Business Conferencing Solutions Blog

Got Growth? 4 Tips to Grow a Small Business

business growth graph Got growth on your mind? Savvy entrepreneurs and small business decision makers understand that stagnation puts a stranglehold on enterprise. So if you’re thinking of growing your business, there are, at the most basic level, two ways to do it: make money and save money. And investing in the right tools, like web conferencing or conference calls, is an ideal way to accomplish both. So here is the small business pro’s quick guide to saving and making money:

Hire remote workers.

Don’t restrict your small business workforce to the talent in the surrounding towns or cities. Online tools and cloud computing make it surprisingly easy to assemble a remote workforce. Using tools like web conferencing, teleconferencing, and social media, businesses can affordably collaborate, connect, and engage talented employees with the ability to facilitate growth.

Streamline training.

Training takes up a good deal of time and resources, especially in heavily regulated industries, like health care or finance. One way to grow the bottom line is by reducing expensive training costs. Use live streaming or archived webinars to create a streamlined and consistent training experience across your organization.

Engage investors & clients.

Leverage the combined power of video and social media by sharing webinar clips on Facebook or tweeting links to “How-To” videos. Of course, sharing archived video via social networks places relevant content within easy reach of your immediate audience, but it also makes it simple for those viewers to share the video with other potential customers or investors. (Check out our partner company Social Strategy1 to find more tips for using social media to grow your business.)

Monetize content.

While free content has its place in marketing a small business, there’s also room for monetizing knowledge and insights. Share specialized events and education, like compliance training, with pay per view webcasting. Clients and prospects receive valuable, relevant information and you expand the bottom line with an additional revenue stream. Learn more in Va-Va-Voom Video Strategy – Monetize Video with Pay Per View Webcasting.

Get the tools that will help you make money and save money.

RollCall is a teleconferencing and web conferencing provider offering secure, reliable communication and collaboration tools, from reservation-free conference calls to enterprise-level web conferencing. Contact our team to find the tools that will help your small business save money, make money—and

How to Generate Webinar Interest Using Social Media

Webinar ChalkboardWhether you write a blog or connect on Twitter, you and other business pros know how valuable social media is for engaging with clients, investors, employees, and reporters. Social networks, like Facebook and LinkedIn, are affordable, efficient, and encourage sharing among others who may be outside your own network, making these tools an ideal way to generate interest in your webinar. Here’s how:

Invite: Some social networks, like Facebook and LinkedIn, provide the ability to create and promote events. And while most professionals use these tools for events of the face-to-face variety, you can leverage them for virtual events, like webinars, as well. For example, LinkedIn allows an attendee to share that he or she is attending a virtual event, plus it will post the webinar attendance in a status update after “I’m attending” on the event page is checked.

Tweet: Promote a webinar in a short (but tweet) way by using the microblogging social network to tweet links to a registration page or an event web page. Keep promotion consistent because tweets tend to have a short life span. Remember to create a hashtag to help followers stay up to date, and include that hashtag in all other promotional messages, whether it’s an email blast or a Facebook post.  

Promote: If you’re like many owners, managers, or entrepreneurs, you have a host of social media channels already at your fingertips. Log onto those company social network accounts and promote the event in posts and status updates. Also recruit internal brand ambassadors (the employees) to share event news on their company profiles, whether it’s on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Blog: Write a blog post about a topic pertaining to the upcoming webinar. It might be a brief preview of one of the main points or info reminding potential attendees why the virtual event will be worth their time. 

For a range of affordable and scalable webinar platforms, contact RollCall Business Conferencing. To learn more about using social media to build revenue, gather intelligence, engage customers, and manage online reputation, contact the team at our partner company, Social Strategy1.

Project Management Tips for Web Conference, Teleconference Collaboration

Project ManagerProject management isn’t easy even under the best of circumstances. Team leaders find themselves dealing with everything from shifting deadlines to sparring co-workers. Now, many project managers find themselves charged with an added challenge: managing the distributed team. And while using tech to communicate can increase team diversity and reduce costs, it also creates challenges, from cultural differences to organization-related snags. Here are tips for project managers using teleconferences, web conferences, and other platforms to connect:

  • Establish a collaboration framework. Get the maximum out of online collaboration by providing guidelines for the team. For example, consider setting rules regarding how to participate during conference calls or web conferences as well as expectations regarding employees staying on task. It might sound a bit elementary school-ish, but these ground rules will reduce drama and keep everyone focused on tasks and goals.
  • Work on the workload. Duplicate work is bound to sink efficiency when you’re collaborating online. Outline each team member’s responsibility to minimize duplication. Savvy project managers will also try to break up big jobs into smaller, more attainable tasks.
  • Respect time zone differences. Just because teleconferences and web conferences can take place 24/7/365 doesn’t mean they should. Each employee has a life outside of the office. Respect that work/life balance by scheduling conference calls or web conferences so that no single employee is always stuck in a meeting at 8 p.m. their time.
  • Pick the right tech for the situation. Not every meeting requires a full-on web conference. For example, meetings designed to “touch base” with others may need a simple teleconference to get the job done. Whichever tech platform you use to communicate, make sure each employee is comfortable using it and knows how to get support if a glitch occurs.
  • Make communication fast and simple. One key to building a get-it-done distributed team is to use no-brainer communication channels. Choosing easy-to-use platforms will allow distributed team members to create an efficient workflow that seamlessly shares the right information with the right people.

Project management can be a challenge, especially when working with a distributed team. And while they can’t do a thing about those team members who fight like reality show stars, the right tools, like teleconferences and web conferences, will make your job easier and your team’s workflow more efficient. Contact RollCall Business Conferencing to learn more about our suite of tools that give project managers the power to communicate securely, reliably, and affordably.

Make Your Job Easier – 4 Things a Conferencing Provider MUST Provide

Laptop ConferenceEver get the feeling that you work for your technology? In an ideal world, your technology should work for you.  Few things are more frustrating than working via tech platforms that don’t work, are way overpriced, or are, frankly, a pain in the rear to operate. That’s especially true of communication, where the focus needs to be on the message and not on a poorly connected conference call or unreliable webinar service. Busy business pros need a go-to conferencing provider with tools that are reliable and secure. Here are the features a dependable business conferencing provider will deliver:

Analytical Awesomeness: “How’d it go?” After a webinar or live streaming event, this is the question inevitably asked by bosses everywhere. You can tell the big guy or gal that you think it went okay, or you can have real numbers that help you deliver an informed assessment. An enterprise level conferencing provider will offer reporting capabilities that take the guesswork out of evaluating success.

Go Anywhere-ness: Business pros often find themselves coordinating between time zones and/or technology frameworks—both of which can create real organizational headaches. One way to efficiently organize communication is to choose a conferencing provider with platforms that perform on a variety of operating systems and devices, from desktop dinosaurs to the latest smartphone.

Fabulous Flexibility: Have a team member who can’t attend a meeting? There’s no need to leave that person in the dark or subject them to a hastily written email summary. A good conference call provider will offer recording features so non-attendees can review the material. Webinars and web conferencing events can be recorded as well, making it simple for team members to view content on-demand.

Bottom-Line Bodaciousness: Want to impress the boss? I admit that using the word bodaciuosness at your next meeting probably won’t do it; but keeping an eye on that bottom line will. Conference calls are an affordable way to connect, making them ideal for start-ups and pros with a budget. Webinars and web conferencing are also bottom line friendly, helping to slash the cost and down-time associated with travel.

RollCall Business Conferencing offers communication solutions to suit any budget. From Meet Me reservation-free teleconferences to branded channels on RollCall TV, our technology gives you the power to connect reliably, affordably, and professionally with customers, buyers, employees, potential investors, and other audiences. Learn how we can make your job much easier.