Carolyn Bradfield

Every time a new employee starts with Copper Conferencing, I usually take the portion of their training that includes an historical perspective of the industry.  After all, I’ve been in the industry longer that most people I know (other than my friend Mike Burns).  One perspective that is difficult to get across to our younger people is just how much conferencing has transformed how American business operates.

I started my business career in the information technology division of General Electric (GEISCO).  Even though we had email back in the early 80’s (way before the rest of the world did), management was generally focused on setting policy and dictating that policy to the rest of us.  We weren’t asked our opinion about how things should work; we were told what we needed to do to execute GE’s business plan.  Being a cog in the wheel was a good description of how employees were viewed.

After GE, I evolved to the voice mail industry.  Phone systems didn’t have voice mail, so our company (Async) sold it as a service.  Sales operations jumped on the chance to leave voice messages vs. written messages with administrative assistants and our business took off.  Voice mail was for one-way informational messages and companies continued to tell their employees. how to execute the plan, not create or add to the plan.

Then along came conference calling.  We began talking to regional managers who spent each Monday on the phone calling their people one at a time to deliver information, repeat policy and deliver action items.  Conferencing changed all of that.  Instead of just being able to deliver a one-way informational message, dispersed organizations were able to get their people on a call once a week.  Now, there could be a conversation.  What are you seeing from the competition?  What is the best strategy to win deals?  How should we address this issue?  All of a sudden, employees were being asked to contribute their thoughts, their opinions, their information and their insights.  Business began to transform from being management-directed to being collaborative.

This is a simple concept, but it’s absolutely transformational in the way people thought about their jobs, their companies and themselves.  Employees realized that they experienced the same obstacles as other employees.  They knew there were others who had creative ways to outdistance the competition.  They had a way to share their victories with others and stay motivated.  They counted and their opinion mattered.  They were a part of the process.

With younger employees, it’s almost taken for granted that they will be asked their opinion and asked to contribute to the collective wisdom of the company.  However, that transformation may never have happened if it were not for a technology like conference calling that made it convenient, affordable and easy to bring people together.

Sometimes when I wonder what my overall contribution to business is going to be remembered for, I can point to how I showed companies how a simple technology like audio conferencing could transform their organizations into a more competitive and collaborative culture…..how management could turn directives into conversations….how they could improve morale and the value of their employees.  Simple technology, transformational results!

Carolyn Bradfield

I said I was going to curtail travel to avoid the H1N1 Swine Flu, but I need to visit our Denver office and have relented – I fly there Tuesday.   I watched the news tonight only to find that contentious passengers who have come down with the virus are having a very difficult time changing their tickets.  I guess the airlines would rather have someone sick on their airplanes than allow passengers to make a change.  I’m not liking my chances here.

Now to my second issue.  Denver, what’s up with no rental cars? This is the 3rd time this year that I have gone online in advance and not been able to get a rental car anywhere in your city.  Not at the airport, not downtown, not anywhere.  Does your convention and visitor’s bureau not work with the rental car companies like National and Hertz to let them know when to expect visitors?  Recognize that you aren’t one of those cities with a good mass transit system, so rental cars are kind of important.

Fortunately, I’ve been able to reduce my travel significantly.  Conferencing is helping me achieve that goal.  I’ve cut back my travel by 50% and the tough time I am having with virus laden planes and no rental cars reminds me one of the reasons Copper Conferencing is in business — to help people work where ever they are and when ever they need to using web and audio conferencing.

Believe it or not, even in Atlanta, we had a lot of connections to New York that day.  Marlene’s daughter Heather had her long-time boyfriend on his second day in his first job at Morgan Stanley report into work on the 65th floor of one of the towers.  We couldn’t reach him as we saw the tower fall.  Our key vendor, Raindance had all their executives in New York AND Washington, DC.  It was unbelievable.

Heather’s boyfriend made it out just in time and the Raindance people made it back to Denver intact.  9/11 changed the way our company saw the relevance of our conferencing business and the conferencing industry forever.  People who had never conferenced, called up and asked for accounts.  They stayed home.  They found new ways to engage with each other without jumping on an airplane.

Why did this come to the front of my mind?  No matter what the catalyst is that keeps us at home, we’ve got to think about how to do business without jumping on an airplane.  I already said I was going to travel less.  I really mean it.  I’m really good at meeting over a conference call and I’m going to make sure other people get way better at it.

When I look people up on Twitter, I’ll see them talk about how much they HATE being on a conference call.  Come on people, it’s not that hard and we all need to get way better at doing it.

Follow Copper Conferencing on Twitter @CopperConf or visit our website at http://www.copperconferencing.com

Whenever I am fortunate enough to run a company, as I am now with Copper Conferencing, I think about value systems and want to make sure that employees think about them as well.  A strong corporate value system dictates how people should treat their customers, their employees, their stockholders, and their peers. 

Copper’s value system is straightforward and simple.  It has some simple concepts:

• Be easy to do business with
• Customer needs are always first and always urgent
• Communicate honestly, specifically and directly
• The task is the boss

I wholeheartedly believe that we better think about what we stand for as business leaders and make sure we’re running our companies that way.  We owe it to a generation of workers who spend as much if not more time on the job than they do at home.  And we certainly owe it to our customers so they know what it is our company stands for.

It’s not even that hard.  They get a dial in number and moderator ID which companies sometimes post on the Internet and keep surfing until they can unlock the ID with a moderator code.  Then, it’s off to the races – they sell access and dial out and rack up a ton of international long distance.

So what’s this have to do with “don’t ask, don’t tell”.  If you use some of the larger services like InterCall, they have very limited ability to detect and prevent fraud.  If a customer calls them with unexplained charges on their invoice, they’ll certainly look into and fix the problem.  But what about if this usage goes undetected.  I’m positive that there are a number of companies out there that don’t find the fraud, don’t ask and certainly InterCall doesn’t tell.

The same can be said for doing a web conference.  Okay, maybe not in your car, but anywhere Wi-Fi is available is a place from which you can host a web meeting.

In fact, many people I know host internet meetings from their favorite coffee shops or restaurants.  I asked some of our Conference Coaches and employees what their favorite locations were for working remotely or for hosting internet meetings.  Here are their favorites:

• Kathleen, Director of Customer Care: Starbucks at 2035 Towne Lake Parkway, Woodstock, GA (770) 592-5529
• Brittany, Conference Coach: Yogoday at 124 Barrett Pkwy, Marietta, GA (770) 795-1522 and any Starbucks
• Amanda, Marketing Clairvoyant: Orchard Town Center at  14697 Delaware Street, Suite 850, Westminster, CO 303-450-8600
• Tim, Web Guru: Panera Bread at 302 Center Drive, Superior, CO (720) 304-7000
• Brent, Conference Coach: Borders Bookstore at 605 Ernest W Barrett Parkway NW, Kennesaw, GA (678) 581-1243 and Starbucks at Barrett Pkwy & Barrett Lakes Blvd 815 Barrett Parkway, Kennesaw, GA 770-427-0159
• Alycia, Director of Marketing: Alexander’s Pizza at 849 Orange Avenue, Coronado, CA (619) 435-5747

So, the next time you’re out and about and need to do a teleconference or a web conference, just remember that your local coffee shop, bookstore or favorite restaurant might be just the place to do it.

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

The first 100 Twitter users to follow and retweet get a 5,000 minute 30-day free trial of audio conferencing.  All others get a 1,000 minute 30-day free trial of audio conferencing.  Are you a Tweeter?  Will you be in the first 100?

Here’s what a Twitter user needs to do:

1. Post: RT @CopperConf: Exclusive Twitter offer! Free 30 day trial of audio conferencing – Follow @CopperConf and ReTweet to sign up!
2. Follow @CopperConf
3. Respond to our direct tweet and tell us who you are

That’s it!  Only a few clicks and any Twitter user can begin saving money by using the free 30-day trial of On Demand Audio Conferencing.

Here’s what you need to know about Copper Conferencing’s On Demand Audio Conferencing:

• Up to 125 participants
• Reservationless
• Easy-to-use
• Reliable
• No contract or monthly commitment
• Offer valid for new customers only.  Offer expires July 31, 2009

Not on Twitter yet?  Sign up at www.twitter.com.  Good luck and happy tweeting!
Copper Conferencing
www.twitter.com/CopperConf
866.501.1855

My job at Copper Conferencing is to look for ways to improve the customer experience Here are some winning strategies we use to connect the customer to Copper and make them feel valued.

Strategy #1: Go back to the basics and be human
We look at our customer service personnel as “Conference Coaches.” Our team has industry experts that can assist with any question or remove any obstacle to help customers with their situation. No one likes calling into an endless web of numbers – press 1 for this and 2 for that and then listen for the next set of options. Most customers are thinking “just get me to a human that can understand what I am asking!” We have brought our Customer Care philosophy back to the basics – people like to be assisted by people – not machines. You are guaranteed to have your questions answered by the end of you call. Now that is refreshingly human!

Strategy #2: Make-over your materials
Copper Conferencing completely revamped the website and product materials to make them user friendly. We took a step back and got rid of all of the wordy documents containing hot industry terms and fillers. Customers want to be able to easily access information without having to use a decoder. In order to gain perspective on your customer-facing materials, ask a colleague in another industry to review and provide feedback. Your website and materials could be the first impression you give to prospective customers or investors. Is it worth their time and is it leaving them with the desired impression?

Strategy #3: Provide the human experience but still keep up with the times
Although Copper Conferencing has gone back to the basics of customer care by providing knowledgeable human interaction, we understand the benefits of keeping up with the times. We know that our customers are busy professionals that might not have time to or would rather not call and speak with a Conference Coach about account maintenance, invoices, etc. For these customers, we have built the ultimate in customer self care – our Connect To Copper customer portal. Customers can login to view their account, manage moderators, view their usage and reports, view invoices and make payments online. Adoption of this portal has been incredible and continues to rise. Connect To Copper enables the customers to quickly achieve their goal of gathering information and also leaves more time for our Conference Coaches to advise customers on application rather than administrative issues.

Strategy #4: Make training easy and accessible
We realize that everyone learns at a different pace and only when their schedules allow. Copper developed a Learning Center that offers materials on all of our services including user guides and video training modules. We pioneered the One Minute Skill Builder to teach our customers how to use specific features of our web services in 60 seconds or less! Evaluate the accessibility of your training and materials – do they accommodate your customers’ hectic schedules? Are they always accessible so customers can learn at their pace, not yours?

Copper Conferencing has deployed several winning strategies that keep our customers in contact with us. We have developed multiple interfaces so the customers can interact and get the answers that they need. According to The Journal of Service Research, “…each service interface is designed to leverage its unique capabilities and guide customers to other service interfaces whenever that interface better enhances the overall customer experience.” Copper Conferencing will continue to focus on the customer experience as our customers are truly valued.

For additional information about Copper Conferencing please visit www.copperconferencing.com.

About Conference Coach Kathleen
Kathleen Thompson is the Director of Customer Care for Copper Conferencing. Kathleen joined Copper Conferencing in November 2007. Kathleen is responsible for increasing customer retention and sales, managing the Account Management and Customer Service teams, and ensuring that it is easy for customers to do business with Copper Conferencing. Kathleen has over 10 years of customer service experience and has worked as a Guest Service Manager at Target, a Regional Account Manager at Raindance Communications and an Advocate/Case Manager at Cherokee Family Violence Center.

Kathleen holds a Bachelor’s degree from Kennesaw State University located in Kennesaw, Georgia. Kathleen is active in her community as an American Cancer Society, local children’s shelter and Humane Society volunteer.

Reference:
Lia Patrício, Raymond P. Fisk, and João Falcão e Cunha
Designing Multi-Interface Service Experiences: The Service Experience Blueprint
Journal of Service Research, May 2008; 10: 318 – 334.

BROOMFIELD, CO, April 22, 2009 — Copper Conferencing, a leading provider of audio conferencing and web conferencing services to small and medium-sized businesses, announced Lisa Niederman and Lis Mackenzie will be the inaugural speakers for the Business Webinar Series, a free online educational series for business professionals.

“We’ve chosen to commence the Business Webinar Series with the Leadership Track and are pleased to have Lis Mackenzie and Lisa Niederman leading off the Business Webinar Series,” said Alycia Maier-Turner Director of Marketing for Copper Conferencing. ”With today’s business challenges, we are looking to provide businesses and business leaders with free resources to help them survive.”

The Business Webinar Series leadership track features speakers who have become renowned for their pursuit of excellence and demonstrated leadership. The leadership track is not just specifically for people in leadership positions but also those who want to become better leaders. Niederman and Mackenzie will be presenting at the first of a two-part webinar series beginning Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

“Now is the time to focus on speed to performance and specifically matching human performance with your financial imperatives,” said Lis Mackenzie, CEO of PeopleBridge and Lisa Niederman, founder and CEO of Performance Velocity. “Our one-hour webinar gives participants an in-depth overview of key areas to focus on to achieve quick results.”

Free for registered participants, Niederman and Mackenzie’s webinar “Business Survival in an Urgent World – Matching Task to Talent” will begin at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, April 28, 2009. To register, visit www.copperconferencing.com/copperuniv/Niederman-Mackenzie/

About Copper Conferencing:
Headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, Copper Conferencing provides eco-friendly 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 event calls, Copper Conferencing helps businesses save time and money while improving productivity. Copper’s audio and web conferencing services are backed by fully managed, carrier-class platforms to power communication for thousands of customers. For more information about Copper Conferencing, visit www.copperconferencing.com or call a Conference Coach at 866-903-7521.

About Lisa Niederman
Lisa Niederman is founder and CEO of Performance Velocity LLC, a firm specializing in Executive and Leadership Programs that deliver a full spectrum of Executive Performance: Executive Onboarding, Executive Performance, Executive Legacy. Our signature program, Igniting Leadership provides for accelerated executive and management transitions that speed results. Lisa’s 27 years in business began as an executive in the health care industry and expanded into assessment and training of executives, managers and teams in local and national industries.

She guides leaders and senior management teams through times of uncertainty by igniting leadership, accelerating execution and consistently deliver peak performance. Organizations benefit from Lisa’s keen sensitivity to interweaving the people and management needs of an organization to ignite results. She is a dynamic and accomplished facilitator, speaker and trainer in Executive, Leadership and Team Development, Change/Transition Management and Conflict Resolution. She received her Masters Degree in Psychology and is past President of the American Society of Training & Development, Rocky Mountain Chapter and is a founding member of the Women’s Leadership Institute. For more information about Performance Velocity visit www.performancevelocity.com.

About Lis Mackenzie
Lis Mackenzie is the founder and CEO of PeopleBridge, a firm specializing in the design, development and implementation of strategic human resources solutions that supports an organization’s overall business objectives and bottom line. Our practice offers the full spectrum of HR solutions from recruiting and retention to assessment of an organization’s compliance and best practices profile and subsequent implementation of solutions.

Lis’ experience includes VP-level positions in private industry for Fortune 500 companies and smaller businesses. Educated in Norway, Lis has earned the SPHR designation (Senior Professional in Human Resources). She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Colorado Human Resource Association (CHRA). For more information about PeopleBridge at http://peoplebridge.net/index.html.

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

What does “Going Green” mean exactly? Recycling plastics, paper and cans are just the start for the concept of going green. Businesses all over the country are going green in a number of creative ways beyond just recycling.

One strategy that companies are using to go green is switching to e-invoicing. This is a win-win for both the customer and the company. The company saves on the expense of printing the invoice and getting them ready to mail out and the savings can be passed on to the customer.

Here at Copper Conferencing we are doing just that — Going Green! Customers can now receive their monthly statement via email or at our online customer portal – Connect To Copper. When a customer receives a statement via email it looks exactly the same as the paper invoice received through the US Postal Service. The only difference is that each customer is now playing a part in helping the environment. With e-invoicing network in place, customers typically receive an invoice within minutes of creation, and suppliers are notified that the invoice has been delivered.

Being environmentally aware can be very cost effective. A company can save thousands of dollars each month by switching to e-invoicing, which means a customer receives their paperless monthly statements through email rather than the US Postal Service. Making the switch saves on the following:

• Paper – we print approximately 7,000 sheets of paper each month on statements alone
• Postage and envelopes – hundreds of dollars each month

When choosing an audio conferencing company for your needs, wouldn’t you want to choose a company that cares for the environment? If the company cares for the environment, then the company cares for you. Here at Copper Conferencing we care about you and the environment, we use recycled materials from copy paper to facial tissues and provide our customers with ways to run a greener business through paperless invoicing and by using audio and web conferencing as an alternative to meeting travel. So the next time you receive an statement in the mail, sit back and think of all the reasons to change to e-invoicing, not only a change for you but for the future of the environment.