Conference calling is a fantastic time management tool and can also, if used for that purpose, make a company much more money. Once you’ve decided on getting your business in tip-top shape with a conference calling system, the price is the first thing most companies “shop”. The overall conference call pricing a business decides on varies from one conference calling company to the other. What makes the difference in the bottom line numbers is the additional services chosen. The basic conference call platform however is pretty competitively priced across the board. These three basic platforms are: free conference call, flat rate conference call which is usually a monthly bill, and the pay per call set up which is usually a pay-as-you-go set up.
Add On Servces To Determine Conference Call Pricing
In addition to your base plan there are additional services you will want to consider and should probably bank on. Conference calling companies now offer so many additional services, for some businesses, this is a dream come true for production, time management, training and revenue. Depending on the reason behind your conference calls, there are services such as recorded conference calls, transcribed conference calls which are transcribed from the recording, operator assisted conference calling, toll free conference calling which is wonderful for customer use and reservationless conference calling. These extra services are wonderful but only if you really will use them, as they will be the determining factor in your overall conference call pricing.
In a nutshell, what you will be doing is first deciding on the add on services most of your conference calls will require and only after that, take a look at the base plans that include some of all of those services in the plan itself, then take a birds-eye view in choosing or narrowing down the conference calling companies you’d like to work with. This is typically the best way to determine your conference call pricing.
Thank goodness for the Internet. It’s now extremely easy to get online at our convenience and search and price shop for the things we want and need. The Internet is a great place to start for those of us who have access. However, the pricing we see on the Internet for conference calling companies could be even lower than what’s listed. This is actually true for a lot of things on the Internet.
Many conference calling companies run special sales to attract new customers. Other providers also offer deals to current customers as up sells. This is great business. They do this by having a subscriber or newsletter base as well as their customer list. This can truly cut down on conference call pricing for you or your company. It is also the reason you will want to narrow down your search but don’t discount anyone from your list on price alone.
Once you find the conference calling companies that offer the services you want at reasonable prices, it’s time to do what we did in the good old days. Call them on the phone. This is the only way you can really feel good about the company you choose. The Internet, while it has made it easy for people to shop and communicate, it has also made it quite simple for substandard services to get in front of consumers. You don’t want to trust your International conference call to some guy running a line out of his garage.
As more and more companies embrace conference calling not as a luxury but a time management system, the better conference calling companies stay on top of the technology cusp by finding different ways to be helpful both in the transition to using a conference calling line to managing employees and customers.
It will all be worth the research. When you’ve finally found a conference calling company that satisfies your needs, you will have laid that task to bed and hopefully never revisit it. The conference calling companies who are in the tops of their field all have exceptional customer service and technical help and you can be as non-technical as anyone could be and still run productive conference calls.
Karin Walker, the eternal bargain shopper, is always looking for great deals on exceptional products.
