I’ve been talking about audio conferencing tips for a while but forgot to mention the most common problem plenty of people have and that is figuring out which one to choose.

Trying to find the right audio conferencing call provider even when you’re armed with the right information to find one is not an easy task. There is a plethora of vendors in the market and each claim to provide better services than the other. To begin you need to determine what type of service you need and for audio conferencing there are of two types, reserved and reservationless.

With a reserved service you will need to call the service provider and schedule the conference in advance. You need to specify the date, time, the estimated duration of the call, number of people you expect to be on the call and whether or not you need the call transcribed.

If you have chosen a reserved automated toll free service, when you schedule the conference, you will be given a toll free number and a pass code that you can give to the participants. The pass code is used to join the conference, without any assistance from an operator.

A reserved operator dialed conferencing call requires giving the names plus the phone numbers of all who want to participate to a dedicated call center where an operator will call up the participants before the scheduled time.

There is an option to even reserve a toll free operator attended service, which will allow you to have a toll free number, that you will give your participants. When they call the conferencing line they will be greeted by an operator.

Many people opt for the Reservationless conferencing services because they do away with the need to call your service provider to schedule an audio conference. Your conferencing provider may set up a separate hosting account for each employee who is authorized to conduct conferences. The beauty of this is conferencing can be conducted at any time of the day or evening, by dialing a toll-free number and entering their pass codes.

You should always compare the different options offered by different audio conferencing providers and find those who mostly closely offer the services you need. You should find out about the additional charges that may have to be paid for all the options you are looking for.

The reservationless service may suit you, but you may need a different type of service for special projects. Find out if the conferencing provider you are working with can provide these different options at competitive rates. Mostly for convenience you may want to stick to your regular conferencing service for special projects because they will be familiar with how you operate from prior sessions.

Make sure that the basic invoice used by the conferencing provider is easy to understand and find one who makes it easy to calculate the average cost of an audio call. A good thing to look out for is whether if the call details and statistics will be made available by request.

When you are ready, you may find that the web and video conferencing options may have an advantage, even if you don’t need them at the moment. Good customer service is an important consideration while deciding on a conferencing provider. Remember that those whom offer the best service will generally charge slightly higher rates.

Always look for a conference call provider who offers the type of service that meets the needs of your business today and make note of the ones who can handle the capacity to meet your needs as your business grows, evolves, and expands. Hopefully this helps you all out 🙂