by Bruce Howard (Guest Blogger)

10 Helpful Tips for a Successful Conference Call

In today’s business world, collaborating with a team can be difficult. No longer do we have the one office where everyone is meeting across a conference room table, flying in from different states. Even preliminary interviews are conducted via Skype or other conference call programs. Given traffic congestion and the work at home model that many businesses have adopted, conference calling to connect teams together and bring the mission forward is here to stay. Maybe you have participated in a conference call or maybe you have not. Here is a summary with tips and tricks for a successful phone conference so your team can meet together – and achieve more.

1) Prepare an agenda. 

Just like every captain of an airplane plans their route in advance of the trip, their riders expect the destination to be understood. Nothing worst that boarding a plane to New York and ending up in Orlando, unless of course you want to visit Mickey! An agenda is important as it helps to do two important things. It assures team and meeting focus; and it sends a clear road map of the meetings progress and direction. Preparing the agenda and disseminating it to your team prior to the meeting helps the team understand the focus and purpose of the meeting. It ensures discussion flow in a timely fashion. And it helps Chatterbox Charlie (we all have one in the office) keep on topic. While we all want to know what we did with the family the other day, that might be better left for Facebook. Additionally, other speakers who have items they wish to reference, should timely submit those items to the person preparing the agenda in advance, so they can be properly added, as well as their resource materials timely given to the participants. Remember, you cannot hand out things to people in a room – since everyone is attached by the proverbial phone cord. 

12 Days of Christmas for Your Small Business

With the holiday shuffle and scuffle in high gear, countless business owners are winding down—fashioning out seasonal greetings, preparing for the annual office party and planning for a smooth coast into 2016. Although distractions are inclined to be aberrantly high, the month of December is an extremely precious time to plan for success in the approaching new year.

As a small business owner myself, I’ve personally decided to make the most of December by implementing 12 housecleaning tips for the holidays, so here’s to my version of the “12 Days of Christmas for Your Small Business.”

On the first day of Christmas

Set Goals: One of the most important mechanisms in business is establishing where you intend to go and how to get there. Establishing goals help improve your overall effectiveness as a company. Sometimes it’s easy for business owners to lose focus of true business goals and priorities because we’re often engrossed with the urgency of day-to-day activities. Define your goals carefully to achieve what you desire to accomplish first and foremost. Your company’s plan for 2016 should also include reconnecting with your personal ambitions and aspirations. As the last month of year comes to a close, take precedence and reassess where your business is now, how far it has come and where you want it to go. The next step is to create a detailed 2016 fulfillment plan that includes weekly, monthly, and quarterly checkpoints. This will help establish quarterly goals to further achieve annual goals, which forward you onto long-term goals.