Conference Calls

When I think back about how I used to communicate with my business associates 10 years ago it boggles my mind that conference calling wasn’t a part of my tool set. It’s easy to look back and critique the inefficiencies of the past but I simply couldn’t operate without a conference call system today.
Anyone in sales can appreciate the many benefits. It wasn’t long ago that I was logging thousands of air miles to simply make presentations that can now be accomplished with a conference call or even a web conference. Business owners are truly reaping the benefits as a result of the cost savings and productivity has increased dramatically as a result. For example, what once took 15 hours can now be accomplished in 30 minutes.
The ability to communicate with a few as three and as many as a thousand people at once appeals to the smart businessman and it’s not uncommon for small business owners to host conference calls as well.
So how much does it cost to host your own conference call? Well that depends. Some providers are still charging a premium and they appear to be living off their existing customer base because the costs have plummeted. I’ve actually used free conference call providers and had no issues. The call quality and features are in line with paid services, however if you’re looking to provide your clients a toll-free number to call then you’re going to need a paid service. Additionally, paid conference call providers typically offer a larger conference size.
So how expensive are paid conference calls? Like anything, the costs vary but on average it’s about 10 cents per minute per participant on a toll-free line. That may not seem like much but if you have 150 people on the line it’s costing you $15 per minute and that’s just under a grand for an hours worth of talk time so it’s important that your agenda is planned out.
At first glance paid conference calls may seem a bit steep but consider the cost to fly 150 people to a conference center, add hotel charges and of course, down time, and at point conference calling looks to be a bargain and perhaps free conference calls are the best deal in town.
So if your manager is still living in the stone ages, find a tactful way to recommend conference calling as a cost savings measure. Take a few minutes to create a cost analysis based upon the number of participants in your company and it’s an easy sell. And don’t forget, make sure you take the credit!