Conference calls are not exactly the most exciting thing in the world to engage in. Many meetings are boring and mind-numbing enough as it is. When you have to deal with the added confusion of not being able to speak directly to your audience, you are likely to find that conference calls will also be rather dull as well.

Fortunately, with a little preparation you can keep your conference call from falling apart. Just like improving an actual, physical meeting, the trick is to keep the call organized and everyone on top of what needs to be done.

Grasshopper makes collaborating with your clients easy, although, that’s not always a good thing! Kittens? Bright colors? Check out the latest Grasshopper commercial.

Are you scared to death of speaking to potential customers on the phone? Don’t be. Although it’s common for Internet entrepreneurs to avoid placing calls in favor of email, you can follow a few basic tips to interact with customers in a medium you aren’t used to.

Here are some things you should consider when you start a conversation. These quick tips will help you communicate politely and effectively:

1. Train your voice. In order to get your point across, you are going to have to speak clearly and articulately. It is easy for the pitch of your voice to get a little too high and sound irritated when you actually want to be friendly and engaging. This can lead to tension and misunderstandings, so make a conscious effort to control your vocal cords.
2. Always identify yourself. It is professional courtesy to start a conversation with some variation of “Hello Mr. Smith, this is John Adams from ABC Enterprises. How are you today?” You want to establish a personal connection and make sure the person isn’t left hanging wondering who you are.
3. Know who you are speaking to in advance. One of the most frustrating things for anyone is answering the phone and hearing someone ask to speak with the vice president or head of R&D. This is a clear sign that you are cold-calling them, because if they did their research they would address them by name. Know the name of the person you are speaking to and know the number you are calling. When they answer the phone, introduce yourself and make it clear you know who you need to speak with.
4. Avoid confrontation with customers and go the extra mile. Bad employees are use to responding to requests outside of their job description with “that’s not my job.” This is unprofessional and shows an unwillingness to follow through. Instead, assure them that you will personally look into whatever they need and pass the information along to the responsible party.
5. Check to make sure now is a good time. If you’re calling someone without having an established meeting time, check to make sure they’re in a position to talk before continuing the conversation. If you catch them at a bad time, you may not have their full attention and they’ll probably find you a little irritating.
6. Ask for permission before placing someone on speaker phone. Some callers feel that being placed on speaker is annoying or invasive to their privacy. Don’t announce that you are going to place them on speaker without getting their permission first.

With the recent sale of Skype combined with the number of customers asking how they can use Skype with Grasshopper, we figured now was a perfect time to answer the question.

First let us just say, we love Skype! It’s a great tool and we want to help you understand how you can use it with Grasshopper to create a powerful (and inexpensive) professional image for your business.

How can I use Skype with Grasshopper?

You can combine your Grasshopper and Skype systems for both inbound and outbound calling.

To use Skype for inbound calling, you simply forward your Grasshopper number to your SkypeIn or online number.

• A SkypeIn number runs around $2.99 a month. Check out their rates & subscription page for more info.

• Note:  You can NOT use your Skype user name, i.e “ambassadorbuzz”, you need an actual Skype number to forward your calls to.

To make outbound calls, you can do one of the following:

• Dial out with your Skype account directly (Caller ID will show your Skype number).

• Forward Skype to your Grasshopper number, where you can make outbound calls just like you do now and it will show your Grasshopper number.

• Note: If you want to call out directly from Skype, you will not be able to show the outbound number as your Grasshopper number since you have to confirm your number with an SMS message. We are working on something for this.

The nice thing about Skype is it that when used with Grasshopper, it can help your business stay connected and sound professional at a low cost. Wins for all.

Although consumers should be wary about their credit card usage, having a business credit card is almost always advantageous. There are a variety of reasons why you should make sure that you are using a credit card for your business rather than your personal card or cash:

1. Keep track of your purchases. If you make your purchases in cash, you will find that you are going to have a hard time remembering what your expenses were. It is crucial that you keep accurate records of all your business purchases and it is much easier to do that when you have electronic accounts that are easy to look up.

2. Separate your finances. It is important that you make sure that you keep your personal and business expenses separate from each other. Any business owner will tell you that there is nothing more painful than having to go through a credit card statement and try to identify your business expenses when you are filing your taxes or creating an income statement.

3. Build credit. Many people take out credit cards solely to build credit in their name. As a business, you can do the same thing. Your business won’t be able to build credit if you are using your personal card, so taking out a separate card can be a great idea.

4. Improves cash flow. When you have a business credit card, you can pay one lump sum at the end of the month. That makes it much more efficient to manage your finances and avoid paying as you go.

5. Get the benefit of rewards. Business credit cards offer rewards to their users just like consumer cards. Discounts and frequent flyer miles aren’t perks anymore. They are sound business savings.