Plan Before Phone Conferencing

More and more business is handled over phone lines and screen-share. Well planned, these are brilliant ways to do business. If you miss important details, however, it can really take away from the experience. Those details have a way of seeming insignificant when two or more parties who haven’t met in person try to become conversational without facial cues. It can get awkward real fast. Don’t you just love it when someone tries to break the tension with a really poor joke or comment? That helps, right? Not.

Time may be a luxury you’re not used to taking, but the truth of the matter is that preparation is going to take a little time. Time is a necessary component. Without taking those minutes to think about objectives, roles and time frames, it can be too easy to have a misunderstanding between teammates or even between your company and your client.

Our company uses a screen sharing and phone conferencing tool that has just a little lag time between voices. It isn’t much, but that small delay occasionally causes a misunderstanding about who was talking and who had a comment they thought it was time to share. A little humor can lighten the situation, but we’ve learned that in addition, it is imperative to have an agenda and clear understanding of the team roles in the conversation.

I suggest taking these precautions and preparations before scheduling or participating in a phone conference:

• Write down the things you absolutely must discuss. Leave room between topics for additional notes once the conference has begun.
• Put topics in order of importance and natural conversation flow.
• Talk with your teammates and decide who will handle each aspect of the conversation.
• Decide on verbal cues to alert team members to a change of presenter.
• Decide who will play a more supportive role.
• Discuss how you all will be addressed, and whether the tone should lean toward jovial or serious.
• Visualize all participants. Visualize them satisfied and willing to discuss possible concerns.
• Plan to be a good listener.
• Acknowledge that it’s easy for two people to begin speaking at the same time and decide how you will deal with it.

These nine things are going to help you make the most out of your phone conferencing experiences. Whether video conferencing or phone conferencing, it is still a good idea to have a handle on things you plan to discuss. They won’t solve all the issues related to this type of communication, but they will make your call effective and interactive.