Conference calls still have the natural advantage of conveying information quickly. Make sure your company is sharp at handling phone meetings.
Even though a lot of communication between businesses and clients these days is taking place via email or instant messaging services, conference calls still have the natural advantage of being able to convey a lot of information quickly, as well as answering questions as they come up. So, you need to make sure that your company is sharp and adept at handling these kinds of phone meetings.
First of all, you need to have a clear line and decent phone system in place, so check out 1300 phone numbers. Once you have this, need to prepare for the meeting itself. And here are a few of the best ways of doing this.
Set an Agenda
You need to be the one who sets the agenda for the meeting, and you should make sure that everyone is on the same page at the start of the call. You can also run this through with clients to find out if they think that there is anything which you need to adjust or change. You could even run through the content of your opening remarks to make sure that you are fully prepared to start the meeting confidently.
Assign a Leader
You don’t want everyone to be talking over each other all at once, so you should assign a leader for the meeting. This needs to be someone who is comfortable in introducing the participants and managing the timings of the call, moving everyone onto the next topic when appropriate, and generally facilitating the discussion.
Use a Pleasant Tone of Voice and Body Language
Your voice is going to be the vehicle which conveys a lot of information to your customers, so you need to speak in a manner which is both friendly and engaging. A lot of people don’t like hearing their own voice, but listening to a recording is one of the only ways that you are going to be able to evaluate how you are sounding so you can make improvements. Even though the listener cannot see you in person, gesturing and walking around can help your tone of voice.
Use Active Listening Skills
A lot of people don’t like to talk and only hear silence at the other end, so when your client is speaking, you should use some positive statements which indicate that you are listening and understanding what they are saying. Wait for natural gaps in the conversation rather than talking over them. It can help to make notes while they are speaking so that you can return to certain points.
Direct Questions and Comments by Name
When you are inviting other people in the room to have their input, make sure that you are indicating who is speaking by addressing them by name. Otherwise, things can end up getting very confusing for the client who is trying to work out who is talking.
Successful phone meetings take preparation and management throughout. These are a few of the techniques which you can put into practice to improve your next conference call.
