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We wrote earlier about professional meetings and how to make ourselves (professionally) shine during these. Now there is another breed of non-face-to-face meetings that tend to happen more and more in the workplace, and that are not talked about as much: the conference calls. With the advent of online meeting tools such as Webex and other forms of more economical, long-distance means of communication, along with the expansion of businesses across the world, conference calls have become more the norm than the exception. And as simple, informal and easy as these may seem, they can actually be crucial when determining what kind of impression you leave your colleagues, superiors and clients with…And you may not always be able to blame an ineffective, poorly managed conference call on the lack of connectivity or poor static…Instead, there are some basic rules that should be followed in order for any conference call, even the most awkward phone meet-and-great, to leave everyone thinking how professional and effective you are:
- Coordinate, coordinate, coordinate! Whether you are the call organizer or just an attendee, make sure that you’ve got all the details of the call down-packed. Easy stuff like the call time, place, and number. Especially for international conference calls, it is important to ensure that everyone is on the same page, when it comes to who is calling whom, when and where. Believe it or not, I’ve participated in one too many calls that started with a disruptive and unprofessional snafu about who was supposed to be calling whom, why the number is not working and so on and so forth…Also make sure to arrange a quiet place for the call, as the other parties really do not need to hear all about your neighbor’s spirited conversation with IT about why their monitor is refusing to turn on…And if you are to schedule a call in a conference room whose equipment you’ve never tried before, make sure you stop by and ask how to operate the phone (you may need it!)…And if all of this coordination business got your head spinning, just do a dry run the day before, to ensure that the number is working, and make sure to confirm with all parties involved the logistical details. And as elementary as all this coordination business may sound, you’ll be sorry you didn’t do it when you start fumbling for the right dial-in number, as your boss gives you the evil eye across the table…Just sayin’…
- Be Courteous! As in many other professional areas, the rules of courtesy may be unwritten (I’ve actually witnessed some corporate environments where basic phone courtesy rules actually had to be plastered onto the walls to avoid professional blunders), but they certainly are real. Stuff like calling the person or other parties yourself if you happen to be the one making a request or asking a question. Or scheduling the call for the appropriate amount of time out of respect for others’ schedules, instead of just randomly increasing the duration by 30 minute-increments.Or if it looks like you will be running late for the call, offer the other person or other parties involved the courtesy of an email ahead of time to warn them and if necessary, reschedule the call. And believe me, a bit of courtesy will go a long way and make you remembered in a positive light…
- Keep Track! It’s not just about organizing all this business call madness or even making sure you are courteous enough to the other parties involved. The point, after all, is to do business; and during an informal call with many parties, many personalities and egos, it may be challenging to distinguish business from other aspects of the conversation. Make sure you keep track of the call, and all the related business aspects. If you or someone else has set an agenda to the meeting, or put together a presentation to frame the meeting, it may be easier to keep track of the conversation. For these, I would recommend screen sharing services such as GoToMeeting for instance, or ScreenLeap (please ensure that these are coordinated with the start and end times of the call). A good practice that a great big corporate sister of mine has taught me, is to also send a follow-up email at the conclusion of each important business conference call, asking for the other parties’ inputs as well: this way, the call is documented and archived right away!
Any other tips for business calls!
The Corporate Sister.
