with Zip Conferencing can be accessed through international toll free numbers as well for participants that are not located near a major city.  Whatever your application Zip Conferencing has a solution that will fit for your international conference calls.

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Conference Calls Are the Best Option

Friday, September 24th, 2010

I was speaking to someone yesterday and he asked me what I do and when I said that I run a conference call business he could not say enough about what a benefit conference calls have had on his business.  I love talking to people about conference calls because it is usually a very positive conversation.  I ended up talking to this gentleman for a while about how his company uses conference calls and I thought I would share some of his thoughts with you.

One of his first reactions was to tell me how much his company spends on conference calls which is not uncommon.  But he quickly turned that part of the conversation into how much money his company was saving by doing conference calls instead of travelling.  Like  all companies, he is trying to keep his costs down and reducing the travel budget by using conference calls instead is a great way to do that.  He did some quick calculations in his head and told me that his company was literally saving millions of dollars by doing conference calls.  And then the conversation turned to  how people in his company including himself are also using conference calls to increase productivity because it was so easy to pull a meeting together.  A quick meeting with a conference call usually averted issues and kept projects moving forward that otherwise would get bogged down.  And he said that many times they would hold a conference call as an adjunct to a physical meeting in a conference room and give people the choice of joining in person or on the conference call.  And even though the physical meeting may only be down the hall many time the participants would join via conference call so that they could stay at their desk and be productive.

And finally he asked if I did video conferencing and I said no but we offer a service that allows you to share a presentation on your PC and he immediately knew what I was referring to, web conferencing.  To this he said how web conferencing has really enhanced the way his company presents its services to new customers and ultimately has increased sales.  And he said they also use web conferencing internally to collaborate and do training.  At the end of the conversation I told him I could not have found a better pitch man for the benefits of conference calls.  And he said he did not realize how much conference calls were intertwined with his business until he started talking about it but certainly did not know what he would do without it.  Without a doubt, conference calls are the best option. 

www.zipconferencing.com

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Is there such a thing as too many Conference Calls?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Over the years the number of conference calls being held has exploded.  It is not hard to imagine why since conference calling saves a company money and time.  But can there be such a thing as too many conference calls?

Let’s face it.  If you work for a company that has integrated conference calls into their culture then you have had those days.  Days where you are jumping from one conference call to another with little break in between.  Such is the nature of conference calling.  You can simply sit at your desk and attend meeting after meeting without leaving your desk.  A conference call saves you the travel time, even if it is down the hall to a conference room, so you can schedule an audio conference back to back with another audio conference and stay on schedule.  One of the reasons companies have adopted conference calls is because they are increasing your productivity without you realizing it.  You can attend more meetings in a day if they are via a conference call and you are saving any travel expenses as well.  But for you the increase in productivity translates into more work.  Not only can’t you get anything done while you are in a meeting whether it is a conference call or in person meeting, but inevitably you get more work to do while in the meeting as well.

So maybe conference calls are too convenient and too easy to use and too inexpensive because if you are on too many conference calls you can’t get anything done.  So even though you have saved all this travel time you now are so loaded with work to do and no time to do it you are struggling and tomorrow there is another slate of conference calls to attend.  Even as a conference call service provider I have to admit that you can have too many conference calls.  But let’s face it.  A conference call is easier to deal with than an in person meeting and after all you just need to say no.  Time management is something everyone can improve on and using your time wisely is all about using all your time as effectively as possible.  And without conference calls time spent travelling to meetings would be completely wasted.  Conference calls are great, just try to tone it down a bit.

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Managing Large Conference Calls

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

There was a time when you would not even think about running an automated conference call for 20 or more participants.  If you were going to run a conference call of that size you would run the conference call with the assistance of an operator.  And even today, an Operator Assisted call might be the right conference call solution depending on your application, but the conference call technology has gotten to where running a large automated conference call is manageable if you know a few tricks.

The main problem with running a large conference call is the noise the audience can introduce during the call.  It is bad enough when there are just 4 or 5 participants and one of them introduces noise because they are on a cell phone, rustling papers on their desk, talking to people in their room, etc.  Just imagine having 100 people on the call.  The odds that someone is going to make noise during the conference call are pretty good.  In fact, virtually certain.  So, what can you do to hold an orderly conference call with a large audience?  Here are a few tips to make for a successful large conference call.

  • Turn Off any Tones –  Most conference call service companies provide tones on the conference clal so you know when a participant joins the call.  This is fine when you have 5 people on the conference call, but can be more than a distraction when there are 20 or more.
  • Mute All – The conference calling service should provide  a way to mute all participants as the Moderator of the conference call. 
  • Use an online interface if offered – Some conference call service companies offer an online conference call interface that allows you to see the callers and control the audio portion of the conference call.  This can be very helpful, especially if you intend to open up to questions from the audience.  That way you can see the callers and manage the call easier.
  • Use Web Conferencing – In addition to enhancing your conference call with visual presentations, a web conference can allow you to manage a Q&A session better than just using an audio conference.  With a Web Conference you are giving your participants a way to raise their hand for questions and a way for you to open up an individual line to allow them to ask their question.
  • Practice – The best thing you can do to insure your success with a large conference call is to run a practice session to make sure you are familiiar with all of the conference call controls and how to use them.

If you follow these tips you can run a large conference call successfully without the need to use an expensive Operator Assisted Conference Call.

www.zipconferencing.com

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I Resolve to do more Web Conferencing

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Its that time of year again.  Everyone sets expectations for themselves in the new year.  Many of the resolutions we commit to we do not stick with and some we don’t even attempt.  Maybe this is the year to set some realistic goals for ourselves that will benefit us personally and also help in our own little way the world around us.  Why not resolve to do more web conferencing?  I am going to add it to my list.  Because I am as guilty as the next person.  It is easier to stick with the familiar than to try something new and if you have never conducted a web conference before it can be a little intimidating.  But the benefits to you and the world are real!

  • Save Time – A web conference can save you time on the front end by simply eliminating the need to travel to a meeting.  Even if the meeting is in the same building with people you work with you still have to get up off your seat and go to a meeting room.  You have to remember to bring all the materials you will need or you may need to return to your desk to get additional materials or reschedule another meeting so you can bring other things, etc.  You can instantly attend your meeting right from your desk and have all of your materials at your fingertips to share with everyone at the meeting if you do a web conference.
  • Save Money – The cost to travel to your meeting locally or at a great distance is saved if you do it from your desk using a web conference.  If you have to travel across the country all of the travel costs will be saved which can add up to thousands of dollars.
  • Increase Productivity – You will find that by doing a web conference you are better prepared for your meeting and can extend the discussion since you have access to everything you need.  You also will be able to work during the time you would otherwise have to travel.
  • Save the Environment – By using a web conference instead of travelling to a meeting you are being very eco-friendly.  Think of all the carbon emissions you are avoiding during the travel you have avoided.  And all of the participants in the web conference also have avoided all of the travel and associated emissions.

So, for your benefits and in a small part, all of mankind, it is time to resolve to do more web conferencing.  And unlike the resolutions you are unlikely to stick to you will find this one is easy to keep once you feel the benefits.

www.zipconferencing.com

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Conference Calls in a Tough Economy

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

I get asked all the time, “How is the conference call business doing?” and I always answer “Great!  Because in the 14+ years I have been in the industry there has always been a good reason why more and more businesses are adopting conference calls.  And in a tough economy there is all the more reason for businesses to be doing conference calls.

Let’s look at the recent events and see why the conference call service business continues to grow while other businesses are shrinking.  The first thing that has hit many businesses is the reduction in force that they have taken to combat the reduction in business.  In many cases the reduction in the numbers of personnel to run their business was not in direct relation to the reduction in business they felt.  So, one of the things these businesses are facing is trying to do more business with fewer employees.  This artificial need to increase productivity is a reality that the employees that are left to run the business have to face whether they like it or not.  Conference calls are an easy way to help improve the productivity of your employees.  When someone does a conference call it is usually in lieu of an in person meeting.  And whether you would normally be meeting across town or across the country, the conference call eliminates the time you would spend to get to the meeting and return to work.  In fact you don’t even have to leave your desk to attend a conference call so you have more time to do work thus increasing your productivity.

The next priority for businesses is reducing expenses so that they can remain profitable during times when sales may be lower than normal.  And one of the big areas targeted for reducing expenses is the travel budget.  So businesses are looking for ways to continue to meet with other employees, customers and prospects without having to travel to their location.  A conference call provides an easy way to eliminate the travel expense without eliminating the meeting itself.  Because let’s face it, you still have to have these meetings or the business can not continue to operate and grow.  A web conference and a conference call combination gives you everything you need to meet with a prospect or customer and have the same fulfilling, engaging meeting you would have if they were in person.  Don’t get me wrong, a conference call does not eliminate the need to get together with remote employees, customers and prospects,but the use of conference calls can eliminate some of the travel you may otherwise have taken.  And with the expense of travelling these days, every trip you can eliminate can really add up to your bottom line.

Conference calls and web conferences provide businesses the ability to remain effective while reducing expenses and increasing productivity.  So in a tough economy, the conference call service business continues to thrive and grow as more and more businesses realize the benefits that conference calls can offer.

www.zipconferencing.com

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Conference Calls for Human Resources

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Clearly, one of the main missions for Human Resources departments is to clearly and concisely communicate with the employees in a company.  And with the employees in a company becoming more and more spread out how does the Human Resources department continue to handle effective communications with these remote employees.  Why through conference calls of course!

Conference calls enable the Human Resources department to do their job effectively without the need for extensive travel to remote employee locations.  All of the necessary regulations can be satisfied by holding conference calls and providing information to the employees separately.  Or you can hold a web conference and go through the information live with the employees.  The need for signatures on any documents acknowledging receipt of the information can be accomplished through the mail.  And all while the Human Resources personnel sit at their desk.

What about a new employee, especially one who is working remote?  The Human Resources personnel can use conference calls to introduce multiple new employees to company policies and benefits.  By doing several new employees at the same time the Human Resources department saves time and makes sure that all employees are getting the same materials at the same time.  Questions that the new employees have can be shared which helps avoid answering the same question multiple times if handled on a separate phone call instead of a conference call.

And there is no more effective way to conduct training than using conference calls or a web conference.  Many companies do not have the room necessary to pull employees into a central location and train them even if the cost to do so is not a barrier.  Using conference calls for training allows you to share the same information across the employee base in a fast, efficient and affordable manner.  Using a web conference combined with conference calls allows you to not just share information with the participants, but you can also insert questions into the presentation to encourage participation and increase retention.  You can even upload files into the web conference that participants can download during the presentation if necessary.

Today with smaller numbers of staff in Human Resources shouldering an increasing responsibilty for disseminating information and training to  remote employees, conference calls have become an essential tool.

www.zipconferencing.com

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The Joy of being a Conference Call Service Provider

Monday, September 14th, 2009

I have been in the telecommunications business over 25 years and been a conference call service provider business since 1995.  When I first started in this industry I had no idea of the complexity of the business, the amazing number of applications the service is used for and the importance of a quality conference call service to the customers that use it everyday.  Now after fourteen years of providing such a valuable business service I can not imagine doing anything else.

Conference call services have evolved over the past fourteen years but their value to businesses has only grown and grown.  Especially in an economy like we are going through today, a quality conference call service provides businesses a way to cut costs without having their business processes suffer.  Meetings can still happen without the need to travel to far reaching locations, sales can meet with customers, employees can still be trained to provide a higher level of service to customers without having to attend a training class in some distant city and a conference call service provides an alternative to countless other costly travel plans. 

In an effort to save money, companies are discovering the other benefits of conference calls such as shortening the sales cycle.  Without conference calls, sales would have to travel to the customer site to perform a presentation or sales demonstration.  With the aid of web conferencing and a conference call, sales can perform a full scale sales presentation right from their desktop.  Beyond the cost of the visit, the salesperson has more time to perform other demonstrations for more customers.  A conference call service is more convenient for the salesperson and their prospective customer.  The same goes for other departments as well.  With a conference call, people don’t have to spend time getting to a conference room, waiting for the meeting to start and then returning to their desk.  Conference call service meeting attendees simply hang up the phone and return to work.  This increase in productivity is very important when your business is trying to do more work with less personnel.

And throughout your business, you will find that communication improves in general.  Making sure that everyone is on the same page is essential to running an effective business and staying in touch through a conference call service makes sure that even remote employees get the same message at the same time as the other employees. 

Now that I have been providing this essential service to businesses for over fourteen years I understand the importance of it in their everyday lives.  Providing a high quality conference call service is not an option it is a necessity.  Businesses rely on conference calls like never before and being able to provide this essential service is a very rewarding experience.  I take my responsibility in being a conference call service provider very seriously and I hope you value the service enough to make sure you get the best service available.

www.zipconferencing.com

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Conference Calls Save Money

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Many people who use conference calls in their daily business lives may have forgotten the number one benefit you get when you use conference calls.  Conference calls save money. 

I think that conference call service early adopters were more interested in solving business issues that could not be solved in other ways.  The legal community in particular simply could not find a way to effectively meet with clients and other counsel in a quick and convenient manner when they were unable to meet face to face.  They were not really concerned about saving money by meeting over the telephone as they charge back their customers anyway.  It was the second wave of conference call users that discovered some of the other benefits to using a conference call service. 

Benefits to Using a Conference Call Service

  • Save Money
  • Save Time
  • Increased Productivity

The widespread growth of the use of conference calls has certainly been from their ability to save companies money.  No other technology offers as affordable a solution to solving the need to meet than the basic conference call.  How else can you meet with dozens of people around the world without leaving your desk for just pennies per minute?  So, the most obvious cost you save when you do a conference call is the travel cost to get to a personal meeting.  What other costs can you save with a conference call?

Costs you save when you do a Conference Call

  • Flight Expense
  • Rental Car Expense
  • Hotel Costs
  • Food Costs

And now with the availability of web conferencing and the ability to add visuals to your conference call there are many more applications for conference calls that save companies even more money.  As an industry we again thought that the legal community would be an early adopter of web conferencing since they could share a contract on the screen and edit it with opposing counsel and so forth.  But actually, the largest users of web conferencing have been in the Sales and Marketing areas where they have been able to dramatically reduce their travel costs and shortened their sales cycles.

And now, with the prices for conference call services hitting all time lows in the marketplace there is no better way to save travel costs than substituting your in person meetings with a conference call.  Conference calls save money.

www.zipconferencing.com

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