Have you tried telling a customer you couldn’t attend the conference call you set up because your cell phone didn’t work?
On September 3, 2008, AppleInsider.com posted an article titled: “AT&T wireless networks go down on East Coast.” As I read the article, pictures of professionals unsuccessfully attempting to call into conference calls with their cell phones filled my mind. It must have been a mess!
There is one important lesson to learn here:
• If your presence is absolutely required on a conference call, do everything within your power to call in from a landline phone.
Cell phones and VoIP phones do not have 100% uptime. Period. If your presence is required and you are using VoIP or a cell phone to call in, you DO so at your own risk. The good news is that most of the time everything will be fine. The bad news is that you’ll never know when it won’t work.
There are times when you’ll be traveling or finishing a client meeting and you simply will have to use your cell phone to be on the conference call. (Hint: planning the call at a different time might be smart!) Having a backup plan to cover you in case of emergency outage will support both you and your team to be more effective. A little “what if” planning will eliminate most of the stress.
Do you have a great road warrior story of cell phone or Internet failure where you found a quick work around? Thanks in advance for adding your comments and telling others about my blog.
Posted by Byron Van Arsdale
Author – 16 Secrets to a Great Conference Call
ConferenceCallTraining.com
Tags: cell phone, communication, conference call, meeting, teleclass, teleconference, telephone, virtual meeting
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