Carolyn Bradfield

When it comes to buying anything, I would not describe myself as a shopper.  A shopper is a person who gets pleasure from looking around, seeing what’s out there, finding things that fill a want and not a need and spending time in the social experience that shopping can often generate.  I am so not that person, even though a lot of my friends are.  Maybe that comes from growing up in a small southern town that had 1 department store and no Sears or Kmart.  Shopping just wasn’t that fun.

I would however describe myself as a competitive bargain hunter.  I have very few “wants” and most of my needs are already met.  I’m not fashion forward, but have things that are useful year after year.  A competitive bargain hunter enjoys the thrill of the hunt and the excitement of finding the bargain.  We are willing to invest time to weigh the options, know the discounting patterns of our favorite retailers, and invest in the research on Internet sites such as craigslist.

It baffles me when I run into people who are satisfied with paying more than then need to for products or services they use regularly.  Sometimes this happens because they have little to no financial incentive to save money.  As an example, insurance companies don’t really motivate their customers to be frugal.  For my high cholesterol, my doctor originally prescribed Lipitor and the drug did its job.  My number dropped by 40%.  I was elated.  However, even after the co-pay, the price was over $60 per month.  I did my research and found that there were a number of generic drug equivalents and asked my doctor to write a new prescription.  I took it to Wal-Mart and for $4 came away with the new drug.  My cholesterol numbers didn’t go up.  If Aetna would reward me for shopping around, there’s no telling how much I could save on their behalf!

Stay tuned and I’ll blog about how Ann Taylor, Kohl’s, and Banana Republic fund my very large Christmas list when I shop the months after Christmas with coupons, emails to alert me when the price drops, and extra percentages off on special days.  Their styles are classic and everyone seems to be happy with the cashmere, sweaters, and classic styles.

Being a competitive bargain hunter requires that you do a little research, compare and contrast and be willing to slightly alter how you do business.  Given the fact that I’m a competitive bargain hunter in my personal life, one can expect that I would translate that spirit into Copper Conferencing.   Here is where we are going to help you start the process of saving money by just changing your habits slightly.

Most of us dial toll-free numbers to get into a conference call.  However, most of us are taking those calls from our offices or a fixed location.  And even if we take those calls from our cell phone, we usually have plans that give us long distance for free.  I started asking myself, “Is dialing a toll-free number to get into a conference call really necessary?”   And if not, what is the alternative?

I stumbled on the fact that there are networks of local dial in numbers that can access a conference call exactly the same way a toll-free number can.  Dialing a local number is always less expensive.  There is no long distance charge for the user and it cost less money for me as the provider to offer it.  If customers are willing to slightly alter how they enter a call, then they can save money.  Get ready, because Copper is going to show everyone how to use local dial in just as easily as you use a toll free number.  You can join my competitive bargain club with this one simple conferencing secret.

I hate paying more than I have to for anything…….for my monthly cholesterol drug, for that Ann Taylor outfit and to get into my conference call.  Read my next blog and I’ll show you just how painless it is to do it.   I’ll also give you my key secrets to competitive bargain hunting.  I promise it will be worth it!

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a leading provider of audio and web conferencing and wrap-around services to enhance customer experience. You can try Copper’s great web and audio conferencing services — FREE. Just sign up now.

Working at a small company gives employees the opportunity to dream, think, and contribute to product development, enhancements, and how we market and sell to our customers.  At Copper Conferencing, talking with our customers is as close as picking up the phone, whether you are in Marketing, Customer Service, Accounting or Sales.  We count it a privilege to hear what our customers tell us that they care about, what it is that they need, or what they would like to have from conferencing in future days/years.

Although predicting the future is not likely, peeking around the next corner isn’t out of reach.  The combination of customer desires and employee dreams of future possibilities launch ideas, and ideas become ways of doing things better.

2010 is the year of doing conferencing better, easier, less expensively.  At Copper, this means partnerships with leading web conferencing providers to provide an expanded menu of service and choices for our diverse customers.  It means introducing Local Dial In as a connection option to drive your costs down.  It means having a  Conference Coach available to you every time you call us, and Connect To Copper, a state of the art Customer Portal for you to  self-access and manage your  conferencing account whenever you need to.

Wherever you are, we are here. We have expanded our menu, giving you new choices, and making conferencing easier.

Try Copper for free!

I thought it would be a good idea to have a little competition within the Atlanta office and to use Fantasy Football to create that competition. So, we began I believe like any other Fantasy Football League except that since we are an audio and web conferencing company, we would do the draft over web conferencing using integrated audio convfrencing  to keep track and make it official. Having the ability to use web and audio conferencing for a Fantasy Football draft would be a distinct advantage for a League that is comprised of people spread farther apart from each other.  And in our case, we made it interesting and it costs less than having everyone traveling to one place to sit at one computer and do draft picks.

We had such a great time having a Fantasy Football League that we did a regular season league and a post season (playoff) league! If you have never tried out Fantasy Football, it is great, and I recommend it for you and your friends to have a great time while watching football.  Also, I recommend trying to do the draft using audio and web conferencing, because it was easy for us and if you have friends that have to travel to do the draft this might be the solution.

One thing I noticed while being in a Fantasy Football League that I am sure most League players can agree with, is that I paid more attention to each game. If you already enjoy football, but haven’t tried Fantasy Football, I can tell you that you will love the game even more. After playing in a League I find myself willing to try to do a baseball or basketball league, but I am sure they would not be as fun as doing a Fantasy Football League. If you know of any other great Fantasy Leagues then I would be grateful if you commented on this blog with the type of league, or just comment to say how your league went. If you would like to compare Leagues or see how we did, click here to see our Regular Season League and click here to see our Post Season League.

Basically, Get Schooled in Conferencing is short but explains how companies are searching for bigger and better ways to be effective at a lower cost. This quest simplifies to a simple solution – conferencing. Conferencing is the means by which companies today are better able to communicate effectively and affordably. Yes, meeting face-to-face is great, but becoming less frequent these days with the exponential growth of technology, especially communication technology. There should be no more excuses to not use audio or web conferencing; companies with conferencing are still able to help their customers, be competitive, improve customer satisfaction, and increase sales. In fact, more sales people are finding it easier to use web conferencing to demo their product than the past techniques.

The last point I would like to mention is that the Get Schooled in Conferencing is in the Channel Partners Blog, who’s Conference and Expo is coming up on March 1-3 in Las Vegas, and Copper Conferencing will be there at Booth #1529. In the end, if you are on the fence about conferencing, interested in conferencing, or already use conferencing, then get in touch with Copper Conferencing to find the service that best suits you or your company.

You can try Copper for free to see for yourself.

Jon Burnham is a marketing assistant for Copper Conferencing. Jon works and plays in and around Atlanta, Georgia.

What you should know is that an increasing number of companies recognized this solution and have survived this sour economy by using such tools as audio, web, and video conferencing. These collaborate tools have been helpful in managing clients outside of geographical boundaries and managing employees within the company. The question is, what has Copper Conferencing done to differentiate itself from the other conferencing companies to prove it is an even better solution for those companies in search of cost saving maneuvers?

The answer is, Copper Conferencing has the most user-friendly conferencing services. Copper’s collaboration tools include:

• On-Demand reservationless audio conferencing
• An online customer portal Connect To Copper that lets the customer control his/her conferencing
• A learning center with one-minute skill builders
• Free assistance from an excellent customer service team
• A range of webcast and web meeting options
• And these services come with no contract and no usage fees

It’s no wonder why companies have made the switch to Copper during the weak economy.  You can try Copper for free to see for yourself.

Jon Burnham is a marketing assistant for Copper Conferencing.  Jon works and plays in and around Atlanta, Georgia.

If you’re not a fan of bacon, and really I’m not sure there is such a person, then you might want to skip to another article.  If, however, you understand how scrumptious bacon can be, then by all means, read on.

Frying your bacon to perfection is easy using a pan since you constantly monitor its progress. Oh sure, anyone who has ever cooked bacon in a frying pan or on a grill knows about the splatter factor and sometimes it’s down right messy.  For those who have less time to monitor bacon to perfection or just don’t like the splatter factor of a frying pan may have used the standard bacon tray for a microwave.  This is good too but is harder to get bacon to a perfect point be that floppy or crispy or somewhere in between.

Several years ago my dad began looking for a better way to cook bacon.  His quest was to locate a product that better collected the bacon grease during the

Mak'n Bacon

cooking process.  He eventually purchased a Mak’n Bacon bacon cooker, which worked so well that he bought two more.  My dad loves the Mak’n Bacon because the bacon is hung on posts that allows the grease to drip into a pan as it cooks  He uses it almost daily.

Aside from grease collection, one of the best features of this particular bacon cooker is that it stores fairly flat as compared to some other models that have been tested and rejected.  The Mak’n Bacon cooker is used in any standard microwave and can cook up to a pound of bacon.  I must say that putting a pound of bacon in the microwave, setting the time, and then removing it without having to blot the excess grease off the bacon is a real bonus.

So I was seriously contemplating buying a Mak’n Bacon cooker when a Bacon Genie showed up at my house.  Apparently I needed a bacon cooker more desperately than I realized.

Bacon Genie

Nonetheless, the Bacon Genie bacon cooker is similar to the aforementioned Mak’n Bacon because it is a microwave cooker where the bacon is hung on a post and the grease collects below it.  The Bacon Genie, however, has a pour spout so that offloading the grease is actually very easy.  It’s a nice feature.  Unfortunately, there is no way you can put a pound of bacon on the Bacon Genie — a half pound maybe.

So, which one gets my vote?  Actually, I’d use either one of these products any day.  And any day that I’m working from home is a day that I try to have a big breakfast that just might include bacon.  And as for my friend Phil, well might just have to make sure he’s got a Mak’n Bacon or Bacon Genie.

Alycia Maier-Turner is the Director of Marketing for Copper Conferencing, a leading provider of webinars and conference calling services for small to medium sized businesses.  Alycia loves to try new things as trying someting often leads to great conversation.

How would a company like Copper help in my pursuit to graduate you ask? Well, it is actually a lot simpler than you might think. Basically, my senior year at Georgia State University consisted of many classes that required group work, and some weighed heavily on my grade. The problem that most students face when attending a school like Georgia State University is that a majority of fellow students live far from campus and commute to school regularly. This creates many scheduling problems for groups and teams, especially since most of the students at Georgia State also maintained working a part-time, and sometimes, full-time jobs. The solution for me became Copper Conferencing because their audio and web conferencing solutions gave me a way to solve the scheduling problems for the groups and teams in which I was involved.  I hope with the success I obtained by using conferencing that other students will learn to participate in the same fashion.

Basically, instead of trying to set a meeting place where everyone would have to squeeze in the time it takes to get there, time away from work, and time away from other personal matters, we decided to meet online. Without having to leave home, school or even work, we were able to meet online, with webcams, review our notes and discuss our options. Soon enough, meeting with the web conferencing tools that Copper Conferencing provided became the standard. We were beginning to meet almost three times a week, which we heard was three times more that the other groups. Eventually, meeting through Copper became perfunctory and we were able to hand in our work on time and with no stress concerning the outcome of the grade.

Copper Conferencing helped me accomplish what any business would be able to do in a similar situation. I believe you shouldn’t be stressed about scheduling a meeting place, traveling to a meeting place, or spending excessive amounts of money to arrange a meeting place when you have access to tools and features to meet online at anytime from practically anywhere.

You can try Copper Conferencing’s web and audio conferencing services for free.  Just fill in the Try Copper form.

One decision I have made as I’ve gotten older is to do my best to embrace change as helpful and additive.  Being part of the conferencing industry over the last decade has been influential in the development of that perspective. Conferencing calling has evolved from a labor-intensive, reservation-required, operator-assisted process of days gone by to the easy, intuitive, technology-savvy  on-demand calls of Copper Conferencing today.  That metamorphosis has been good – good for the industry, good for customers, good for business.

Have you looked at your conferencing bill lately?  Are you so used to what you’ve always done that you won’t look for something better?  What would compel you to make a change this year?  Price? Features?  Reliability?  Availability? Look back before you look ahead.  Make a list of priorities.  Call Copper Conferencing today to see how we can help you make a difference in your business.  Try Copper for free.

There is a reason why certain professionals are at the top of their industry.  They’ve spent the time and dedication needed to develop and hone the skills of a pin-point approach.  Tiger Woods has inspired a generation of golfers to pursue the game and there will be someone out there that will eventually eclipse his seemingly unattainable feats.  Just as Tiger grew up idolizing Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus, replicating and emulating Hogan’s swing mechanics and tireless hours of blister-producing practice sessions with clock-work structure; there is now a generation of upcoming player’s and protégés, such as Anthony Kim and Rory McIlroy, that will eventually surpass Tiger’s demigod status.  Whether they know it or not, they’re following his plan and process for success.  Tiger realized this early in his life and this is pertinent to every single person pursuing a career in any industry- the people at the top are there for a reason, follow their plan and process and you’ll succeed.

Copper Conferencing is unique in the fact that they have extended an opportunity for a young salesperson fresh out of college, such as myself, to join a company that is growing under the leadership of a “Tiger Woods”.  Few companies provide the direct interaction and thus direct influence with the CEO like Copper Conferencing does.  For me this is the equivalent of watching Tiger on the Mike Douglas show when he was 2 years old, versus being Bob Hope losing a putting contest to the next single dominating individual in sports.  When you have a direct interaction with someone who touts the most experience in their industry and has had a hand in each of the major companies in the industry, it’s obvious that if you follow their plan and process you will be successful.  Call it pride or ego, being in your first sales position makes you feel that you can conquer the world… and think you can do it all by yourself.  Essentially, trying to show Tiger Woods that your “swing” is better than his.

Sometimes it takes a “beating with a driver in the front yard” talk to come to this revelation, but if it was any company other than Copper Conferencing, that opportunity would probably “lip-out”.  In the short time that I’ve been with Copper, I’ve come to realize that in your first sales position, or for your first position in any industry for that matter, you need to emulate the process of those who are already successful and have the record to prove that.  In my case that is the CEO of Copper Conferencing who has won more “tournaments” in her industry than I’ve even played in.

Experience and notoriety facilitate growth.  When Tiger Woods joined the Nike staff, he turned a fledgling company in the golf industry into a dominating force.  They followed his guidance and the results speak for themselves.  If you follow the proven success of your CEO, Manager, or even colleagues, whether your first position is with Copper Conferencing, McDonald’s, or Goldman Sachs, you will develop and grow into the individuals you emulate.

Have questions about Copper Conferencing or need to do an audio conference or web meeting?  Contact a Conference Coach today.

Copper Conferencing

As a conferencing company focusing on the small to mid-sized business market, the Inside Sales team at Copper Conferencing is primarily staffed with recent college grads, eager for experience.  Although claiming to be willing to be developed and tutored, the introduction into the world of sales can often be a bit of an adjustment, if not downright uncomfortable.  That first sales job means confronting new expectations, quotas and revenue demands, and making your own living that is entirely dependent upon your efforts.  It can be a greater jolt than expected, with a steeper learning curve than anticipated.

Bringing fresh-out-of-college salespeople up to par involves both personal and professional skill development:

• What defines a workday?  What are reasonable work hours if you are to succeed?
• What is appropriate office attire? What is appropriate office language? What is appropriate office interaction between co-workers?
• What is the correct protocol for business email?
• How do you sound on the phone?  Do you sound professional and friendly when you speak?

Of no less importance, the effective manager of such an organization must know the difference between intention and results.  New salespeople often erroneously see these as equal.

• Following training, sales managers of a young sales team must model every direction given to their team:  show them what you are asking them to do – how to research a lead, how to call/prospect, how to set a sales appointment, how to execute a sales appointment.  Let them model their behavior after yours.
• Setting clear expectations with frequent feedback is critical to the success of a young team. The manager is responsible to hold up a mirror so that the salesperson can see the connection between behavior and results – a key to this is doing so on a more frequent, rather than less frequent, basis.
• Micro-management of these hires is not only smart, it is absolutely necessary.  From experience, I know that allowing someone to veer off-track on results without immediate course correction establishes a habit that can be nearly impossible to break.

One great benefit of a young sales team is the energy and enthusiasm they bring to the job. If eager to learn, they willingly take on any challenge and work like crazy to be successful. Having no previous experience, old habits are non-existent, so training can be geared toward the focus of Copper Conferencing’s ideal customer.  We are confident that we are providing a great opportunity in an increasingly expanding market when we hire inexperienced salespeople, knowing that the sales experience they receive from Copper Conferencing will set a solid sales foundation for their future sales careers.

Have questions about Copper Conferencing or need to do an audio conference or web meeting?  Contact a Conference Coach today.