An Engaged Workforce: Building a Team for Results with Trust, Freedom and Accountability

Presented by: Wally Hauck
Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010
Time: 2pm ET / 12pm MT

Register Now!

Join Wally Hauck and create an environment that enables employees to engage. Wally Hauck, the Team Building Consultant, explains how to create an environment of freedom, trust, and accountability and deliver more of what CEO’s are looking for from the workforce of the future.

In this webinar participants will learn:
•  Key factors for creating a culture of high performance and engagement
•  How to implement key factors for high performance and engagement
•  How to identify and remove barriers that prevent engagement
•  3 Key strategies to create a lasting culture of trust and accountability – without threats or bribes

Join Wally and discover the need for engaged employees. Consider this:
•  The key asset of any successful firm is the brainpower of its people
•  Workers are less and less interchangeable
•  Complexity of the new competitive world requires continuous information exchange

This is an hour well spent for anyone who works within a workforce that is strenuous and disengaged. Register today!

Who Should Attend: Everyone

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

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!

Carolyn Bradfield

One of the key things to remember about the Channel Partners Show in Las Vegas is the word “partner.”   Channel partners are independent business people who are experts in telecommunications services and  “partner” with technology providers to recommend and offer services to their customers.  Their customers are not large enough to staff up with a telecommunications or IT professional, so having an independent 3rd party help them make these types of decisions is critical to having the right services at the right price.

Copper Conferencing has a number of partnerships with telecommunications agents as well as technology providers.  Here are some thoughts about partnerships, focusing on what makes a good partnership and what destroys one.

Good Partnerships

• Partnerships are based on trust. You have to trust your partner to represent you appropriately and they have to trust you will deliver what you promised when you promised it.
• They have well defined relationships. Anxiety always comes from un-met expectations.  If partners know what to expect from each other, misunderstandings and conflict are minimized.
• Partnerships hold boundaries. Once the partnership rules are defined, if either of the partners operates outside of those defined rules, then the partner must communicate that a boundary has been breached and how to re-establish it.
• Partnerships are collaborative. Sometimes the rules need to change.  Sometimes what is being delivered needs to be adjusted.  Good partnerships make change a collaborative process, involving all parties.
• Partnerships must have processes to resolve conflict. If there are disagreements partners must have a plan and process to appropriately communicate and resolve the issue.

Interestingly, one key topic of conversation at this particular show was the issue of “channel conflict.”  Channel conflict specifically refers to organizations that use partners to generate revenue alongside with having their own direct sales force.  Conflict results when that direct sales force encroaches on a partner’s customer.  Because a direct sales force can likely sell services at a lower price than the partner, then conflict becomes inherent if there are no rules of engagement, little pricing discipline, or mechanisms to determine which channel is best positioned to serve the customer.

At Copper Conferencing, we have both channel partners and a direct sales force.  Our rules of engagement are quite clear relative to our partners.  If the partner is in a deal, we withdraw because generally the partner has a broader relationship with the customer and is better positioned to make conferencing a part of their overall package.  We discipline our sales organization with pricing controls so they are not undercutting our partners inadvertently.  If we encroach without realizing it, we immediately communicate to the partner so they are aware that their customer has been entertaining offers outside the influence of the channel partner.

This is a respectful way to do business and creates the trust that the channel partner needs to know that we are focused on what is in the best interest of Copper Conferencing, the partner, and the partner’s customer.  Unfortunately, this philosophy is not consistent in our industry.  The largest conferencing company (and we all know who they are) doesn’t respect the need to manage channel conflict.  They unleash their direct sales organization on anybody and everybody, have very little pricing discipline not thinking twice about undercutting their partners, and no mechanism to determine who is best positioned to serve the customer.

In the short time that I wandered by their blue and white booth, I overheard several agents with their list of customers that this provider encroached on and the unfortunate channel managers who had to explain that there was nothing they could do about it.  Wake up channel partners!  If you are in a relationship like this, then think long and hard about whether there is trust in this relationship.   It’s not enough to like your point of contact.  They are probably really nice people.  However, your provider must have a mechanism to define boundaries, rules of engagement and resolve conflict.  Otherwise, every customer you do business with is at risk.  What kind of partnership is that really?

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a leading provider or audio and web conferencing and wrap-around services to enhance customer experience. To learn more about Copper Conferencing, visit www.copperconferencing.com.

Carolyn Bradfield

The Channel Partners show kicked off with a flurry last night at the Mandalay Bay hotel with an open house in the exhibit hall.  The Copper Conferencing booth was strategically positioned right next to the food and the open bar, so we had a large group of people that hung out and visited with us, some waiting for the drink line to get shorter.

Aside from Copper Conferencing, there were a number of other conferencing companies in our industry who were present.  One of the hot topics for those at the show who know Copper and our industry is our newly-announced partnership with PGi (Premiere Global).  It is common in our industry to have buy-sell arrangements with other vendors.  None of us have the funds or band width to develop everything we sell.

In Copper’s world, we develop a lot of the key technology we are know for such as Connect To Copper, Copper Link, the Phoenix system and a soon to be announced Copper Mobile application for the iPhone and Blackberry.  For other technology, we take advantage of a larger company’s relationships and buying power and form partnerships such as the one we have formed with PGi.  They have helped us add new web conferencing to our product mix with the recent announcement that we now offer Adobe® Connect Pro, Microsoft® Live Meeting and Cisco WebEx®.  The have a much more extensive global network, extending our customer’s ability to execute both domestic and global conference calls.  We are really excited about what this means for the Copper Conferencing customer.

Now, just so you don’t think we’re boring and this is all business, we are having a little fun out here.  Remembering that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, I’ll give you a little peek behind the curtain.  Yesterday, I had a fun meeting with one of our channel partners, who I have promised not to name in my blog.  Come to find out that he took Paula Abdul to his high school prom in his junior year.  (I have asked for pictures as proof, but this seems real!).  She wore teal taffeta and was the best dancer, cutest cheerleader and overall nicest person in high school.  I’m awe stuck and glad to hear that given that I have been an American Idol fan for years!  I hear our channel partner was a stud in high school – tight end, star football player and overall hunk.  (You can still see this in him today!)

We did get invited to a couple of cool parties tonight – going to hear Smokey Robinson and the Miracles if any of you are old enough to remember how great he is and then afterwards were invited to another party at Drais on the Las Vegas Strip.  It may be a long night tonight!

Back home in Atlanta, I hear it’s blizzard conditions, so I may have to take one for the team and stay here a little longer if flights are delayed – I’ll suck it up and be a trooper and try and practice my newly acquired gambling skills to see if I can improve the $15 I have won over the last 2 days!

More from the channel show tomorrow!

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a leading provider or audio and web conferencing and wrap-around services to enhance customer experience. To learn more about Copper Conferencing, visit www.copperconferencing.com.

Internet Marketing for Rapid-Fire Success

Presented by: Debbie Allen
Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Time: 2pm ET / 12pm MT

Register Now!

Join Debbie Allen to discover online marketing strategies that will help you instantly connect with viewers and dramatically increases your online sales.

You will learn how to:
•  Implement powerful online marketing strategies that create proven results
•  Add benefit-rich headlines and attention-grabbing text that increases sales
•  Instantly improve the image and effectiveness of your website
•  Get listed higher on search engines and create more online exposure
•  Use email and social media sites to gain exposure to your website

Join Debbie to discover 7 ways to entice more online buyers, plus 6 ways to build online traffic fast! Register today.

This is an hour well spent for anyone who is trying to find more ways to improve their website.

Who Should Attend: Marketing, Business Owners, Anyone interested in boosting sales

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

The show kicks off tonight, so I thought I would start with my impressions of Las Vegas first.  A year ago, the city was reeling from high unemployment, a low number of visitors, empty hotel rooms and unfinished construction projects.  Obama compounded the issue by publicly stating that when the economy is bad you shouldn’t go to Vegas.

A year later, things aren’t much better.  The fabulous City Center is now complete with its high end Tiffany and Gucci stores, but there is a glaring lack of people that were there and willing to pay the prices.  Everywhere else, stores are closing or they are selling off inventory and the casinos are hurting for gamblers.  Since Vegas hosts a number of business conventions, I would maintain that so goes Vegas, so goes the economy and the country.  The recovery isn’t in full bloom and certainly hasn’t helped “Sin City.”

We decided to stay at the Luxor, only a short walk to the Mandalay Bay Hotel that is host to the convention, because of the super special room rates – $100 for a suite, you can’t beat it!  However, the hotel is aging and hasn’t come up to par with modern times.  Here is my advice for hotels like the Luxor to stay relevant to the business and convention customer that will certainly come back to Vegas over time:

• No hotel should be without WiFi.  Get a clue – we all have laptops.
• Get rid of those tired bedspreads and linens.  Use the white “hotel bed” look.
• Same with towels – upgrade them!  (And add bathrobes)
• Use better products in the bathroom – we like gels, high end shampoo, etc
• Change out your TV’s to flat screens

We kick off the Channel Partners Show tonight.  I’m excited to see many of the telecommunications agents that send Copper Conferencing business.  I’m excited to see the vendors and exhibitors and find out what’s new and relevant.

Welcome to my journey at the Channel Partners Show.

Denver, CO, February 25, 2010 — Copper Conferencing today announced the launch of a new suite of audio and web conferencing services to enhance the company’s collaboration offering and provide better value for Copper customers. These new offerings come as a result of an agreement with Premiere Global Services, Inc., now known as PGi, a leading provider of meeting and collaboration solutions.

“By teaming with PGi we are adding new web and audio conferencing capabilities to our suite of collaboration services,” said Carolyn Bradfield, CEO of Copper Conferencing.  “As a worldwide leader in conferencing, PGi delivers technologies that will enhance our audio conferencing capabilities and expand Copper’s web conferencing services to create an extremely rich experience, at a competitive price for our customers.”

Copper’s new web conferencing offerings include Adobe® Acrobat Connect Pro, Microsoft® Live Meeting and Cisco WebEx®.   Integrated with Copper Conferencing’s On Demand audio conferencing platform, these web technologies provide increased capabilities for webinars and web conferences from simple meetings, to nationwide training or complex corporate events.  Copper Conferencing offers a free trial of each of these services prior to a purchase decision and both per minute and subscription pricing.  To sign up for a free trial, visit www.copperconferencing.com/go/0bf53.

“By offering market-leading web conferencing services from PGi, we can expand Copper’s ability to deliver cost effective virtual sales calls, lead generation webinars, trainings, event management and remote customer service,” Bradfield added. “When businesses actively seek tools to better manage their operations, sales and staff, we can keep them connected and competitive, while at the same time saving them money.

In addition to enhanced audio conferencing capabilities, Copper is also introducing a new ‘Local Dial-In’ service that is available nationwide at a reduced rate.  Customers can now connect to On Demand conference calls using a local or toll-free number, as well a variety of international access from locations across the globe.

Copper Conferencing’s automated audio conferencing service, On Demand now offers expanded capabilities including additional call controls, added security features, plus the ability to subconference. The Connect To Copper™ customer portal features powerful, easy-to-use online account management tools with the ability to manage moderators, pay invoices and view usage reports.  New features include the ability to manage billing codes and listen to and download MP3 files of conferencing recordings.

About Copper Conferencing
Headquartered in Denver, Colorado with a major communications center in Atlanta, Georgia, Copper Conferencing provides audio conferencing and web conferencing services to small and medium-sized businesses. Copper’s Conference Coaches™ provide expert guidance of enhanced conferencing services. From On Demand reservationless audio conference calls, to highly interactive webinars and special teleconference event calls, Copper Conferencing helps businesses save time and money while improving productivity. Copper’s conferencing services are backed by fully managed, carrier-class platforms to power communication for thousands of customers. For more information about Copper Conferencing, www.copperconferencing.com or call a Conference Coach at 866-903-7521.

Adobe Connect Pro, Microsoft Live Meeting and Cisco WebEx are registered trademarks of the respective owners.

Press contact:
Alycia Maier-Turner
Copper Conferencing
303-952-4308
pr@copperconferencing.com

###

Carolyn Bradfield

One of the trends that has been ushered in with the new administration in Washington is the attempt to reign in our financial institutions such as banks and credit cards.  Shortly, a credit card reform act will take affect that attempts to prevent the credit card companies from taking advantage of their clients.  Because we have a number of young people working for Copper Conferencing, I’ve become materially interested in how they manage their credit and whether they are being taken advantage of.

Historically, credit card companies gave a very small window of time to pay bills (14 days) and when you missed that window, they would sock you with penalties and interest.  To make life more interesting, they would change the date they sent the bill and change your payment date so it was different every month.  For those of us who have online bill pay, there was a high potential to miss a payment, no matter what our intentions were to pay on time.

Even if your track record with one credit card company is perfect, if you missed or were late on payments with any other credit card companies, they would raise your rate arbitrarily.  Rates could go up at any time with the notice in the fine print and no time to find another credit card company with more reasonable rates.  The bottom line is that credit card companies (much like some of our larger conferencing competitors) are motivated to improve their revenue with fees and penalties that only show up in the fine print.

Watch your credit card statement in the interim before the bill goes into effect in March.  Many of these companies are preemptively raising rates and according to Good Morning America’s Mellody Hobson, some as high as a 79% increase!

I also want to take the time to call out a key offender of consumer abuse, Rooms to Go, a nationwide furniture retailer that sells primarily on nothing down, no interest and no payments for years at a time.  One of our young staff members got sucked into that promise, bought a bedroom suite (paying way too much) and enjoyed no payments for 18 months.  When payments finally happened, the interest rate was 25%.  By the time he pays this off, he could have also bought a living room, kitchen and dining room full of furniture!

As part of the reform initiated by Congress, companies will no longer be allowed to offer deals where no payments are made during the interest free grace period.  Here’s my advice to all of you as consumers and especially to our young folks at Copper:

1. Look at your credit card statements right now.  If the interest rate went way up, look around for another company to transfer your balance to.
2. If you are getting a tax refund, make the maximum payment possible to the credit card or account with the highest interest rate.  There’s no point hoarding money in your account when someone is charging you 25%!
3. Never enter a deal where you don’t plan to make regular payments on something you buy, even if there is some type of “grace” period.  There’s always a catch.
4. Read the fine print and your statements from the credit card companies.  They’ll find a way to ratchet up their fees, no matter what the reform bill states.

Also for you conferencing customers out there, take the same advice.  Read your invoice.  Look at the fees and charges that don’t relate to the cost of the call.  Make sure the company is doing what they committed to.  I ran a blog last year called the “InterCall Diaries” that pointed out fees, minimums, cost of receiving an invoice, and surcharges.  If you are an InterCall customer, you should be reading that invoice.  Then you should call Copper when you find out that they are no different than one of these credit card companies or Rooms to Go!

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a leading provider or audio and web conferencing and wrap-around services to enhance customer experience. To learn more about Copper Conferencing, visit www.copperconferencing.com.

For many people, I think the very act of saying ‘No’ is difficult in many circumstances.  People avoid saying ‘No’ for lots of reasons.  They don’t want to disappoint.  They don’t want to appear difficult. They don’t have the facts to say yes.  They don’t want to be confrontational.  They would rather say yes than debate the issue.  They lack the courage.

Often saying ‘No’ takes courage — even when you know without a doubt that saying ‘No’ is not only the right answer but the best answer.  Sometimes saying ‘No’ makes you feel rather ill, guilty, or heartless.  But sometimes saying ‘No’ makes you feel relief, elation or accomplished.

I applaud those who have the courage to say ‘No’ when it’s the right answer even though it may make you feel a little queasy.  I applaud those who have the courage to say ‘No’ when they know it’s the right thing to do and when saying it makes you feel good.

Use caution with ‘No’ for once you’ve found you have the courage to use it, the right answer may be ‘Yes.’

Alycia Maier-Turner is the Director of Marketing for Copper Conferencing, a provider of top-quality audio conferencing and industry-leading web conferencing services.

Carolyn Bradfield

I am going to miss Oprah when she says goodbye next season. Her shows are diverse, educational and have inspired a nation to rediscover the joy of reading. She’s spun off several other shows, most recently The Dr. Oz Show focusing on medical issues. This weekend, I caught up on some older shows and was riveted by Oprah’s show on diabetes.

The show focused on the membership of an African-American church with a very high level of diabetes among the members. Apparently, only 10% of diabetics are born with the disease, with 90% developing it due to lifestyle choices, specifically obesity and diet. Looking at this group, it was clear that the church dinners, fellowship over food and an inactive lifestyle made this group a collection of walking health time bombs.

Dr. Oz showed in a very graphic way what happens when you don’t detect or treat diabetes, common among diabetics who are Type II – those who develop the disease later in life. Sugar not processed correctly by the pancreas builds up in the body, acting like glass shards creating friction and abrasion in the arteries, eyes and other body parts. He showed a woman in the hospital who didn’t treat her disease and is going blind, on dialysis and with multiple amputations, a relative horrific site.

Let’s get back to the church ladies profiled on the show. Despite the ravages of the disease and despite the fact that several members had been already diagnosed with the disease, they were pretty uncommitted to taking their medication or testing their blood sugar. As one of the doctors stated to an older church member, “You are a walking time bomb”. Many of these ladies had lost relatives and friends to the disease, yet seemed un-moved relative to their own health.

What does this mean to me and you? Many of you reading this blog aren’t diabetics, but I’m sure you know someone who is. The statistics are staggering. Dr. Oz stated that there are 80 million people in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with diabetes or are pre-diabetic. The health care costs of managing this group is helping to quickly bankrupt our healthcare system.

There are two things that can reverse this trend. If those diabetic and pre-diabetic patients with Type II diabetes will manage their diet, their waistline and exercise, according to Dr. Oz almost ALL of Type II diabetes can be reversed. Now this will take time and willpower. In the meantime, they can manage their disease by simply testing their blood with a simple finger prick and taking their medication.

But like the church lady, many of these diabetics just don’t comply with this simple process. One of Copper’s customers has come up with a creative way to make sure this happens. Entra Health (www.entrahealthsystems.com) has invented a diabetes meter that will test your blood, upload the results wirelessly into your cell phone and deliver them to a web site. The patient has a profile on the site and the system knows when they are supposed to test themselves. They can be reminded with a simple text.

Personally, I think we should all try and lower the cost of healthcare without waiting for the insurance companies or government to come to our rescue. I try and stay healthy, maintain my weight, and buy my medications at Walmart for $4. Diabetes costs of over $174 billion a year. 90% of that group can become disease free with some lifestyle changes and while they are in the weight loss process, they can test their blood! Here’s the radical thought. If they refuse to manage themselves, I think their premiums should go up to cover a clearly self-inflicted illness. If I were running an insurance company, I would require this type of meter be used and would want to see a report of who complies with testing and who doesn’t.

Companies like Entra Health, a small, innovative organization, should be applauded for their creative approach to a very big health problem. Sometimes a very large problem can be addressed with a very simple solution. What other small companies like Entra Health are out there? I like the odds of taking $174B and cutting that expense way back.

Entra Health, once you’ve captured the testing market for diabetes, maybe you could tackle blood pressure and weight. Imagine if blood pressure meters and weight scales could upload their results! The cost of healthcare is like a huge elephant. And how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a leading provider or audio and web conferencing and wrap-around services to enhance customer experience.  To learn more about Copper Conferencing, visit www.copperconferencing.com.