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Conference calls are becoming the increasingly popular these days. One of the easiest ways to cut down on a business’s travel expenses is to utilize the conference call features on your business phone system. This not only saves the company time but money. No employees need to travel; only a phone is needed. And in this day and age anything a company can do to save money is a good thing.

Many companies offer conference call services that make it possible to join in on the call from any phone at any time, some even provide call recording for an additional cost. A number is provided by the vendor and employees simply dial and join the meeting. This makes conference calling extremely user friendly and convenient.

One downside to conference calling is that you lose the personal one on one time you receive from a tradition face to face meeting. A big part of communication is the small signals you give through your body language. This is obviously lost when business is conducted over the telephone. Sales presentations and training still benefit greatly from that personal touch. Thought some research suggests that video conferencing may be a solution to this, sufficient research on how it works compared to in-person meetings has not been conducted.

If most conference calls lead to an eventual face to face meeting why call first? Even with the loss of that extra personal touch of meeting in person conference calls can save you time by nailing down important points and facts of the upcoming business deal. By having a team that is unfamiliar working with one another start out with conference calls they will have a team mentality for the big meeting when it truly counts.

For every day dealings a conference call may be first choice. However nothing can replace the power of meeting in person to close that big deal. While phone calls are becoming more and more popular, tradition face to face meetings will never go out of style.