Carolyn Bradfield

For those of you who did not read my previous blog on the Copper Apprentice, Copper Conferencing had two teams of inside sales people who became the ROI Consultants and the Copperheads competing against each other to complete 4 tasks focused on creating a viral marketing video, generating leads and securing sales appointments.

The success of The Copper Apprentice was getting our inside sales people to step outside the bounds of their normal jobs and increase their confidence in themselves by managing projects that they first believed they couldn’t succeed at.  We generated more appointments and leads during the Copper Apprentice than any other contest I’ve launched in my sales career.

On the network TV show and in the world of Copper, it all comes down to a final task resulting in one of the contestants being “hired” as the Apprentice.  The final task was a very difficult one for an inside sales group – hold a live networking event with a limited budget.  The four remaining members in the contest realized right away that they would be stronger together than apart and negotiated to join forces for one networking event and then be judged individually on how they performed on the task.

Ross stepped up as the project manager and had the team attending a number of other local networking events.  He formed a relationship with OSBO (The Organization Supporting Business Owners), and learned how networking events are produced from the Executive Director.  Jay managed the finances, keeping the team on budget and finding vendors who could produce fliers, etc at the best price.  Walter tackled the venue, finding a location that was convenient to the audience and within budget.  Brent managed marketing, determining the target audience and getting the word out.

The “Night of Networking” kicked off in Midtown Atlanta with business owners representing 33 companies.  A panel discussion highlighted the use of technology in a down economy focusing on how to use conferencing to do more with less budget, increase employee productivity and keep active in the marketplace.  Two of Copper’s customers representing health care and financial technology gave insight into their businesses and how their technology is changing the landscape in their respective markets.  Overall the night was a big success and got Copper noticed through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and through e-marketing to a large group of companies who now know about Copper and potentially would come to an event like this in the future or even better, buy conferencing from us!

Brent Palmer

Now to the judging.  This was a really hard one because according to the team and judges, no one contestant was identified as “the weak link” on the task.  The team members tackled their respective tasks, stayed within budget and sought outside help when they didn’t have the expertise.  The Night of Networking was well organized, productive, and highlighted Copper’s services.  However, every contest must have a winner.

The boardroom meeting allowed everyone to evaluate their own performance, the performance of their team members and to hear the feedback from the celebrity judges.  The two words that the contestants wanted to hear were “you’re hired” and those words went to Copperhead, Brent Palmer.

Brent successfully lead his team to the first task victory by producing the best commercial for Copper Conferencing, then was an anchor member on two other tasks setting a record number of sales appointments in Atlanta and Denver.  His task on the Night of Networking was one of the hardest.  With no marketing background, Brent had to select the target audience, produce promotional literature and get invitations in the hands of over 4,000 people.  Brent was competitive, focused and exemplified a key component of Copper’s value system – “The Task is the Boss.”

For his victory, Brent has been named “The Copper Apprentice.”  Aside from monetary prizes, he gets to be mentored by other sales people who are more senior on our staff and will also attend our annual strategic planning session where we create our 2011 business plan and budget.  It’s an incredible opportunity to learn about the inner workings of a company and how team members collaborate to set direction.

To all the Copperheads and ROI Consultants……..I hope you have learned that you can achieve what you didn’t think was possible, that you can grow in your careers, and that going above and beyond your day to day job is what it takes to be a winner in business.  To our “celebrity judges”……thank you for the time you took to observe the tasks, be objective in your analysis and to judge fairly.  The contestants never questioned the outcome of any task based on fairness.

And to “The Donald,” although ratings have slipped a little over the years, The Apprentice is still one of my all time favorites.  It’s a lesson in strategy, leadership, collaboration, teamwork, relationships and competitiveness.  I’m still a huge fan and I think you’ve gained another group of people who will tune in and continue to learn and grow.  See you in the boardroom!

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a provider of easy-to-use audio conferencing and web conferencing communication tools. You can try Copper’s affordable web and audio conferencing services — and get a discount for using our nationwide Local Dial-In network. Just sign up now.

Copper Conferencing in conjunction with the Organization Supporting Business Owners will be hosting a free event to provide a venue for business professionals in the Metro-Atlanta area to market within the community.

Alongside this wonderful opportunity, we will have a panel featuring industry leaders in Healthcare, Technology, and Finance. This 30-minute panel will cover “Utilizing Technology to Stimulate Business in a Down Economy.” Speakers will be introduced at 6:00 pm and at 6:30 pm we will open up the floor for a brief Q&A session.

The event will begin at 5:00 pm and end at 8:00 pm. The venue is the Residence Inn-Marriott at 1365 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30309

Register at www.copperconferencing.com/go/de1a0

Below I would like to introduce our speakers:

Robert Woosley- Director / Co-Founder iLumen

Robert Woosley

Bob Woosley is a pioneer in the application of technologies that acquire, standardize and analyze financial information. In 2000, he co-founded iLumen following 20 years as a CPA with Price Waterhouse and as a senior partner with Atlanta-based CPA firm Frazier & Deeter. Bob also served as iLumen’s Chairman and CEO until December 2008. Mr. Woosley’s industry experience and financial consulting expertise has assisted in delivering a needed business solution through a technology architecture that streamlines critical business processes in banking, accounting and corporate environments. During his career Mr. Woosley has served on the boards of several private companies and has advised businesses in different capacities over a 25 year period. Bob remains active in iLumen’s strategy and business development initiatives

Bruce Ahern, Chief Marketing Officer, Entra Health Systems

Bruce Ahern

Bruce Ahern has extensive experience in high-level marketing strategy and implementation in the technology, biomedical and healthcare industries.  Currently, he serves as the Chief Marketing Office of Entra Health Systems, a medical services company based in San Diego, California.  Their revolutionary diabetes management system uploads testing results through Bluetooth technology to a secure website for review and health management.  Prior to Entra Health, Ahern co-founded and managed Phoenix Outdoor, a North Carolina licensed wilderness treatment program for at risk adolescents ages 13-17, acquired by CRC in 2007.  For ten years, Bruce was the founder and President of the Technology Directory Publishing Company in San Diego, California. The Technology Directory researched and produced periodicals on the regional high technology, and biotechnology/biomedical industries. Ahern sold the company in the late 90’s Prior to founding the publishing company, Ahern managed marketing programs for two of the largest independent, technology firms in San Diego, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and Cubic Corporation.

Carolyn Bradfield – Chairman and CEO

Carolyn Bradfield

A pioneer in the conferencing industry, Carolyn has founded several of the industry’s largest and most successful conference calling technology providers, as well as, some of the largest independent conferencing resellers. Since 1991, she has been the driving force behind the adoption of many of the most significant innovations in the conferencing industry and has lead the way in creating a fully automated conferencing experience for the customer. Many distributed organizations have used her conferencing services to collaborate with remote employees, achieve budget goals, become more competitive and extend their marketplace reach.  In addition to conferencing, Carolyn’s versatile career includes a strong background in education, publishing and as a co-founder and CEO of Phoenix Outdoor, a licensed adolescent wilderness therapy program in Asheville, North Carolina.

For the opportunity to listen to our guest speakers please register at www.copperconferencing.com/go/de1a0 or contact Walter Green by Wednesday, October 13 at 678.430.3296

Carolyn Bradfield

Reality TV is by far my favorite category of entertainment.  Name a reality show and I’ve probably followed it.  This season, one of my guilty pleasures is an old favorite, The Apprentice.  All of the contestants competing for the title of Mr. Trump’s Apprentice have something in common.  They’ve either been laid off, terminated, not been able to find a job or in some way have fallen on harder times than they every imagined.  Although the Donald is still the Donald, it’s clear that these contestants will be helped back to employment even if they don’t progress on the show.

The show works because you get the dynamics of a group of strong personalities who need to pull together as a team to complete a complex business task, but also are fighting for control, for recognition and to stay in the competition, even if their team loses the task.  Watch the show and you’ll see how complicated it is to get people together to achieve a common goal, especially when those people are off the chart type A personalities.

I decided to find out what would happen at Copper Conferencing when I used the same concepts with our inside sales team.  The “Copper Apprentice” began with the two teams picking their names (ROI Consultants and Copperheads) and their first project manager.  The task was to create a commercial for Copper Conferencing.  ROI Consultants had great photography and production value, but failed to mention Copper Conferencing in the first minute of a two-minute commercial.  Although a little rougher in style, the Copperheads highlighted the differences between Copper and its competitors and won the task.  The Donald (me) used this as a warm-up event and elected not to fire any of the contestants on their first task.

The next task required the teams to pick an outside sales person, a city, and to schedule face-to- face sales appointments that would be judged on quantity and quality.  In past appointment contests, most of our group just didn’t engage, but this time, we had 35 appointments between Chicago and Atlanta.  I attended many of them and the teams did an excellent job getting Copper in front of a receptive audience who wanted to hear about how we could improve their business.  We added a little punch to our appointment setting strategy with a short personalized message (audio, web and video) using Adobe Connect that was sent to prospects requesting the appointment.

This time, we had two celebrity judges that observed the teams, got feedback from the outside sales people and analyzed each appointment.  The ROI Consultants came out on top and after a heated board meeting, the project manager of the Copperheads was “fired.”  The next task repeated the appointment process again in Chicago and this time Denver with almost 40 appointments scheduled between the two cities.  Our accounting team had to be brought in to analyze the close results and this time the Copperheads just edged out the ROI Consultants.  The boardroom was less volatile as I elected to fire Brittany who scheduled the least appointments, but in all fairness, who was getting married that weekend and was really off her game.

The remaining contestants are on their final task, a Night of Networking, which will be held on October 14th in midtown Atlanta.  They’ve secured a location, found some co-sponsors, created a great invitation, and targeted a list of participants on email and through other networking events.  They are even having a panel discussion on the impact of technology as a competitive tool in a down economy – a brilliant idea!

The Copper Apprentice has been a total success.  Using the dynamics of teamwork and team competition, the members of both group created their strategy, supported each other in the task, held each other accountable and gave us results that were far above and beyond any other sales contest I’ve ever held.  They learned to believe in themselves and the results have been overwhelming.

To Donald Trump, thank you for the concept, the ability to watch fascinating interpersonal dynamics each week and highlighting how valuable people still are, even in this down economy.  My team now watches your show and has taken inspiration from the competition.  Congratulations to the ROI Consultants and Copperheads.  You are both amazing teams and I look forward to the Night of Networking next week.

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a provider of easy-to-use audio conferencing and web conferencing communication tools. You can try Copper’s affordable web and audio conferencing services — and get a discount for using our nationwide Local Dial-In network. Just sign up now.

Using Facebook to Attract Clients and Connect with Like-Minded People

Presented by: Marquesa Pettway
Date: Today! Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Time: 2:00 pm ET

Register Now!

Today’s free 60-minute webinar presented by Marquesa Pettway provides participants a clear understanding of Facebook and ways to use it for personal and professional purposes.  In this webinar, you will learn:

• 6 Ways to Create a Magnetic Profile
• 4 Strategies for setting up “The Critical Nugget for Client Attraction:  The Facebook Group”
• 2 Strategies for increasing your business – the Fan Page that keeps you in front of your target audience

This is an hour well spent for anyone who wants to become more familiar with Facebook or for anyone not yet using Facebook.

Register Now!

Who Should Attend:  Everyone

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

Using Facebook to Attract Clients and Connect with Like-Minded People

Presented by: Marquesa Pettway
Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Time: 2:00 pm ET

Register Now!

This free 60-minute webinar presented by Marquesa Pettway provides participants a clear understanding of Facebook and ways to use it for personal and professional purposes.  In this webinar, you will learn:

• 6 Ways to Create a Magnetic Profile
• 4 Strategies for setting up “The Critical Nugget for Client Attraction:  The Facebook Group”
• 2 Strategies for increasing your business – the Fan Page that keeps you in front of your target audience

This is an hour well spent for anyone who wants to become more familiar with Facebook or for anyone not yet using Facebook.

Register Now!

Who Should Attend:  Everyone

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

Using Facebook to Attract Clients and Connect with Like-Minded People

Presented by: Marquesa Pettway
Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Time: 2:00 pm ET

Register Now!

Join Marquesa Pettway for a dynamic and educational free 60-minute webinar on how to use Facebook to expand your network and to enhance your business.  In this webinar, you will learn:

• 6 Ways to Create a Magnetic Profile
• 4 Strategies for setting up “The Critical Nugget for Client Attraction:  The Facebook Group”
• 2 Strategies for increasing your business – the Fan Page that keeps you in front of your target audience

This is an hour well spent for anyone who wants to become more familiar with Facebook or for anyone not yet using Facebook.

Register Now!

Who Should Attend:  Everyone

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

Free Webinar: Optimizing Your Email: Time Management / Enhanced Productivity Strategies for MS Outlook & Entourage Users

Presented by: Randy Dean
Date: Today – Thursday, October 1, 2009
Time: 11:00 am ET

Register Now!

Would you like to find an extra hour every day? In this free 60-minute webinar, Randy Dean shows several strategies and techniques on how MS Outlook can be a center point to an advanced personal productivity and time management system.

Randy helps you understand how the functions within Microsoft Outlook were designed for enhanced productivity. Randy’s Optimizing Your Outlook course covers fully integrating Outlook including:

• Getting the most usability and functionality out of your Outlook
• Setting up your “Tasks” function for prioritized project/client action
• Getting your most important personal and professional projects integrated within your Task list
• Utilizing key features in your Calendar to increase personal and professional effectiveness
• “Clearing your mind of the clutter” by effectively using the Notes function
• Enhancing the information capabilities of your Contacts function to enhance relationships and productivity

Learn how to:

• Segregate your different e-mail types to mitigate junk/spam problems
• Use embedded functions to enhance productivity and efficiency.
• Build an intelligent and structured folder system for efficient filing and management

Randy integrates plenty of humor and real-world application into this quick-hitting session, and you will be buzzing with ideas for enhancing your MS Outlook usage and expertise.

Register Now!

Who Should Attend:  Everyone

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

Free Webinar: Optimizing Your Email: Time Management / Enhanced Productivity Strategies for MS Outlook & Entourage Users

Presented by: Randy Dean
Date: Thursday, October 1, 2009
Time: 11:00 am ET

Register Now!

Attend this live business webinar presented by Randy Dean and learn new strategies and techniques on how MS Outlook can be a center point to an advanced personal productivity and time management system.

Randy helps you understand how the functions within Microsoft Outlook were designed for enhanced productivity. Randy’s Optimizing Your Outlook course covers fully integrating Outlook including:

• Getting the most usability and functionality out of your Outlook
• Setting up your “Tasks” function for prioritized project/client action
• Getting your most important personal and professional projects integrated within your Task list
• Utilizing key features in your Calendar to increase personal and professional effectiveness
• “Clearing your mind of the clutter” by effectively using the Notes function
• Enhancing the information capabilities of your Contacts function to enhance relationships and productivity

Learn how to:

• Segregate your different e-mail types to mitigate junk/spam problems
• Use embedded functions to enhance productivity and efficiency.
• Build an intelligent and structured folder system for efficient filing and management

Randy integrates plenty of humor and real-world application into this quick-hitting session, and you will be buzzing with ideas for enhancing your MS Outlook usage and expertise.

Register Now!

Who Should Attend:  Everyone

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

Free Webinar: Optimizing Your Email: Time Management / Enhanced Productivity Strategies for MS Outlook & Entourage Users

Presented by: Randy Dean
Date: Thursday, October 1, 2009
Time: 11:00 am ET

Register Now!

Would you like to find an extra hour every day? In this free 60-minute webinar, Randy Dean shows several strategies and techniques on how MS Outlook can be a center point to an advanced personal productivity and time management system.

Randy helps you understand how the functions within Microsoft Outlook were designed for enhanced productivity. Randy’s Optimizing Your Outlook course covers fully integrating Outlook including:

• Getting the most usability and functionality out of your Outlook
• Setting up your “Tasks” function for prioritized project/client action
• Getting your most important personal and professional projects integrated within your Task list
• Utilizing key features in your Calendar to increase personal and professional effectiveness
• “Clearing your mind of the clutter” by effectively using the Notes function
• Enhancing the information capabilities of your Contacts function to enhance relationships and productivity

Learn how to:

• Segregate your different e-mail types to mitigate junk/spam problems
• Use embedded functions to enhance productivity and efficiency.
• Build an intelligent and structured folder system for efficient filing and management

Randy integrates plenty of humor and real-world application into this quick-hitting session, and you will be buzzing with ideas for enhancing your MS Outlook usage and expertise.

Register Now!

Who Should Attend:  Everyone

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

Free Webinar:  Selling Your Best in Turbulent Times

Presented by: Lorna Riley
Date: Today – Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Time: 2:00 pm ET
Cost: Free — No Charge

Register Now!

Join Lorna Riley today for a free educational webinar and learn how to ramp up your revenue. You’ll come away with several strategies to:

* Help open doors to new business
* Move prospects past indifference and objections to Yes!
* Sales secrets of a billion-dollar producer – how he made it and kept it
* Techniques for managing multiple “A” priorities for the highest payoff
* How to turn failures, set-backs and disappointments into triumphs
* How to keep your energy up and stay actively calm during relentless turmoil

Lorna guides you through and engaging webinar about the in’s and out’s and do’s and don’ts of how to sell during turmoil to help you produce the best results. With years of experience in helping companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune-class, Lorna has helped people and organizations achieve off-the-chart results.

Register Now!

Who Should Attend:  Sales professionals, Business Owners, Business Development professionals

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