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5 Tips to Making Money That You Can Do When You’re Not Tied to the Phone

admin February 24, 2017

By now, you as an entrepreneur know just how important phone calls are to your business. Curious callers dial your number to inquire about your services, and you’d cheerfully entertain their questions, and encourage them to try your company out.

This is exactly how curious callers become faithful patrons.

But you as an entrepreneur, know too that you can’t just sit on the desk to answer or make phone calls. You have to go out and meet people, deal with your employees’ concerns, hire the right staff, set short- and long-term goals — basically, duties that will help expand your business.

So while you delegate call screening, phone answering, outbound calling, and accurate message taking to the right people i.e. great and affordable virtual receptionists, you’ll have some time to make use of productively and profitably. It’s a win-win situation.

Here are five tips to making money that you can do when you’re not tied to the phone:

1. Explore your business’ online and offline marketing strategies

When was the last time you checked your brochures? Do your calling cards need a facelift? Are the information and services there up to date? Do you give free stuff away to promote your brand? Have you redesigned your website in the last 5 years? Is it mobile-friendly? Do you have a Facebook page? Do you participate in trade fairs or expos?

It’s a great idea to make sure that your online and offline marketing strategies are not only updated but are on point, cohesive and well connected. For an example, if you are going to have a booth at a trade show, come up with a marketing plan that would:

Use your social media channels to tell your people that you’ll be at the trade show, and give them a heads up if you’re giving away free stuff there.

Blog about the event, and invite industry bloggers to be part of the event as well.

Give a special incentive to your social media followers if they stop by the event.

Set up a fun activity that would encourage your event attendees to share their experiences on social media, preferably with a fun hashtag, too.

These will all work together to connect you to a larger audience and will lead to a bigger profit.

2. Attend seminars, symposia, and conferences

Attending seminars and conferences will give you access to helpful knowledge that will help better your business in key aspects, such as sales development, getting the most out of technology for your company, and best practices, to name a few. This will lead to productivity and profitability when properly applied.

And if garnering skills and know-how aren’t enough, you’ll also get the chance to meet and build relationships with insightful and experienced speakers and industry leaders. Plus, such events are teeming with entrepreneurs like yourself — which means you’ll get to expand your network and maybe even spark up mutually beneficial partnerships. This is a great place to put your new calling cards to good use.

Waiting a few weeks before the next interesting seminar? Consider watching a few interesting Ted talks about businesses to make for a more productive (and fruitful) wait.

3. Focus on your team

With a few extra hours of solace in the office, you’ll get the chance to focus on the valuable assets that are your employees. Studies (and experience) show that happy employees are more productive, hence, it’s important to keep everyone on your team joyfully contented.

Do you delegate responsibilities to capable employees? Are there opportunities for growth in the company? Are employees’ skills matched well to the tasks they’re assigned to? Are hours spent in the office properly optimized? Do you have regular programs that aim to boost employee morale? Do you regularly give incentives or a sincere pat on the back for a job well done? Assess these key points and see where you can make reasonable adjustments.

When employees are happy, there is a reduced absence and staff turnover rate, so keep them smiling!

4. Don’t Forget About Yourself

During the time you’re making sure that you’re keeping others happy, add one important person to the list — yourself! Only 20% of adults in the U.S. are meeting the government’s physical activity recommendations, which is at least 2 ½ hours of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, or 1 hour and 15 minutes of high-intensity aerobic activity.

Make sure that you’re part of the healthy statistic. After all, a fit, energetic entrepreneur makes sound business decisions.

When was the last time you exercised? Being in top physical health will give you a daily boost of energy and laser-like focus that will help you constantly make creative, intelligent judgments. Do you have a routine? Successful people adhere to strict daily routines that keep them productive and at the top of their industries. Waking up early (say, around 5 or 6 a.m. every day) will help enhance your willpower and of course, keeping hydrated will keep you energized. Keep healthy snacks such as nuts and fruits at arms’ length and take breaks to stand up and stretch.

Make keeping active a priority, and you and your business will reap the benefits.

5. Check your systems, processes

While a phone is not cradled between your shoulder and chin, you’ll have time to check how your operations work, and if the systems and processes involved can be tweaked or improved. Efficient processes not only save time and money but also help boost profits in the long run.

Are all the steps in the current system absolutely necessary or is there a faster, more logical way of getting things done? Are you going over budget? Do your employees tend to over-service? Is there a better way of delivering your products? Is there a way to make your process more customized or buyer-centric? How long does the process usually take?

Sit down and observe how your current systems and processes are, identify pain points and list down possible solutions for each one. Implement, observe, and measure outcomes.
So make the most out of your hours away from the phone and apply these 5 action items. Silence is truly golden when it’s used for your business’s profit.

Want customers? Invest in their experience more

admin November 18, 2016

By Rigor C. Arellano

Advertising invites people. Experience makes customers.

It sounds simple enough, and yet there are varied things to consider to successfully convert store visitors into patrons.

Founder of Creative Good Mark Hurst knows this all too well. He contends: Why spend much money on driving people to a service that will only drive them away later because the owner didn’t take the time to improve, much less, optimize it for the customer’s satisfaction?

Business owners are now familiar with the fact that efforts to keep customers loyal cost greater than to attract new ones. So before shelling out some hard-earned cash on that ad campaign, you might want to:

Sit a little bit more first

Doers make the world a better place, but so do thinkers with a heart.

Ask yourself, what are they going through and what do they need at that time? If they easily get frustrated, why? Perhaps, explaining to you what they want isn’t the only thing they have to deal with at the time, but are also trying to juggle other things related to what they’re handing off to you.

Omar Soliman, CEO of College Hunks Hauling Junk, details his example in his article on Entrepreneur.com. He formed a VIP concierge and trained his team to take care of extra services that his customers might get frantic about during moving.

The result? Apart from gaining reputation as being the whole package, the business has given its customers relief knowing that it’ll be taking care of their other related concerns and worries as well.

In a word, empathize. Research has shown that it can do a lot to get customers feel more connected to your brand or service.

Experience it firsthand

“What does it take to get a table around here?” is a customer complaint that you should also be asking yourself and know the answers to.

Pinpointing possible problem or improvement areas and driving towards solutions and useful suggestions can be the start of building your own Customer Journey Map.

What does your customers have to go through to make a purchase? What could be done to make it faster? Can you have more options available at every point?

Read: How to Hurt Your Online Sales: Let Your Website Load 3 Seconds Longer

In making your customer journey map, keep in mind that each line of business has a different need, so you won’t get lost in your efforts. In any case, observe common sense.

Align your team

Firstly, we hope that you’ve found the right people for your business, or to be more precise, that you’ve found the people with the right attitude for it. Skills are taught, but attitude adjustment needs much time and patience.

Communicate to your team what you want to happen on every part of the service, and explain why. Better yet, add in a sense of purpose.

A recent study has found that explaining the importance of a person’s job requirements leaves them with a healthy sense of fulfillment. Personnel who cleaned hospital wards, for example, performed better when it was explained to them how their job helps protect patients’ health.

Or if you may, refer to the golden rule. At one point in time, we’re all customers. And when it’s our turn to be on the consumer’s end, how would we like to be treated?

Once you’ve figured out the things that’ll make people love your service or brand, by all means, write that check now and work with that advertising team. Your customers are waiting.

The Little Things Matter. So Delegate Already

admin October 20, 2016

By Rigor Arellano

It’s 11 p.m. You’re just about to get your final wink for the night when you suddenly remembered that ~~darn~~ needed email you forgot to send for tomorrow’s meeting.

Your baby starts to cry.

You begin to think that those fresh, smiling faces on ads about starting or growing your own business should be banned from TV. Well, maybe they just had VRs.

To start with, VR isn’t a gadget. But the number of VRs or virtual receptionists has grown considerably. One statistics offer an increase from 2,500 to 25,000 in just four years, and that was in 2012.

Today, there’s just about a VR for almost every business need, from booking cheap flights for trips to identifying an independent bookstore within a 20-mile radius.

In that spirit, here are a few more on what VRs can do for you and your business’ future:

Keep your emails and databases tidy

If you’ve read time-management tips or a book on things successful entrepreneurs don’t do, you probably now know to skip reading emails at the beginning of the day. And with VRs, you might never have to.

Managing your inbox (answering emails, making sure nothing’s missed, everything’s organized) is just one of the energy-consuming tasks virtual receptionists can rid you of. And simply because you didn’t become an entrepreneur just to consume 28% of your day emailing.

Then, there’s data entry. Whether it’s encoding a box’s worth of business cards you got from attending a conference or logging new social media contact details, there’s a VR for that too.

And if you guessed that a virtual receptionist can also act as your personal, online secretary then, “YES.” They can help plan your work day, schedule meetings, and even offer a fresh take on how you do business, depending on their background and expertise.

Make you look awesome online

If you want to establish or boost your online presence but find it financially and mentally taxing to set up office space for a new employee, then have a VA to write or create graphics for you.

The talent pool of freelancers has gotten wider globally over the years. In fact, freelancers account for 34% of the workforce in the US alone. That includes writers, graphics designers, SEO and SEM experts who are literally just a few mouse clicks away on freelancing sites like UpWork. Or even on LinkedIn if you will.

So whether it’s producing content that speaks directly to your target market or helping your business standout amongst the competition with a killer ad (or a Pokemon Go-related post), remember that there are VAs for those too.

And being virtually available, they already have their own computer and internet connection—two other things you won’t have to worry setting up any more.

Get you focused on more important things

Hiring VAs can do a lot for managing online stuff. But their skills extend to handling bookkeeping and payroll duties, event planning and management, and

print marketing.

It’s important to note though that good employees, office- or home-based, take after good employers as well. So it’s not enough to simply hire VAs, but also to determine your priorities and set proper business goals first.

So be sure to prepare well, as you would with hiring office-based employees. Albeit, less the stress of screening applicants, providing equipment, and splitting the limited office floor.

It is a latter of delegation, after all. And perhaps, with a clear set of tasks given to your VA, the next time you’re up at 11 p.m. and your baby starts to cry again, you’ll have more time and energy for that little thing that matters more. Much, much more.

Courage and More: What You Can Learn From Big Tech Company Decisions

admin October 4, 2016

By Rigor C. Arellano

One of the most successful and well-loved companies in the world launched its new iPhone sans a decades-old technology, the headphone port. In a word, it was “Courage.” In memes: Dongle.

Some argue that it’s arrogance, choosing company profits over consumer convenience. Others offer explanations as to why taking the controversial leap towards a more wireless future now is indeed bold, especially from an entrepreneur’s standpoint.

But whether you’re rooting for Apple, Samsung, Google or Huawei; there’s something we can all take away from big company decisions like this: an example.

Think long-term

Nobody with limited resources, time and energy (who doesn’t?), would plan to put up a sustainable means of living for it to last only a few weeks. Thus, the efforts you take now must be drivers toward your end goal.

Think iTunes.

Before it’s launch, music was ubiquitously believed to be sold and enjoyed only by purchasing entire albums. Apple changed that when it made music downloadable at a dollar each, eventually entitling us to listen to music we liked anywhere, anytime. Till this day, it continues to bring in revenues for the company, and even, the music industry itself.

Apple is undoubtedly no short-term thinker. It thinks differently; it thinks ahead. And going back to its newest phone, some analysts actually speculate that the removal of the headphone port on the iPhone 7 is a step towards what the company will have (figuratively and literally) in store for its users next year, the iPhone’s 10th anniversary.

Side note

Should you purchase the iPhone 7 or wait till next year? It depends.

If you’re the kind of consumer who replaces your smartphone every two years to take advantage of new technology, then go for it. And in the spirit of planning ahead, getting enrolled under the iPhone Upgrade Program would probably suit you better.

Also, it’s the first iPhone that is dust and water resistant (like ip67 class; goodbye liquid damage) that starts at 32GB of storage and is priced the same as the iPhone 6s Plus.

If you happen to lack the money (or will) yet to buy the new iPhone, remember that being content with your current iPhone isn’t a crime. It’s never good to impulse-buy, especially if it would risk you going beyond your means.

Besides, iOS 10 is free, which according to this tech guide, feels like having a new phone anyway once installed on your phone.

Change isn’t easy

Chris Myers for Forbes placed it right: Consumers are a finicky bunch. We crave innovation yet dislike transition.

But whether we’ll stay loyal to a brand, or for those of us in the middle-ground to become actual promoters, relies mainly on an entrepreneur’s ideals and intentions. It also helps a lot if you make any major product or service shift desirable for us in the long haul, despite feeling the pains of adjustment.

Were our benefits in mind when you planned and implemented the change? We can tell.

When Apple finally confirmed the fears of some, bidding the headphone jack adios, some point out that it’s only because it wants us to buy the AirPods or other of the wireless headphones that Beats is offering. Perhaps. Is it a deplorable act for a business to do so? Certainly not.

Will we be heading onto a future of missing AirPods, or one of realized sci-fi dreams of a wireless world and where a virtual assistant is summoned by a simple tap on the ear? Time will reveal.

Meanwhile, here is a video from Business Insider of an Apple user testing out its AirPods:

Don’t rush it to profit

Much ado with quality has much to do with customer loyalty. Throw in an awesome system for support, and you’ll be remembered as a company that cares.

It is a lesson that Samsung knows very well, having gained a steady number of followers around the globe through the years. In an unfortunate series of events however this 2016, the highly-anticipated Galaxy Note 7 came out too early. Rather, too soon.

Samsung execs apparently heard a rumor that nothing heavy is going to happen with the new iPhone 7, and thus rushed all processes to beat the Apple product in both features and release date.

Of course, no well-meaning company would deliberately cause its customers any harm. (Because just why?) But the tighter deadlines that suppliers and processors had to meet apparently resulted to many of the products bursting into flames. And Samsung is sadly reaping lawsuitts.

Perhaps that adage is true: Haste makes waste.

Failure may be a drawback, even for big companies. But nevertheless, it is an unmistakable and important part of entrepreneurship—if you find the means and will to learn from it. That takes courage and more.

How to Hurt Your Online Sales: Let Your Website Load 3 Seconds Longer

admin September 18, 2016

By Rigor C. Arellano

What could happen in 3 seconds? A 10-percent drop on your online sales, apparently.

This is according to research made by Dynatrace, which says that many customers will abandon a shopping website if it doesn’t load within three seconds.

Impatience and irony

John Rakowski of AppDynamics said that consumers who are accustomed to “lightning fast speeds through the use of tools such as Google search” have higher than ever levels of expectation. “A slight glitch can leave them feeling disgruntled,” he added.

Sadly, despite the general increase in internet speeds worldwide, websites have actually become slower from last year said the company, pointing out causes like third-party connections to social networking sites and chat functionality.

Globally, the average page load time has gone from 4.2 to 4.5 seconds. In the U.S., website response time has increased up to half a second from 2015.

And while we can work on the ugly tolls of technology like impatience and forgetfulness through healthy means later, here are a few things you can start doing now to catch up with faster loading times and save your site’s potential loyal customers:

Look into CDNs

If you’ve ever wondered why larger websites load faster despite their rich content, it’s partly because they use CDNs or content delivery networks. This service delivers a website’s static files like images and CSS to servers that are near a user’s physical location. Less data travel time, faster website loading.

Loading is fine, when cache is good

Be sure that when users visit your site, it leaves a cached version of it on their computer. Remember those static resources like images? Browser caching means they are stored in your user’s device so that your web page will load on their end faster. Unless the cached version is changed, it will save a lot of time requesting data from your servers, and thus, the more efficient loading time. (Want to know more about browser caching? Learn how here.)

Get a new image format

Save bandwidth by having photos of different sizes and resolutions on your site. Either you can have your photo editor to have it optimized for the web or use tools like Adaptive Images and similar programs to help.

New image formats like JPeg XR can lighten your image’s weight between 20% to 50%. images actually take up 61% of a website’s page weight on a desktop computer according to the HTTP Archive.

Poor plugins, poor performance

As the age-old question for many goes, “Substance or style?” While plugins can bring new features and make your site look cooler, if they cause your website to not perform then, you might already know the wise answer.

More plugins equate to more loading time. So be sure to have a list of all the plugins you have and see if some duplicate functionality or simply isn’t doing its intended job or giving you your desired results. It will also add simplicity to your site, and can even leave a better impression on your customer’s online experience. (For more tips on faster page loading, check out this article.)

Weighing things down

Providing a rich multimedia experience to your customers via your website’s new features or solid-looking images can definitely do your businesses’ branding and even online reputation good. Who doesn’t want an outstanding piece of digital land on the World Wide Web after all?

But given that online users, particularly shoppers, are becoming more time-conscious, you might want to consider soon applying more efficient page loading strategies.

With that said, having a mobile version or an app of your online shopping store can now be considered a must. Essentially, with wireless networking travelling at new velocities than before, your items will load much faster on a mobile device, what with smaller-sized content to process and all.

Thinking of having a mobile version or an app of your online shopping store? It can do a lot for your business; in fact, it can now be considered a must. With wireless networking reaching new velocities, your items can be seen much faster on a mobile device, what with smaller-sized content to download and all.

The internet after all has long been considered as the “information superhighway.” And now we see that its commuters are becoming wearier of any waiting time, and it’s growing by the second. Now could be a good opportunity for your business’ website to catch up. Or later. Oh well. Time is ticking.

Tips for Small Businesses Anxious About US elections

admin September 13, 2016

By Rigor C. Arellano

When the upcoming presidential elections gets 1 in 4 small business owners concerned more than competition, then, America, we’ve got a brooding problem.

Business owners wary of incoming changes, like tax law reform, may affect getting new (and even retaining their current) employees, later on hurting job creation and domestic hiring.

What with controversial presidential platforms, uncertain economic growth, and rising healthcare costs at risk, even consumers are faced with valid reasons for worry.

While worrying can sometimes help push us through hard situations, more often than not it will just make us feel tired, stressed, and age faster. Not to mention, stray us away from what we must focus on: The actions we can take now.

So here are a few tips that small business owners can spend time thinking about to help shape their company’s future, and in part, the national economy’s as well.

Election year is a “dead policy year”

Worried about change? As far as policies are concerned, not much is going to. Election years are dead policy years, says an article on Forbes.com.

To help ensure that a political party’s candidate will win, everyone is trying to keep things as they are. That means, you most probably won’t hear any news about tax reform soon or until the Inauguration January 20, 2017.

Now is a good time to borrow

You might want to take advantage of borrowing money now for that additional capital you’ve been eyeing.

We don’t know yet if the government will raise interest rates, but if they do, access to funds will tighten and borrowing will cost more. So while the rates are low, plan, go and borrow.

The economy will continue to grow

The economy will continue to grow at a moderate pace this year at between 2-3 percent, according to Fujioka and Marks of Forbes.

Reportedly, there is no expected legislation coming out of Washington soon that can significantly affect the economy. Talks about repaying the country’s debt, Washington’s biggest issue to date, have also been set back until March 2017.

The rise of good technology and its falling cost

Market demographics, customer concerns and satisfaction, and other useful business data are no longer limited to companies using a room full of servers dedicated to data and analytics.

Due to the fall of technology costs, small businesses have now the power to own automation platforms that were once only available to big enterprises.

And let’s not discount the influence and impact of social media. Properly used, small business owners can imprint both their services, credibility and branding right down to their consumers’ subconscious by establishing their presence on social networking sites. And, it’s free.

Look up the cloud

In the pursuit of new digital heights, humanity’s youth have eventually reached and exploited the cloud.

Now, new generation of business people rising through the ranks have persuaded most companies to move to cloud technologies.

Access to Web-based services like storage, collaboration and organization tools, accounting software online, has opened up global opportunities for small businesses throughout the years. And the integration of different programs that can be useful from day-to-day operations to income tax computation are becoming more ubiquitous, and fast.

“The more small businesses use technology to streamline their operations, the more productive they become,” advised Fujioka and Mark.

After we cast our votes come election day, we’ll be waiting in anticipation how the incoming president can effect our businesses, our lives. But worrying about what worse things could happen next to the point of immobility won’t help solve anything. It never will. But concrete plans of action can.

Now, what’s your move?

Go the Extra Mile with Pokemon Go, ‘Coz You Wanna Give the Very Best

admin September 8, 2016

By Rigor C. Arellano

You’ve probably heard of local businesses, or better yet, seen your favorite store (online or not) with a Pokemon Go-themed (social media) poster or promo by now.

If not and you’re still wondering why, and whether it would be worth it to drive your business into the same direction as they are, then you might want to read on.

Their numbers are rising

The number of smartphone-users-turned-Pokemon-trainers have been steadily rising, nearing Twitter’s daily active users, and fast. This is despite the app being officially launched in just a handful of countries.

Being a geolocation-based app, many people once hiding in their apartments can now be found in abandoned streets searching for pikachus, lapdoses, and charizards all across the wireless-networking enabled lands.

And at some point they’re going to get tired, hungry, thirsty. Or even, at a glaring instance, would suddenly want to multitask having seen that a pair of shoes or jeans they were looking for was in a shop where a PokeStop was.

Which is why, tons of small businesses have also risen to the challenge of serving not only the avid Pokemon trainers’ needs, but going an extra mile to help satisfy them and attract more of the app’s users at the same time.

Luring them in

“I own a pizzeria that’s a Pokestop and I literally did this all day. I had a ton of kids and adults (mostly adults) come in for a slice of pizza and a drink until the lure ran out.”

The statement above is just one of the many success stories from a store owner and Reddit user who used lures in the game to drive more customers their way.

Simply put, lures attract pokemon; the shop that has them invite Pokemon Go users. It’s an in-app purchase. But for just $1.19 an hour, you’ll soon see people walking into your store without so much as a screech or a holler. That’s what lures are for after all: Place it, and wait.

If you happen to be in a location, however, that the Niantic Labs’ universe has luckily chosen to be near a Pokemon Gym or is one, then you won’t even need to pay for any lures to get customers to come.

The magic of Pokémon Gyms

Pokemon Gyms are where players come out and come together to battle each other or to seek rewards. There are three teams — Instinct, Mystic, and Valor — and their members are constantly flocking to Pokemon Gyms to try and take ownership of it.

To join in on the action, some businesses offer free stuff like drinks or shirts for winning teams. Not only do they promote healthy competition and active participation, but also earn a place in the players’ hearts by rooting on and showing their support.

If your business isn’t right in front or is a Pokemon Gym, then by all means: Set up shop now near one. Coupling your kiosk with a lure also won’t hurt; not to mention a sign that might say, “Free Pokemon.”

To know whether your store is near a Pokemon Gym, you can use Niantic’s game Ingress as a guide. Or, you can submit a request now to be one or be a PokeStop through the Lab’s support page.

And then there’s social media

From encouraging your players to post on Snapchat, to liking a Pokemon Go-related Facebook post from your official page, to simply tweeting about their experience in your store, social media can boost your efforts to both engage with your customers and tap a growing fanbase.

Just be sure to reward their efforts as well like giving them discount coupons or by featuring the post with the most likes and handing them a nice treat the next time they come by your store.

(For more ideas on how others are using social media with Pokemon Go players in mind, see here.)

Looking ahead

With all the success it has done for other businesses, does it mean that you should go Pokemon Go-crazy on all your future promos and other sales ideas? Probably not, especially considering that the direction of the app’s success if still unfolding: On whether it’s going to be a short-time wonder or a well-loved classic. But if it being on the Apple Watch is any indication, then including it in your business promo repertoire may sound good for the long-term.

But taking a few steps to think of creative ways to not only show your current and potential customers that you care can benefit your business, and yourself as an entrepreneur.

Reality is, despite some Pokemon fans having long outgrown playing the Nintendo game, they still came back when one of their favorite childhood games was now available on their smartphone. And all because some people went the extra mile to make it possible, and gave awesome reasons to keep them coming back for more.

Who knows? They might do the same for your store. Ask any Pokemon Go fan. The extra steps are worth it.

5 Areas In Your Business Where You Might Be Losing Money

admin September 4, 2016

It is the goal of any (sane) hardworking entrepreneur to get the most amount of profit at all times. Granted, you have a kick-ass service or a life-changing product, but if you’re business is losing money faster than it can make more moola, that is not good. And that is an understatement.

It’s time to look at five key areas in your business where you might need to put a cork in to stop your hard-earned money from leaking out.

It pays to do your research before you start putting items in your shopping cart, virtual or otherwise. Look for good deals online. Check reviews. Get online coupons. Be open to trying different stores or sites. Change is good if it will lead to wiser spending habits.

Scout prices between different stores or sites. You might be buying your monthly supply of ink for $10 more. That’s $120 you could have saved in a year.

Don’t be afraid to buy in bulk, especially items that you regularly use, such as printer paper. Not only are items cheaper when bought in bulk, but you’ll also save on shipping costs.

Check your supply cabinet regularly and you may just find silent culprits inside. Do you absolutely need three big boxes of post-its? Save money by going digital. There are several note-taking apps that make life easier (and cheaper) such as Evernote and One Note.

Speaking of supplies — please mind the power supply. Always turn off the computer and unplug it before leaving the office. Laptops and desktops consume wattage even on standby mode, and the cumulative costs take up about 5 to 10% of your yearly energy costs.

Is your office space big enough? Too big, even? Earn some extra money by leasing desk space. Who knows, you may broaden your business network (or maybe even your personal one) by sharing your work space with other professionals.

Considering the nature of your business, where is your business located? Assess if you need to bring your business downtown, or would it still work in an area with cheaper rental costs? Say, rent a space in Long Island City, instead of 5th Ave.

Or better yet, ask yourself, do you even need to rent office space? If your business can operate with your employees working from home, not only will you save money on rent, but with electric and supply costs as well.

Give them the chance to prove that they can effectively close business deals in their pajamas and you’ll be known as a cool company forever (that has saved so much money).

It’s always a good idea to evaluate your processes in the office.

Cut back on unproductive meetings. These meetings run anywhere between 2 to 4 hours — time that could have been spent getting new clients or embellishing your marketing campaign. Instead, send important company-wide announcements and reminders via e-mail.

When it comes to attending seminars, do you really need to send the whole marketing team out? Consider sending the team lead and have him or her cascade the seminar’s main points to the whole team. Save on money but not on the learnings.

Check each department’s processes. Improper accounting methods can easily cause you thousands of dollars. Find out if there are duplicities in how your employees conduct work and educate them on how this can be avoided.

Set systems that work best for your company, and adjust accordingly when the need comes.

Remember the days when you had to buy time on television or purchase newspaper or magazine space to get your product or service out there? Of course, these options are still available for the bigwigs, but for your startup, it may not be the best choice.

You can effectively promote your business using free social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, to name a few. Increase your network, build your brand’s image, and create an effective support system for your clientele for zero dollars.

Before you buy that insanely expensive editing software, check out free resources first. You can create nice shareable graphics and video materials for your social media pages using free image creating tools such as Pablo, Canva, or Skitch if you’re using Mac.

Awesome things can be created with free tools, especially if such are being utilized by the right hands. Which leads us to our next point.

Your workforce can make or break your business, hence it is of utmost importance that you select the best people. Make routine performance assessments. Check your people’s skills and performance. Do they come on time? Are they reliable? If time at work is not used productively, that equates to serious dough going out the door.

Talk to employees who are not meeting goals one-on-one and offer to find ways to help them out. After you’ve done all that you could and results are still not favorable, you can always decide to find better people.

But if you have the best possible people based on their work ethic and performance, don’t skimp on them! Value your employees well and give them the salary they deserve. You’ll save money in the long run.

Find more affordable help without sacrificing quality performance by outsourcing jobs. Fielding calls, assisting customers, scheduling appointments — these could all be done outside the office for way cheaper. Discourteous receptionists can drive away old and new clients, so make sure that you hire the right people to be your business’ frontliners.

7 Reasons Why Hiring a Virtual Receptionist Makes Logical, Financial Sense

admin August 30, 2016

In today’s tech-savvy times, we can order Indonesian takeout food with a click of a button. We can purchase a venti mochaccino with a quick scan of our iPhones.

Granted, it’s not how Back to the Future described it to be, but you have to admit, it’s a pretty great time to be alive — technologically speaking.

Of course, today’s wonders are not limited to acquiring sustenance and much-needed caffeine.

Technology has given us the ability to have our calls answered by friendly folks who work outside the four walls of our offices. These helpful men and women are called virtual receptionists, and they are all the rage with small-medium businesses — and for good reason, too.

If you haven’t heard of virtual receptionists yet and what they can offer a company, we’ve listed down 7 compelling reasons why hiring one would make logical, financial sense:

1. No excuse will get in the way — As a business owner, we’re sure you’ve heard the most creative to the most hardly thought of excuse in the book when it comes to absences and tardiness.

Virtual receptionists eliminate that awkward tango. For example, if you get virtual receptionist services from Gabbyville, you’ll get a team of dedicated virtual receptionists working for your business. So if one of the receptionists is sick (allergy season is right around the corner), the call will be routed straight to another virtual receptionist in your team.

Someone will always be there to pick up the phone during business hours. No excuse, no matter how valid, will get in the way of your business.

2. Focused workers are great workers — Sometimes, life just gets too darn busy. Even for your in-house receptionist, who may be balancing speaking to your clients in person, scheduling another client over the phone, and answering an important email one-handed.

Your front desk personnel may be too busy helping a client with necessary forms, while giving directions to another , that the phone is left unanswered. You may have just missed your biggest client to date.

With virtual receptionists working for your company who will answer all calls, book schedules, handle cancellations, answer frequently asked questions about your business, and make outbound calls, your in-house staff can focus on attending to the needs of your clients face-to-face, especially if you’re running a high-traffic clinic, dental office, or law firm.

All calls and all clients are handled professionally and efficiently. What a beautiful thing that is.

3. Dependable — During emergency situations (such as snowstorms, hurricanes, and yes, even Black Friday) when neither you nor your staff have a way of physically getting to your office to answer calls or reschedule appointments, having a virtual receptionist on your team truly comes in handy.

So even if the 6 train is down, you’re snowed in, or stuck in line at Walmart, someone will be there to pick up the phone or make important call-outs. Rain or shine, your business is able to serve your clients, which is needless to say, impressive.

Which brings us to our next reason.

4. Sound like a big shot — No matter what business you’re in, it is always imperative to impress your clients. And they can get finicky at times.

Some only give you one chance to make a good impression. And if their initial over-the-phone experience is sub par, they may find services elsewhere.

Say, you have a startup, and you think that your unique selling point is a great edge. But that’s not enough to bank on. You would need to get stellar customer service to get recognized. You’d be surprised how many customers make a jump from one company to the next based on how well or badly they are treated.

So even if you’re operating solo in a humble office in Queens, but have professional virtual receptionists fielding your calls and cheerfully answering important questions, you’ll sound like a big shot and quickly turn inquirers into bona fide loyal patrons.

At the end of the day, it boils down to how great you treat a customer and how great a customer feels about your company.

5. Save your time and office space — If you’re unwittingly tied to the office phone, trying to dodge calls from telemarketers, receiving long-winded yet unprofitable calls, and still, ending up missing important client calls, you’re not putting your time to good use.

The hours you spend on answering calls can be used to brainstorm a better business model, improve your product, create marketing collaterals, or put up valuable content on your website. And you can’t do that if you’re on the phone half the day.

As your VR answers all calls, schedules appointments, and calls clients up, you can focus on things that require your utmost attention to help elevate your business to its full potential.

Also, a virtual receptionist considerably frees up your office space. Have a team of professional receptionists work for you sans deskspace.

6. Pay for services and nothing else — We did the math for you: we found that you would have to shell out around $50,000.00 a year for an in-house receptionist. This amount covers base salary, health insurance, and social security, to name a few.

But what this doesn’t cover is the amount you lose when potential client calls are unanswered during lunch breaks, days off, unforeseen absences, and lateness. And the sad part is that there’s a huge chance that it’s bigger than 50 grand.

With virtual receptionists, the amount you’d have to pay for services is drastically smaller. In Gabbyville’s case, you would get a team of your very own virtual receptionists for the price of one.

Not only that, most virtual receptionist services are flexible. There are plans that would fit any business, big or small. A big HR plus: cancelling services are way easier and drama-free than firing out someone in person.

Did you stop reading this to pick up the phone? — Then maybe it’s time to get a great virtual receptionist, stat.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye! 5 Signs That You’re An Effective Listener

admin August 29, 2016

In today’s digitally distracting times, effective listening is as rare a trait as being worthy enough to hold Thor’s hammer, or being able to listen to “Call Me Maybe” on an infinite loop.

So if you, by some strange, modern-day magic, are an effective listener, congratulations are in order: you’re a rarity.

We devote 55% of a given day listening — that’s a tad more than half of a 24-hour span, but hear this: most of us are only able to retain and understand about 17 to 25% of what we listen to.

The art and science of effective listening is a superpower that only a few people have mastered. Here are 5 signs that can help you tell if you’re one of the special ones who have the gift:

You actually want to listen

Your perspective on listening is peachy: your internal dialogue is always “hooray, I get to hear someone speak his or her mind!” You have an insatiable hunger to hear others out. An effective listener is interested in what others have to say. You know that there’s bound to be something new to learn after the experience.

You sincerely take every opportunity to listen to someone as a chance to gain new knowledge, broaden your views, and challenge your own ideas. If this sounds very much like you, please accept a heartfelt virtual high-five.

You pay attention

The only thing that should wander when you’re engaged in a conversation is:

absolutely nothing, zilch, nada.

If you’re an effective listener, your focus is on the speaker, and not on wondering if lasagna is on the cafeteria’s lunch menu today. You don’t daydream. You find it almost sacrilegious to go on Facebook while talking to someone.

You use your powers of focus and concentration to take in the content of the message and not on trivial matters. You don’t focus on mistakes — you don’t mentally fixate on the speaker’s grammatical lapses.

If you’re man enough to take on heard information as something worth valuing and understanding with the best of your abilities, you’re A+ in our books.

You don’t interrupt

You’re a very respectful person who doesn’t try to finish the speaker’s sentence. You know that this doesn’t make you sound smart or superior, but rather, nothing short of annoying. And rude.

You know that the Golden Rule, when tweaked a bit, applies to how you handle your conversations with others: Listen unto others as you would want others to listen unto you.

Not only do you respect the person who speaks, you also respect his time. You hold on to the hope that there is a perfect time for everything, and that includes your questions and your thoughts, bub.

Not everything works as a duet. And if you know this by heart, you deserve a smiling, red star stamped on the back of your hand

Your non-verbals are spot on

An effective listener takes in what a speaker says and translates the correct and proper reactions accordingly.

You’re an awesome listener when you know that leaning forward signifies interest in the conversation, while establishing eye contact. You nod when you agree, you express sadness when the conversation takes a sad route. You shake your head when what’s being discussed warrants it.

You also know the things not to do when engaged in a conversation with someone. You don’t play with your pen. You don’t tap your feet. You don’t fidget. You don’t take repeated glances at your watch. You don’t check how many likes your status update has gotten so far. You don’t stare off into the distance.

You know that body language is an important part of conversing with others, and you know how to responsibly respond via your actions.

You encourage communication

We’ve all had conversations wherein the person you’re speaking with responds only with a curt yes or no. During such times, you feel like talking with Siri would be a more rewarding experience. And you are not wrong.

Great listeners know how to encourage communication — they prod the speaker on by asking intelligent questions. They are also open to new ideas. They realize that though they may not agree with everything a speaker says, they hold off on their judgment.

If you’re one of them, you mirror the energy of the speaker and keep the communication going forward. You’re also awesome enough to keep confidences: what’s off the record remains off the record. This way, you build trust and seal the deal for future talk-a-thons.

Effective listening is a skill that requires hard work and focus, but pays off well in the end.

If you’re one of the blessed few, continue to hone your talent. If you’re not one of them yet, it’s never too late to start practicing.

Pretty soon, you’ll start hearing great things such as positive feedback on your amazing communication skills, and maybe even a promotion in the workplace!