Posts Tagged ‘Prospects’

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A Conference Call Service is a basic business need

Monday, December 21st, 2009

If you were to start a new business today you would put some thought into all the things you will need to outfit your business.  No matter what business you are in there are some basic things you will probably want like a copier, some envelopes, paper, business cards and so forth.  One thing you should definitely consider for outfitting your company is a conference call service.  Zip Conferencing, like many providers of conference call services does not charge you anything to sign up for their service and you are not charged anything unless you use the service.  It is just like putting a stapler in your drawer so you can pull it out when you need it.

A conference call service provides you a high quality, low cost way to communicate effectively with your prospects and employees.  Let’s face it, as a new business you have to be careful of cash flow.  You can’t really afford to fly around the country to meet with prospects and clients.  But you do need to meet with prospects if you want to sell anything, so what do you do?  A conference call service will allow you to meet with parties around the country without leaving your desk.  It is easy to see that you will save a lot of money if some of your meetings are done using a conference call service.  And from the prospective customer’s perspective, people are very used to being on a conference call or a web conference and it is more than acceptable to hold a meeting using a conference call service.  It is now standard business practice to hold a preliminary sale s call using a web conference.  And you can share everything you would share in an in person meeting using a very affordable platform that eliminates the need to travel.  In addition to the cost you will save by reducing the travel expeses you will also get a whole lot extra time to do things other than travel.  And with a new business time is a commodity you simply can’t get enough of.

So, if you are just starting out in business, a conference call service is an essential business tool you should hire for your company.  It is a basic tool that will definitely come in handy and you don’t want to have to find one when you do need it.  Hire one now and then it will be there when you need it.

www.zipconferencing.com

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A Conference Call Service Reflects on Your Company

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

As a business we sometimes get caught up in saving money on the things we use in the business and forget to think about how it will reflect on the image of our company.  Let’s face it.  We’ve all done it.  Save a little money by replacing a reliable service or product with a cheaper one only to find that in most case, you really do get what you pay for.  It is the same with a conference call service company.  It is okay to switch to a new conference call vendor to save some money, but you do need to be careful about the service you are getting as the participants on the conference calls you run will see the conference call service you use as a reflection of your company.

You see, you are going to invite customers and prospects to attend meetings you hold via a conference call or web conference.  And it is important that the meeting have the kind of quality and reliability you expect.  After all, you would not invite your guests to a roadside motel where the lights don’t work for a meeting, right?  With a conference call service company it is not always so apparent to see the differences in the companies, but if you know what to look for, at least you will have a chance.

First of all something for free is rarely free.  In some way or another you are paying for the service.  Many times there are advertisements associated with free conference call service that the company is putting in front of your audience.  And invariably, the conference call service is not as good as a fee based service either.  Free conference calls make the participants pay to connect to the conference call because they have to dial a long distance number to connect to the call.  And the conference call service company can’t afford the latest equipment or services, or the best connections tot he telephone network either.  And they might not even have the conference call capacity to support your call when you need it.  All of these things cost money and free doesn’t pay for them.

Some of the conference call service companies are now offering unlimited capacity and rates that are less expensive than a long distance phone call.  How do they do that?  Well, they are probably offering a service based on VOIP technology.  Don’t get me wrong, VOIP has come a long way in the past 5 years, but would you trust your business to it?  Again, if it looks too good to be true it probably is. 

In the end you should be looking for a conference call service company that uses the latest conference call equipment, solid connections to the telephone network, back up network provisi0ns and provides service to back up their conference calls like Zip Conferencing.  Because when you hold an audio or web conference, the conference call service company you choose will reflect on your company.

www.zipconferencing.com

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Conference Calls for Small Businesses

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

According to a lot of the pundits out there, including President Obama, there is a surge in the number of new businesses that are getting started.  This is because people have been laid off from their existing jobs and are starting out on their own instead of trying to find a job which is difficult at best right now.  And with the start of all these businesses a lot of entrepreneurs are trying to figure out how to promote their businesses and stretch their precious capital.  This is just another reason why conference calls continue to grow, because they are a great way to reduce expenses but still get the job done.

New small businesses need to get their ideas to new customers, investors and prospects without breaking the bank.  One of the ways to do this is with a conference call instead of the expense of traveling.  It has been well documented in this blog how companies are saving thousands of dollars by choosing to conduct a conference call or a web conference instead of travelling to an in-person meeting.  Nowhere is it more important to save money than in a new small business.  Most small businesses just don’t have the money to be travelling around the country.  But with a conference call and a web conference a small business owner can present their product or service to potential customers around the country without leaving their office.  And the cost of doing a conference call or web conference these days is very affordable to even the small business owner.  In fact, with the advent of the Internet which has allowed small businesses to sell their products and services globally, the need to present to customers in remote locations has increased even more.  The ability to present to people from great distances using conference calls has expanded the marketplace for small businesses.  No longer are their goods and services limited to a local area.  The technology now available has literally helped some small businesses survive where they otherwise would not.  A conference call and web conferencing can also make a small business look bigger in the eyes of the customer by allowing them to present to anyone, anywhere.  And their office is simply a PC and a telephone.

If you have a small business and you are not taking advantage of conference calls and web conferencing in your business I urge you to examine your processes and try using the technology available to help expand your business and reduce your costs.  It may just make the difference in the life or death of your business.

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 with International Participants

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

The world is shrinking and virtually every business has a need to communicate with associates, partners and prospects around the world.  Like other ways to communicate, the conference call has had to adapt to this reality and make it easier to allow international participants on the call. 

There are a few ways to allow international participants onto a conference call.

  • Have an Operator dial out to the participant
  • Provide the participant a local number in the US they can dial into
  • Provide a local number in a foreign city that connects with the US conference call equipment
  • Provide a toll free number that can be accessed in a foreign country

All of these methods can work, but one may be better suited to your conference call needs than the others.

Operator Dial out to the International Participant

Having an operator dial out to your international participants used to be the way all participants connected to a conference call.  This method, however, has its draw backs.  The participant must be at a predetermined location and phone number so that the operator can reach them.  This is the highest cost method to connect a participant to a conference call since an operator is involved in putting the call together.

Provide the participant a local US number they can dial in to connect to the Conference Call

Most people use a toll free number in the US to assemble participants which works great if you are in the US.  People outside the US cannot access a US toll free number.   But you can provide the local US access number and this number can be used to connect to the conference call from anywhere in the world.  The cost to the Moderator or Host of the conference call is low but the participant will pay a toll charge to call into the US just like they were calling any other number in the US.

Provide a local number in a foreign country that is connected to the US conference call equipment

Not all conference call service providers have this option, but it works well for all involved.  Basically, in large foreign cities there is a local number in that city that is networked back to the US conference call equipment.  This means the international participant only has to call a local number in their city and the US Moderator pays a lower cost to transport that participant back to the US conference call equipment.

Provide a toll free number that is accessible in a foreign country

This option provides the greatest flexibility but does add some additional cost to the conference call.  The international participant simply dials a toll free number in their country and they are connected to the conference call in the US.  The cost of toll free access is higher than the local number access bu the international participant incurs no cost and does not need to be in a large city to access the number.

So, as you can see the conference call service providers now have a variety of ways to access their conference calls from around the world.  www.zipconferencing.com

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