“Honey – do you have something called a zombie plan?” The newlywed wife asks her husband. He turns to her, shock on his face that she could even ask such a question, and then nods, solemnly, holding a hand to his heart in a patriotic fashion, before replying. “Yes. I do. I’ve had one for many years.”

Before I was married, I had no idea that something called a “zombie apocalypse” was a concern, nor did I realize that men spent a lot of energy thinking about escape routes, weapons, and doing careful research on the best way to kill the brain-eating un-dead. (I also learned that snickering, making fun of, or pointing out the flaws in the plan was bad.) After learning this, I asked my Dad and brother what their plan for the zombies entailed and realized that not only did my father and brother have a plan; they spent many evenings when I was a child, discussing how to barricade the house and protect the women of the household.

Apparently, the Center for Disease Control and Preparedness also has a zombie plan. Released this week, the “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse” gives you tips and tricks on how to prepare your home for the impending doom. The funny thing about the guide is that the emergency kit suggested is a lot like the kit they suggest for a number of natural disasters: flashlights, water supplies, shoes, and food, just to name a few.

Hold the phone, CDC. I thought this was about preparing for the zombie apocalypse, not readying myself for any kind of emergency.

This is the brilliance of their zombie preparedness guide. Who among us have ever Tweeted or shared a link to a “how to be prepared in the event of a flood/earthquake/tornado” guide? The answer is probably not many of us have shared that information, much like many of us don’t have the proper items in an emergency kit. With the zombie preparedness guide, the CDC has made us read about something that might be pretty boring to most people – preparing for emergencies. They have marketed the importance of being prepared on a level people care about.

That’s what we should be doing with our clients. We have to find a way to talk to them through the channels they are using. There are few people out there who have a plan for floods or an earthquake, but many who know what to do in the event of a hypothetical situation like zombie roaming the earth. We have to be able to find a way to tell our customers what we want them to know through a subject they care about. We’ve already done that by migrating customer service to include social avenues like Twitter and Facebook but are we being sure to see what else our customers are talking about?

It’s absolute marketing brilliance on the part of the CDC who wants you to get a kit, have a plan, and be prepared no matter what the emergency. While their zombie plan is missing some of the things I’m told are essential to a zombie-survival kit (sawed off shot guns and Japanese throwing stars, for example) their suggestions make for a great kit in the event of a tornado – which is what they wanted me to think about in the first place.

How are you leveling with your customers like the CDC?

Let’s be honest – automated phone menus are a complete nuisance. Button punching, menu prompts, and trying to speak to a robot can sometimes initiate the desire to pull our hair out. As we’re screaming at or speaking slowly to the robotic menu asking for our account number yet again we suppress the need to throw the phone against the wall and we wish there was a better way.

GetHuman.com is the brain child of Paul English who created the database for tips and tricks on how to get around the automated prompts and get straight to a live person. Originally called the IVR Cheat Sheet to Find a Human, the goal was to give consumers an option to get to a live person. Since the inception of the cheat sheet, the website has evolved to GetHuman.com and not only gives you the telephone numbers of companies who do not readily list that on their website, it also gives you the average wait time, as well as the level of service.

Take a look at Facebook – their average wait time is a little over an hour and their user rating is horrible. Clicking on the companies breaks it down further with reviews from users about the company and the customer service experience. There are also alternate numbers for many of the larger companies that insist on continuing to make their users jump through hoops to get some assistance.

It makes you wonder why some companies continue to require customers to navigate their ways through these menus. One argument that large companies make is that they simply handle too large of a customer base to provide a single number for customers, that it’s best to route them to the proper department right away. Except that usually, the initial person that you get at customer service has to transfer you around to a different department.

The biggest offenders of the customer service rule seem to be those companies that typically just want you to contact them for support via email, like Facebook. There are also those companies that simply don’t publish their customer service number online, like Amazon, and GetHuman gives you not just one, but a few customer service numbers.

Large companies may never be able to get rid of automated systems, but they should remember that these systems take away a customer’s choice. (There is a very funny, albeit slightly vulgar cartoon on the Oatmeal about this very subject) If companies are going to force you into a menu option, why can’t they give you an option to go straight through to a representative, at the very least?

We’ve never had an automated menu – if you call either of our numbers, you get a real human right away, and we will never have an automated system – no matter how large we continue to grow. We will simply hire more people.

Should companies completely do away with automated menus or are there instances when they are needed? How do you feel about them, from both a customer standpoint, as well as a business?

Most people can admit that social media and mobile devices have revolutionized the way we communicate, receive news, and stay updated on events. Digital communications became a central part of the 2008 US Presidential elections as candidates took to Twitter and users chronicled their experiences through various social sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr.

Another trend in politics that emerged in 2008 was the popularity of hosting teleconferences as town hall meetings. AccuConference personally hosted some of these media and informational meetings for political leaders and in our experience we have found them to be powerful for politicians for three big reasons.

1. You can reach an audience that may not be able to physical attend. Hosting a conference call instead of a physical meeting lets those who have busy schedules or can’t leave their homes have an opportunity to have a more personal connection with the candidate.
2. We’ve found the most popular type of conference with politicians is the operator answered call, where we can collect name and information from the callers. This information is stored for review at a later time, giving the staff the ability to contact those who attended after the conference is over. You can alert them to upcoming events or invite them to another conference call with the politician.
3. Conference calls allow for moderated question and answer sessions which allow for more people to get the opportunity to ask a question. In politics, the people have to know that their elected official is concerned about the issues that closely affect voters.

When it comes to the trends in politics, there’s a clear move towards using the avenues that will reach the most people. We suspect that more politicians will be using conference calls to host media and town hall events in the upcoming 2012 election. If you’re a political organization considering using conference calls, contact us and let us show you how we can help you take advantage of new technology during this election season.

Here at AccuConference, we hand stamp everything. We don’t have a meter machine, despite the rising cost of postage and the amount of time it can sometimes take to stamp all of our new accounts and send them their welcome packages. A meter machine could probably save us a couple of cents on each letter we send, since it’s a bulk service, but we feel like the hand stamp lets our customer know a couple of things.

Using a real stamp lets the recipient know a real person stamped your envelope, not a machine. In a time when social media is being used to create connections with customers, the simple act of using a real stamp does the same thing that an active Twitter or Facebook account can do.

We feel like metered mail can look like junk. Not to imply that all metered mail is junk mail, but simple when you’re going through a large stack of mail, you typically look for the clear signs of what is considered junk mail. One of the things people look for the most is to see if something has a real stamp on it. If you’re taking the time and money to send out a flyer, why would you want to take the chance of it never being opened?

We also just don’t like the look of the meter stamp on the envelope. The pink on the white kind of burns our eyes – we prefer a good old fashioned stamp. It might just be because we have quite a few clients in Canada – have you ever seen the postage stamp for .75 cents (our going rate to Canada)? It’s really pretty.

Deciding if you want to use or meter for your mail is your decision, we just have always used regular stamps, and we always will.

(Image Used Credit to the USPS)

Tonight, it is forecasted that the Mississippi River will reach record flood stages in many places. For weeks, the residents in the 100 year flood plan have been urged to evacuate, including areas like Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee. Interstate 40, the major route between Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis has been closed for nearly two weeks due to flooding concerns. As the river crests and the waters run to the south, areas like New Orleans have been put on alert for potential record flooding.

In an emergency, communication is crucial to both residents and law enforcement. Communicating in a disaster requires constant updates of information and when the communication breaks down, it can be hard to keep the information flowing between local agencies and residents. It’s a combination of preparation, notification, and support that keeps people safe and gets the information out.

Planning - Preparation will save lives in the event of a flood. For example, weeks ago, the Shelby County OEM issued a notice through the National Weather Service that notified residents they should pack up important belongings and be ready to evacuate their homes at a moment’s notice.

Lesson Learned: The sooner you can get a date and time for your conference call set in stone, the better. It will give you plenty of time to get the information out to the people you want to invite to your conference call.

Notification - Using the media is crucial to saving lives in the event of a flood, and not just local media – it’s about communicating emergency messages where the residents are going to be reading. This includes Twitter, Facebook, and online through different services. Many highway departments are using Twitter for updates about flooding and road closings, including Arkansas and Tennessee.

Lesson Learned: Use different sources to get your information out to the people who need it. Email, Twitter, and Facebook are great ways to advertise your next conference. You can even build a registration page so that you can collect information from those who plan on attending.

Support - The Federal Communications Commission implements emergency procedures in order to keep 911 and other systems up in the event of an emergency. It is imperative that emergency services are still available and that people can get any help that they need.

Lesson Learned: Get to know your conference call provider. Call their customer support and see how long it takes for them to answer and see if you can get someone to explain the different features. Get a name out of someone and see if they are willing to be your contact person in the event of needing support. (If you need a conference call service that will do that for you, give us a call, and we’ll help you out.)

We can all learn a lot from the way the OEM handles a situation – planning, notification, and support. What are you doing in your business to prepare your participants for your next conference and let them know what is going on?

Photo Credit to ilovememphis @ Flickr

Image from the Official White House Flickr

It’s the iconic photo that will wind up in history books. As President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and other members of the defense team watched the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound; this picture has quickly become the visual representation of a historic moment.

This picture can give us a lot of insight into what the senior members of the White House staff were thinking, as this photo is clearly an inside look into what the staff was thinking. When they say that a picture is worth a thousand words, it is true because a photo freezes a moment and gives you a chance to study the non-verbal cues of a moment.

Notice that no one in the room is standing close enough to touch each other and that the majority of the men in the room have their arms crossed over their chest. This is a sign of aggression. When we feel aggressive, we do not want anyone in our personal space, and we cross our arms over our chest as a way to protect ourselves against something we do not want to see or hear. It is a protective measure.

It’s obvious that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is feeling a very strong emotion to whatever it is that she is seeing on the screen. Perhaps it was the moment that Osama Bin Laden’s face first appeared on the screen. Perhaps it’s the moment that the “kill shot” was recorded. We may never know, but Hilary’s hand over her mouth, is an expression of disbelief. The images she sees unfolding in front of her are so unfathomable, that she feels uneasy and distrusting.

President Obama’s sitting position indicates that he clearly feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. His back is slouched, his arms on his knees, and the thin, grim lines of his face. There’s a lot going on here. His posture indicates that he feels the weight of whatever is going on, but his face is the most interesting to me. First of all, it’s obvious that he looks tired. I’m sure that making a national security decision like this could keep you up at night. For me, the most telling non-verbal cue for Barack Obama is the shape of his mouth.

His mouth is shaped in a thin line, nearly straight across. I can identify two emotions from such a non-verbal cue: anger and concern. Clearly whatever is going on will change the world, it’s a decision that was made with great care, and now, to watch it unfold, it simply brings concern. President Obama, like all Americans, was affected by the attacks of September 11, 2011, and to be in a position where you get to see the man who was responsible, brought to justice, in my opinion would bring nothing but the original anger back to the surface.

We may never know what scene was being observed of the raid on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan, but this picture will be an iconic and important moment.

In business and relationships, we often wish for the ability to read the minds of others. It’s not a thing that we can do, but what we can do is read someone’s body language to at least get an idea of what someone is thinking. This picture is a perfect representation of how much body language can indicate in any particular situation.

Non-verbal cues are important to communication and while the subject matter of your video conference or meeting is probably not going to be as intense as watching a raid on the Most Wanted Man in America, your body language will say a lot about the way you’re feeling.

Last year, I finally broke down and watched the original Nightmare on Elm Street. I have had a long time fear of Freddy Kruger and being able to watch that film was a big step in my growth. This weekend, one of the movie channels premiered the 2010 remake of the film and my friend and I decided to watch it – with one, fun little twist. We built a fort in the living room. Not just any fort, an old school dining room chairs and blankets fort. It dawned on me after I made it through the movie without hiding my face or screaming bloody murder that there was one very important reason why. I took something fearful and I made it fun.

While Freddy is just one kind of fear, there are a lot of other ones that people suffer through every day. By injecting a little fun into those moments, you can save yourself a lot of stress and turn a moment that is usually filled with nail biting anxiety into a moment of triumph. One of the biggest moments of stress for people is the idea of having to speak publically or do some sort of presentation. A little bit of humor can go a long way when you have a little mess up in your presentation.

1. If you’ve ever tripped over your own feet walking out to the podium, instead of looking horrified, grab the microphone and declare that the clumsy portion of the day is over and everyone can stop waiting for you.
2. If you’ve ever lost your place, admit it. When I was in New Orleans in March, I remember someone losing their train of thought and while the crickets filled the room, the presenter simply laughed and back up the slides, admitting to everyone, “Don’t know what happened there. Let’s try this again.”
3. If you’ve ever stumbled over your words, just declare a new word thusly written and encourage everyone to tweet out the new word.

There’s not a person in that room that hasn’t experienced their own bad presentation so feeling bad over a simple stumble isn’t doing yourself any favors. Recover from it and create a fort in your brain where the things you’re afraid of don’t matter so much. Just remember that the fort is a safe place where humor is the thing that will beat back your fears.

When sending out an invitation, you want to be clear on when your conference call will be held. You also want to be sure to schedule it during a time that you're likely to get the best attendance. That can be hard when you're dealing with participants from across the nation, or even across the world. How can you possibly schedule your conference call around the number of parties and where they are located to ensure the best attendance? Here are three things to remember when it comes time to schedule your conference call.

1. Majority time zone rules. Where are most your participants located -- that should be the primary time zone for your call, even if it's not the time zone you are end. These are potential clients, customers, or colleagues and you want to make things easy on them.
2. Avoid the lunch hours. Once you set your primary time zone for the conference call, remember that people who are trying to eat lunch are less likely to attend your conference call when it's going to happen during the lunch hour. Avoid scheduling the time for the conference call between 12 and 2 to give yourself the best shot at having a good turnout.
3. Give yourself a time limit and stick to it. Do everything you can not to go over your set time limit. Not only will this make everyone very happy, but it will also help your image. Now, you'll be remembered as the person who remembers the importance of time limits, and not the guy who keeps talking when everyone is trying to move on to their next task.

It's not a perfect system, but it can help to get better attendance on your conference call. What are you doing to increase attendance on your conferences?

In business, we often find that things change rapidly and we have to keep our staff updated. One of the best ways to do that is with hosting a conference call with your employees. There are some important things to keep in mind when hosting these kinds of calls. Conference calls can get mundane quickly and when you don’t need to have one, there’s no reason to do so. Here are three tips for hosting a great staff conference call.

1. Timely. Before sending out an invitation to participants for your next conference call, make sure you have planned it out. Studies have shown that there is only 23 minutes to get and keep your participants attention, so you need to operate within that time frame. Make an agenda and be sure to stick to it so that you can get on record with all your important information.
2. Informative. It’s not always necessary to require a monthly meeting for your team or business if there’s no new information to present. When things haven’t changed and there is nothing new to announce, you might consider not holding the daily/weekly/monthly call just because it’s on the calendar. This will free up some time for your staff to work on other things, while also putting more importance on the conferences that you do need to have.
3. Applicable. No matter what the subject your conference call is about, you should make sure that you give not only information, but how to apply that information once the call is over. Don’t just tell your participants what is new, but tell them how to apply it to their everyday business, and how it’s going to make a difference. If people can understand the changes, they are more likely to embrace them.

   When you follow these three simple tips, you can ensure that your conference calls have high attendance and you’re being the best host you can be. What kind of things do you do on your conferences to keep the attention of your staff?

On a hot summer day back in 1989, a group of five year old boys were on a field with one pig-tailed (and quite adorable, I might add) freckled face girl in a Pirate uniform.

Just like her dad taught her, the little girl wearing her new baseball glove leans down from her spot in right field, her hands on her knees, watching the little batter at the stand, just in case he was to knock that ball as hard as he could. She’s on the tip of her toes, she’s ready to make a play, and she glances around to see which way she can run. That’s when she spots the boy in centerfield sitting on his butt and picking flowers.

“Hey!” She yelled, “Get up and get ready for the ball!” This little girl did not have a soft or soothing voice. She was loud and when she yelled at this boy, every parent and player heard her.

This story is true – and it’s quite possibly one of my dad’s favorite stories about me. The thing about being on a team sport is that you all have to be in it 100% - -and it’s the same idea for working on a team in the office. If one person on your team is sitting down and playing with flowers, then you’re not all in it. We collaborate all the time in the work place and there are three essential parts of collaboration.

1. Everyone has a voice. On a team, everyone is responsible for collecting information and helping out. Everyone should be communicating together and respecting each other’s viewpoints. You have to listen if you’re going to succeed. How many times have you seen the catcher go out to the mound to calm down a pitcher? The catcher isn’t the coach – but they are a team, and they have to listen to each other.
2. Everyone is responsible. On a team, everyone has a job, and they are responsible for that position. A center fielder who is sitting on his rear end in the middle of a game is not doing his job, and if he misses a big play, everyone is going to feel it.
3. Everyone listens. Not only do you have to listen to each other, you also have to listen to the team lead and respect them as such. Think of a short stop and a third baseman both going after the same pop fly. If you don’t communicate and listen, then you’re going to slam into each other while trying to make a play.

I’m sure none of us realized, while playing sports as a kid that we were being trained for life in the business world, but we were. The principals we learned working together on that team, we should be carrying them with us into our lives every day. How are you applying team sport principals to life in the office?