Conference Calls – 2 Faux Pas

Conference calls make up a very important part of your business and there are certain rules you should follow if you don’t want to look unprofessional or just plain stupid in front of your clients or colleagues. Here is a selection of rather amusing incidents of people’s experiences during some memorable conference calls and are great examples of what not to do:

Conference calls and driving don’t mix – If you are driving when due to take part in a conference call it’s probably best just to sit that one out. I recently heard a story about the head of a company taking part in a rather important conference call to a possible new client while driving into the office. Everything was going as planned until someone pulled out in front of her car and the clients whole office was treated to a string of obscenities, needless to say it did not go down too well and they did not get the gig!

Speak Up – This may seem like an obvious one, but you’d be amazed how many people fail to do so. A friend of mine recently told me about a male colleague with a distinctly high pitched voice who was asked to take part in an important client telephone conference and didn’t make his introduction very clear.” Sean in sales”, not wanting to have to correct the client had to suffer the indignity of being referred to as “Dawn in Wales” for the duration of the call.

So remember speak up and please, please, please don’t call and drive. Being adept at telecommunications is becoming increasingly important in business and in life as we continue to spread around the globe and globalization in business continues to grow. So making mistakes like the ones above is pretty much inexcusable. So get practicing!