When you get down to it, we all cater to our customers.  And we have to, if we want their business that is.  There are many ways to cater though, and each is modified to best reach a specific target market.  Because what works for Harley Davidson customers, probably wouldn’t attract high-end antique buyers.   But when it comes to communicating with our customers, being a consultant is a universal good idea.

The basic caveats of communicating like a consultant is best described on the EdelmanChange blog.  For example, “shift from being an order taker to a strategic thinker” represents a fundamental shift for many businesses.  If we ran a restaurant, well, wouldn’t we automatically be order takers?  If we communicate and consult our diners though, we have opportunities for upselling, ideas for specialty dishes, and many other ways to improve their experiences and keep them coming back.

“Don’t be afraid to ask,” is another good consulting tip.  After all, if we don’t ask, how will we know?  It’s interesting that sometimes even the customer doesn’t know what they want or need.  It’s our job to ask, to find out, and to provide them with what they truly desire.

This one is my favorite: “Align decisions and actions to business goals.”  This basically means that instead of measuring the success for a customer with our benchmarks, we use what’s important to them as goals.  In communicating, it’s not enough that we simply talked to x amount of people a day.  Instead it’s vital that we made x amount of customers satisfied and happy.

Are any of your communication quotas set independent of true customer needs?  Do you dig down and get to what is best for the customer?  Or do you simply expect them to conform to you, and give their order when they do?  Tell us about it in a comment.

You may have a billion dollars in an account.  You may keep a ton of gold bullion in the vault.  You may even have 51% controlling interest on the Board.  But if you walk into your bank wearing a black ski mask, you’re not going to get the treatment you probably think you deserve.

We all know perceptions matter a great deal, and in a crisis situation, probably more so.  I read a tongue-in-cheek blog post listing crisis handling advice using real-world events.  Of course the point is to learn from other’s mistakes and do the OPPOSITE of each tip.

The main theme though is proper, clear, and honest communication will help avert a problem turning into a crisis--or a crisis becoming a disaster.  But while the bad examples in the blog post concern companies with larger than normal bankrolls--think BP--not all companies can get out to wherever and call a press conference.  And anyways, sometimes the scalpel is better than the sledgehammer.

We may not have millions for spin-control, but audio, web and video conferencing is the advantage for the rest of us.  As soon as a problem arises, we can have a conference call with everyone involved, from the CEO to the poor employee in the trenches.  We can get to what really happened, find out exactly what our customers think, know our resources, and discuss strategy with ideas from everyone at once.

And once we fully have the facts, we can have a video conference, getting our face in front of everyone affected.  We can use a web conference to illustrate and demonstrate exactly what has happened, and what we’re going to do about it.  We can let customers and everyone else air their grievances in the conference call and we can acknowledge their feelings and reassure them personally at the same time.

We can make all of this accessible to all--families, local businesses, the media--showing openness, acceptance of responsibility, and the will to do what’s right.  All of this can be done immediately through conferencing, no matter where any of our leadership, experts, employees, customers, or press are in the world.

All right, so it’s not obvious how heavy construction machine auctions and video conferences resemble each other.  But if you look at each as a tool, how they’re used is very similar... or should be.  After all, both tools are used to build a customer base and sell things, right?

First take a look at the premier, worldwide construction auctioneers, Ritchie Bros.  Now they don’t have an auction every day.  They don’t even have an auction every month in the same city.  So what if we want to buy an excavator in Dallas, but just missed the Ft. Worth auction?  Do we have to go another company to buy?  How can Ritchie Bros gain and retain customers enough to stay in business?

They do two things.  The first is every one of their auctions in the world has international online bidding.  This is easily relatable to those of us who use web conferencing, bringing an event to whomever, wherever they are in the world.  In a Ritchie Bros auction, you can set up an account, log in on auction day, and bid on the machines where ever they are.

The second thing they do is provide a persistent customer experience.  While auctions typically happen every other week or so, you can always log in, see the details of machines in any upcoming auctions, add to a wish list, and request more information.  A customer may only truly participate once a month in an auction, but they interact with Ritchie Bros several times a week!

A common theme for video conferences is to schedule the event and then have it.  Sometimes there is pre-registration, or maybe something to download, but that’s about it.  What if we were to provide a place to interact long before, after, and even during our video conference event?  We could set up a google group, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, or even an event blog.  Anything to allow participation and collaboration independent of the actual, moment-in-time, video conference event.

If we did this, would our participants be better informed?  Would they interact more?  Would they be more invested?  If you look at Ritchie Bros, the answers are a resounding, “Yes!”

It looks as though Lisa Schulz of Women Wine and Wellness has got herself a great idea.  Business networking for women and helping them realize their dreams is Schulz’s passion, one that she’s become very good at.  And for women near the South Metro Denver area, this is a great thing.  For those that aren’t near there... I guess you’re out of luck.

Which brings up a very good point.  Are there any ideas out there that cannot be spread nationally?  Or internationally?  Is there really a business that must stay local to work?  No, not even handcrafted ottomans made by one man in a tiny shop in South Dakota should stay local.  Obviously he can sell them online, post pictures of completed pieces, future projects, how-to videos, take commissions, and even organize tours for the really motivated ottoman lover.

And Schulz with her networking for women idea is confined to one part of one city?  I can’t believe it!  Perhaps the article didn’t mention online courses, or weekly conference calls, or branch locations in other cities with nightly meetings that have video conference linkups.  I hope networking and communication tools like these were simply overlooked in the article, because this is an idea made for sharing across the globe.  This “networking” idea was made for conferencing.

Does anyone out there have a business, or part of a business that they truly feel cannot receive benefits from conferencing?  Tell us about it in a comment, but check back for ideas from everyone on how it can be done.

A good story has a beginning, middle, and end.  A good story in business also must have a point and relevance to the current discussion.  But on many occasions, hearing that a story is coming tends to make people tune out.  That, and with limited time on a conference call, you’d think that stories had no place.  Not only should stories be allowed in conference calls, it could be your most powerful tool to be heard.

Like a picture, stories illuminate a point better than rattling off numbers or details.  They also make it much easier to remember the message being supported.  But in addition to all that, a story can cut through tons of discussion and focus the audiences attention.  

All of this is very important on a conference call.  First you have limited time.  Second, you can’t see anyone.  Third, there are usually a plethora of distractions at hand.  But when a “story” begins, people zero in and pay attention without realizing it.  They want to know why it’s being told, why it matters, and how everything turns out.  For the duration, you’ve got them.

But to avoid the stigma of stories being boring or long-winded, Anecdote.com has some tips for telling the perfect business conferencing story:

• Have a quick summary at the beginning.  “We don’t want a fiasco like what happened in Dallas.”  All you need is one or two sentences to help the participants zero in.
• Keep it short--90 seconds is a good target.  This is the main way to avoid telling a long-winded story.
• Don’t say “story” or “storytelling time.”  These words cue people to check out and do something else until the story has ended.
• Use time stamps.  “Back in ’08” or “last tuesday” are good ways to start.  It grabs their attention and orients them at the same time.
• Draw them in at the end.  Use questions as the end of the story to tie it all together and bring in the listeners.  “Can we avoid that this year?”  “Do you think we want to do something different?”

Do you use stories in your conferences?  Tell us one in a comment--remember to use these story tips!

A great conference call can do amazing things.  It can inspire, motivate, and orientate employees.  It can engage customers, secure their loyalty, and keep them coming back.  It can do many things, but what about when the conference call ends?  Does the conversation have to stop until the next conference?

The wonderful thing about this new social media world that we’re in, is that people can connect and communicate 24/7.  This is one of the many benefits with conference calls as well.  You can have one anytime, with anyone anywhere in the world.  You’re not bound by distance or timezones.

Well, that’s not totally true.  Time is an issue, because every conference call has to end at some point.  So what can we do to keep the goodness flowing?  We take it online.  It’s easy these days to get a group forum where after the conference, your participants can post feedback about the call or the topics discussed, update on actions taken, or even discuss the issues further.

It’s also a good idea to do email summaries of these post-conference discussions to be mailed out to all involved.  This will keep people in the loop, and maybe even pull in others who haven’t posted anything yet, or even missed the conference.  Keep track of the flow and interest levels by posting polls.  Have a live chat room available for any two participants to exchange ideas at a much faster rate.

The point is that when the conference ends, the energy doesn’t have to follow.  If you keep the communication and collaboration going, then at the next conference call, you’ll have a solid group that’s on the same page and ready to do more good.

The newest form of the iPhone just came out in the iPhone 4G.  Now, I missed the original iPhone, and was slow to get the iPhone 3G--it had been out over eight months--and I never got the 3GS.  But this time, I’m not making the same mistake. 

Now I haven’t gotten the 4G yet, hence the “pre-experience” part of the title.  But I’d thought I’d talk about the top five features I’m looking forward to, then do a review after I’ve spent some quality time with my own personal 4G.  So in ascending order of anticipation, here is what I’m looking forward to.

5.  Multitasking - On my 3G there is none, but since I’ve never had a smartphone that did, multitasking wasn’t something that bothered me too much.  Sure, I have to suffer through app load times, but it’s only a few seconds of my life.  However, being able to flip between apps like my laptop should be sweet.

4.  Noise-Suppressor - This addition is something I can really get behind.  A great blessing and curse of my 3G is its incredible microphone pickup levels.  Of course when outside, it tends to get a bit muddled.  It will be great to have a second mic to filter out the background noise.

3.  App Folders - I hate doing it, but every couple of months I go through the laborious process of reorganizing my apps.  I put the ones I really use at the front, the ones I kinda use in the middle, and so on.  And of course as soon as I’m done, the first app I need to use is on page seven.  I can’t wait to put similar apps into folders, then have one page of folders!

2.  Unified Inbox - Yeah, this is a major drag not to have.  Imagine having a page with a list of inboxes--mail accounts--choosing one, choosing its inbox, reading the mail, going back to folders, back to all inboxes, choosing another inbox, and so forth.  So frustrating, especially since the standard mail program on mac computers is unified.  This can’t come soon enough!

1.  FaceTime - Oh baby this will be so cool!  We can actually make video phone calls now!  Remember Dick Tracy and his video watch?  How about all those spy movies?  Well FaceTime joins them in supercool status by being a video-phone program.  Seriously, video conferencing is great, especially with laptops.  But to make a video call... well, I just wish I could show it to my eight-year-old self.

Sometime soon I will return to this topic to tell you how my iPhone 4G experience actually is.  In the meantime, leave a comment and tell me about yours.

I want you to describe the room you’re in right now.  Go ahead, I’m listening.  Yes, out loud.

Okay, I can picture that.  Most rooms are easy to describe.  They usually have four walls, maybe a window, and furniture.  Colors and art might be a bit tricky, but not too bad.

Now describe to me your main product, service, or process.  

It takes a lot more words, a lot more thinking doesn’t it?  How many times did you want to say--or did say--”You’d just have to see it.”?  So what if you weren’t just talking to yourself in an empty room?  (Of course I couldn’t hear you.)  What if this was a conference call with ten important potential clients, a new crop of trainees, or all of your managers?  “You’d just have to see it,” would just not cut it.

So while conference calls are inexpensive, easy to use, and great to meet with hundreds of people at once, they do have that intangible limitation of being without visuals.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that a video conference is readily available, and don’t forget that any conference call can be augmented by a web conference with just a few clicks of a mouse.

After those clicks, what happens is that all your participants can now see exactly what you’re talking about.  You can show them the pictures, the graphs, and the diagrams.  You can walk them through the website, or show them specifics of the new production line.  Your thousand words get saved by your picture.

Saved, and now those words can be put to much better uses.  You can clarify, answer questions, and elaborate.  And the best part is you won’t have to wonder if you properly described things.

Less is often more, and in PowerPoint, less is almost always more.  It’s more clear, it’s more simplified, and more conducive to getting our point across.  The king of “less” these days seems to be Takahashi Masayoshi, whose extremely zen style of PowerPoint slides caught the attention of Japan and the world.

We’ve talked about the concept of “less is more” before regarding PowerPoint, and we used Takahashi’s style as an example a few times too.  This time around, we’re going to focus on the part of the Takahashi Method that uses text as visuals.

It’s actually the catalyst of the Takahashi Method.  In the beginning, he had to give a short presentation, but didn’t have access to PowerPoint, photos, or even a graphics program.  So with text as his only option, he thought about how he could get his point across in a meaningful and memorable way.

What he did was take as few words as possible--and short words at that--and make them huge.  On each slide, one word filled the screen.  By doing this, the words stopped being text, and became visuals.  

If we were to do the same thing for our web conferences, each of our slides would be a title screen, a main point, a visual, a guide, and a message.  They would be read and understood instantly, and not take our participants attention away from us.  Our PowerPoint would be what it should be: an effective support to our presentation.

Tuesday is coming and you dread it.  Why?  Because at 10am there will be a conference call... just like last week, the week before, and as far back as your dulled mind can remember.  Why does this meeting happen?  No one knows.  What is its result?  Absolutely nothing.  Should it be cancelled.?  That’s your year ly birthday wish.

In an article in the NyTimes.com, I found some tips on avoiding unnecessary meetings that I think you’ll enjoy.  The first thing we should do is...

Have an Objective - While this has been said before, it’s vital enough to repeat.  What is the purpose of the conference call?  What do we hope to accomplish and is a meeting the best way to do it?

Drop-ins Okay - Have you ever had to wait for thirty minutes until the meeting got to your part?  Did you really have to be there beforehand?  Sometimes it’s impossible to plan exactly when a speaker will be needed to speak, but if you plan correctly, it can be simple.  If people are to speak in the last ten minutes of a conference call, let them join the meeting at a later time.

Follow-Up - In the article, they encourage us to have someone take notes, including action items for the decisions made.  In a conference call, everything is recorded.  While this is easier, more efficient, and far more reliable, we still need to have someone be responsible to review the recording and follow-up.

Everyone in the Room - If we have a meeting to decide things but our report has to go to another meeting for them to approve our decisions, then we’ve just had an unnecessary meeting.  Get ALL of the involved parties into the same meeting.  Present, get feedback, answer questions, and make the decision all in one go.  This can be difficult to achieve with only face-to-face meetings, but with conference calls, it’s a simple thing to make it happen every time.

How do you avoid unnecessary meetings?  If you have any tips for us, leave a comment and tell us about them.