Company Conference Call
What The Company Conference Call Is!
Many businesses have long used the services of a conference call company to spread their message to the investment community, where investment professionals could hear many firms in several days. To accomodate those who couldn’t travel, the conference call allowed hundreds of analysts to hear a presentation and ask questions in real time.
But access was usually restricted and often involved long-distance toll charges. Occasionally a friendly broker would loan you his access codes, some of which found their way to the Internet. As a result, conferences could be swamped. The Internet now provides a much more practical venue for the conference call. With its low cost and ability to accomodate many listeners it is now practical to open a conference call to almost anyone (at least to listen). And an increasing number of firms now do.
For example, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal related how companies do this as an efficient way to control the irresponsible babble on the Internet. People posting idle chatter now attract accurate responces from others who have heard the actual story on a conference call. As a result, the irresponsible postings are controlled.
Companies like the ability to make one public statement, and then be free from goverment limitations on how investment information must be released. And individual investors like it too, as access to this information gets them access to information that once only slowly reached the average investor. Using the Internet has many advantages besides the instantaneous international release that results. It is possible to save the audio files so that the conference call can be accessed later at a more convenient time. Plus it’s possible to edit out meaningless portions of each conference. Naturally, there are some limitations.
If everyone could ask a question, real brawls could result as the conferences became uncontrolled. So most Internet systems limit who can ask a question. An outstanding advantage for the average investor is to witness directly a firm’s management in action. While the information might be the same, an investor gains confidence in management that presents a virtuoso performane over one that is defensive, hesitant, and obfuscative. The details aside, the speed of responce and other items that don’t get incorporated in an analyst’s report can add a lot to one’s understanding.
Previously, a small investor’s only such access might have been at a company’s annual meeting. Several firms have opened to provide investment-related conference-call services in one form or another over the Internet. Some require membership and user fees, but the trend seems to be toward company funding of the low cost service, and free or very low cost access by the public.
Expect that more and more firms will use the services of a conference call company to dissiminate their information to a wider section of the population including investors and employees. You should encourage firms that you are interested in to do so. This form of communication is yet another form of ultimate corporate democracy.
Cornelius Callan is a veteran of the conference call industry. He managed sales and production at a leading conference call company for many years and just recently decided that the internet would be a good place to share his vast pool of knowledge of the business. If you have a question, he usually has the answer. You can visit his website at:http://www.conference-call-network.info
The Business Advantages of Conference Calling Using the Internet
The Internet provides a practical venue for the conference call. With its low cost and ability to accomodate many listeners it is now practical to open a conference call to almost anyone (at least to listen). Many firms now do. For example, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal related how IOMEGA does this as an efficient way to control the irresponsible babble on Internet bulletin boards. People posting idle chatter now attract accurate responces from others who have heard the actual story on a conference call. As a result, the irresponsible postings are controlled. Naturally, investment professionals complain that this allows the novice to access raw information that needs interpretation by someone more knowledgable - namely such a professional. However, companies like the ability to make one public statement, and then be free from goverment limitations on how investment information must be released. And individual investors like it too, as access to this information gets them access to information that once only slowly reached the average investor. Even Chairman Levitt of the SEC sides with the theory of greater access for the masses. According to an article in the 24 May 1999 issue of the Wall Street Journal, the NASDAQ has even funded a pilot program to pay for public access to conference calls. Firms such as DELL and Cosco are early participants.
Using the Internet has many advantages besides the instantaneous international release that results. It is possible to save the audio files so that the call can be accessed later at a more convenient time. Plus it would be possible to edit out meaningless portions to provide sort of a “Cliff Notes” of each conference. Naturally, there are some limitations. If everyone could ask a question, real brawls could result as the conferences became uncontrolled. So most Internet systems limit who can ask a question. An outstanding advantage for the average investor is to witness directly a firm’s management in action. While the information might be the same, an investor gains confidence in management that presents a virtuoso performane over one that is defensive, hesitant, and obfuscative. The details aside, the speed of responce and other items that don’t get incorporated in an analyst’s report can add a lot to one’s understanding. Previously, a small investor’s only such access might have been at a company’s annual meeting. Several firms have opened to provide investment-related conference-call services in one form or another over the Internet. Some require membership and user fees, but the trend seems to be toward company funding of the low cost service, and free or very low cost access by the public. According to the WSJ article mentioned above, firms now providing some for of access include: Vcall (Philadelphia), broadcast.com (Dallas), c-call.com (Street Fusion, (San Fransisco), and CCBN.com (Boston). Expect that more and more firms will offer the public Internet conference call. Encourage firms you are interested in to do so. This form of communication is yet another form of ultimate corporate democracy.
How to Use a Web Conference Call as a Selling Tool
Holding a web conference call has long been recognized as a valuable technique for online collaborations; however, the potential for using a web conference call as a sales tool is often overlooked. A web conference call, also known as teleconferencing, has many uses and benefits. In order to understand how to effectively use a web conference call as a sales tool, it is beneficial to gain an understanding of the traditional uses of teleconferencing and how a web conference call works.
Common uses for a web conference call include conducting training seminars and continuing education sessions, conducting market research, holding press conferences, and coordinating meetings including operational meetings, board meetings, and investor relation meetings. From a sales perspective, a web conference call can be used to hold sales meetings, to make sales presentations, to provide potential retailers or affiliates with information on new products or services, to provide press releases, or even to conduct a live, online auction.
There are many advantages to using a web conference call for such activities. A web conference call enables the sharing of real time data and web conference call tools make it possible to provide access to information used in the web conference call before, during and after the call. Web conference calls are easy to use and generally interface with other applications without the need for any special hardware. A web conference call can be held by either using a web conferencing service, or using web conferencing software that can be installed on your server.
When using web conferencing services or web conferencing software to conduct a web conference call, you generally schedule the web conference call setting the time, date and duration of the web conference call. Sometimes there is an option to reserve audio telephone conferencing so that the web conference call can also be accessed via telephone although with telephone access the sharing of files is not possible. Once the web conference call is scheduled and set up, you can choose which guests you want to invite to the web conference call and send invitations via email. Most web conference call solutions automate these steps.
When it is time for the web conference call, you present, collaborate and share information via the internet using tools provided through your web conference call solution. Most web conference call solutions use a voice-over-IP technology that enables conference attendees to talk back and forth if they have microphones and speakers. Some even have web cam features so the web conference call is “face-to-face” so to speak. During a web conference call, attendees can see what you are doing on your computer. They can view slides used in your presentation and so forth as well opening files or documents that you share throughout the web conference call.
Holding a web conference call for the purpose of conducting sales meetings, sales presentations and press conferences saves time and money because the attendees can attend the meeting from remote locations. The web conference call eliminates travel time and the expenses of travel. Furthermore, through a web conference call, hand-outs can be provided electronically rather than being printed resulting in even more cost savings. A web conference call enables real-time communications between attendees.
One of the greatest benefits of using a web conference call as a sales tool is that a web conference call makes it possible to make sales presentations to multiple decision makers in an organization first hand, rather than them relying upon the translation of the information from the presentation that may be necessary if they are physically unable to attend a sales presentation due to geographic barriers.
Copyright Christopher J. Enders. Are you at the end of your rope, fed up and confused by all the scrambled internet marketing advice you’re getting? Whether you are new to internet marketing, or a website owner who wants to make more money from your website, learn the proven strategies that will sky-rocket your internet business at http://BiznessTips.com