I tend to spend a lot of time on conference calls these days. I assume that is because in general, when you work contract or for an agency, you usually charge by the hour, and it makes more sense to call in than to have someone pay travel expenses. More often than not, as a call gets going there is a little awkward shuffling, even when an agenda goes out, for the call to actually get underway. That is a great time to ask a question to get everyone in the conference call mood and get things rolling.
For a SEO strategy call, I often open with a general question along the lines of, "So have you done any SEO work for your site?" The response to that, which generally chills me to the bone as if I was stuck in a slasher movie is, "We did some research, read some stuff, and have started implementing things." Oh no, as it turns out, the company was really a quiet loner who always kept to themselves...