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Archive for April, 2011

The Benefits of Using a Telephone Answering Service

April 27, 2011 at 5:24 pm

call-center-servicesIf you are a small business owner or even a receptionist in an office, you know how easy it is to miss important calls when you are otherwise occupied. This is why the telephone answering service industry was created. The answering service it a business service that answers your telephone calls and manages them just as you would if you answered the calls yourself. Through call forwarding, calls are routed to the call centers and your virtual office staff makes sure that you never miss another phone call again. If you don’t have a service in your office, get one. There are many reasons why all businesses can benefit.

 

First, the telephone answering service is your first line of defense for customer service and new customer acquisitions. If you are expecting voicemail to comfort your clients, think again. If you are expecting voicemail or an automated answering service to close a sale, you are wrong. A live voice is important to capture leads and build a relationship with your customers. People want to know that your company is available on their schedule. If you are working 9-5, you are missing out on any calls that come in after hours or any important calls when you are on the other line of just cannot reach the telephone. In a world where automation is king, imagine how much you will stand out from your competition of someone is always at your office (or virtually there) to help.

 

What do you do when you reach automation? My guess is you hang up the phone or promise to yourself that you will call back. Not only will an answering service tell your customers that you treat them with respect, it will capture the lead or address the customer service issue right away, as opposed to having it linger and have a blemished customer turn into one that abhors your company. Your customers deserve to be treated with respect as that is the common thread that holds any business together. Customers want to feel special. They don’t want to be another number or invoice. A reliable answering service will help your customers feel like their needs mean something. And, the more your customers are happy, the larger your profits. Who would have thought an answering service could do all of this!

 

But wait, there’s more! A call answering service is also able to reduce your operating costs. If you are thinking about managing your own call center services in house, think again. There are labor costs, equipment costs, insurance, salaries, software, etc. Outsourcing to an outsource answering service makes financial sense. If you ran your own center to handle your calls, you would need at minimum 3 years to recoup your initial operating expenses. While that is not a long time in the business world, it is in the technology sector. You will need to upgrade your terminals, your software, your trunks & outbound lines and all other telecom equipment. Outsourcing makes financial sense and makes the actual cost of using an answering service sensible to any business model.

 

A business answering service can also reduce staffing costs by eliminating the need for extra staff to manage your calls. Businesses using the virtual office model consistently save money each year by essentially operating with an efficient skeleton crew of employees. Your answering service staff will become your permanent staff and your own employees can invest their time growing your business.

 

My now, you have realized the need for a live answering service over a voice mail service. If you have a small business, or large business, you know some form of outsource telecommunications services can greatly benefit your company. So how do you know what a good service is? Well, with all of the telephone answering service companies in the world, it is hard to know find the best answering service. Regardless, the best is a relative term because what works best for my company may be a horrible solution for your own. We always  recommend seeking out any businesses that offer free answering service periods. Companies will often let prospective customers use their service for a period of 7 days, 2 weeks, or sometimes even a month so they can experience the value added business experience. Find at least 3 companies (a Google
search should generate plenty of results) and take a trial. Even if it is a one month trial, you are not committed to use the answering service for the whole month. Try them for a few nights and if they work, great! If they don’t, just forward to another service.

 

One aspect of answering service that I forgot to discuss was their position as an emergency backup protocol for any company. If you are in an area plagued with natural disasters or just in an office where your phone lines go down more often than not, an answering service can manage your calls when you cannot. Imagine your company still being able to take calls even if all the technology in your office was inoperable. Does this sound like a fantasy? No. It sounds like an answering service is answering your calls.

 

Again, there are many advantages to using a telephone answering service and there are many companies out there that provide such services. If you are worried about the extra business cost, you can usually get great answering service for dollars a day. Isn’t that amazing to think about? For a few dollars a day, you can drastically change your business!

Improving Your Business Intelligence via Web Analytics

April 20, 2011 at 6:49 pm

web-analytics-assessment“The more you know, the more you grow.”

Although it may be a little cliché, the saying is true. Any time you need to make an important decision in life, gathering and considering the facts improves the likelihood you will make a wise judgment.

For an organization, this means gathering business intelligence: collecting information, mining data, generating and analyzing reports.

Unfortunately, businesses often struggle to deliver the right business information to the right employees at the right time. This is usually due to challenges with master data management resulting from integration problems with their Web-based data.

The Challenge of Master Data Management

In order to enable the smart use of business intelligence within all levels of your company, data must not only be accurate, but also stored in a unified system. One of the biggest challenges companies encounter with this “master data management” is integrating their Web analytics and other online data with other solutions, while maintaining data integrity. This is often due to the cross-platform challenges that arise when shifting between IT environments.

Gartner Inc. recently released its review of enterprise level business intelligence platforms. As you can see in the chart above, the majority of popular enterprise-level business intelligence software solutions operate in a .Net environment. In contrast, your Website and related online applications may use other languages, like Ruby on Rails, to collect and store data.

Both business intelligence software and Web analytics programs like Atlas, Doubleclick, Omniture or CoreMetrics can be a large investment. And in order to get the most the most of your business intelligence, you must be able to leverage both.

Web Analytics + Business Analytics = Success

When it comes to identifying opportunities for business growth, your Web analytics can be just as important as your sales data. It can help you:

  • Drive research and development – Keyword data can supply you with information about products and services that your customers want, but aren’t included in your current offerings, resulting in innovation.
  • Increase marketshare – User click-path data can help you identify and resolve barriers in the conversion process, leading to higher online ROI.
  • Identify the best investments – Goal-based Web analytics data can help you determine which marketing initiatives are driving real sales and leads.

Unfortunately, Web analytics programs come with their own pitfalls. All your different marketing campaign channels – SEO, PPC, email, display advertising and affiliate marketing programs – have data encoded within tags on your Website. Managing all of these tags is cumbersome; reconciling data provided by disparate systems is challenging; and all the tags can slow down your Website. It also could be costing you money in the form of duplicate payments.

This content was written regarding Stone Crossing Solutions, a technology consulting firm and digital marketing agency with deep experience and insight in all aspects of professional Web analytics. Get a free Web analytics assessment today!

MANAGING THE FEAR AND ANXIETY OF THE UNKNOWN By Stanley Popovich

April 8, 2011 at 6:22 pm

managing-fearAll most everybody worries about what will happen in the future. The prospect of not knowing if something good or bad will happen to you in the near future can produce a lot of fear and anxiety. As a result, here is a list of techniques and suggestions on how to manage this fear of dealing with the unknown.

Remember that no one can predict the future with one hundred percent certainty. Even if the thing that you are afraid of does happen there are circumstances and factors that you can’t predict which can be used to your advantage. For instance, let’s say at your place of work that you miss the deadline for a project you have been working on for the last few months. Everything you feared is coming true. Suddenly, your boss comes to your office and tells you that the deadline is extended and that he forgot to tell you the day before. This unknown factor changes everything. Remember that we may be ninety-nine percent correct in predicting the future, but all it takes is for that one percent to make a world of difference.

 

Learn to take it one day at a time. Instead of worrying about how you will get through the rest of the week or coming month, try to focus on today. Each day can provide us with different opportunities to learn new things and that includes learning how to deal with your problems. When the time comes, hopefully you will have learned the skills to deal with your situation.

 

Sometimes, we can get anxious over a task that we will have to perform in the near future. When this happens, visualize yourself doing the task in your mind. For instance, you and your team have to play in the championship volleyball game in front of a large group of people in the next few days. Before the big day comes, imagine yourself playing the game in your mind. Imagine that you’re playing in front of a large audience. By playing the game in your mind, you will be better prepared to perform for real when the time comes. Self-Visualization is a great way to reduce the fear and stress of a coming situation and increase your self-confidence.

 

Remember to take a deep breath and try to find something to do to get your mind off of you anxieties and stresses. A person could take a walk, listen to some music, read the newspaper, watch TV, play on the computer or do an activity that will give them a fresh perspective on things. This will distract you from your current worries.

A lot of times, our worrying can make the problem even worse. All the worrying in the world will not change anything. All you can do is to do your best each day, hope for the best, and when something does happen, take it in stride. If you still have trouble managing your anxiety of the future, then talking to a counselor or clergyman can be of great help. There are ways to help manage your fear and all it takes is some effort to find those answers.

 

BIOGRAPHY:

 

Stan Popovich is the author of “A Layman’s Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non Resistant Methods” – an easy to read book that presents a general overview of techniques that are effective in managing persistent fears and anxieties. For additional information go to: http://www.managingfear.com/

Party bus rental in Los Angeles for a prom

April 4, 2011 at 5:34 pm

Los Angeles party bus A prom is an event which young girls and guys look forward after graduation of their high school, as this a grand celebration to end school years in style. These are mostly college level events, so it is always a desirable option to choose party buses Los Angeles for a prom. These party buses cater to needs of college students who have family members to help them with the cost or even offer them as a gift for performing well in college. One of the benefits of using a Los Angeles party bus for proms is that they offer college students comfortable and luxurious ride to give them a taste of what they could expect in their professional life. Perhaps, one of the popular concerns people have before renting one is whether are not they are able to dress up in party buses. Indeed you can, as long as you have some privacy to change. Of course, anyone who is arriving at the prom in luxurious party buses will get the most attention. You should know that this not an exaggerated or overstated fact, as it’s the simple truth. Just imagine that you getting out of a bus and you are the center of attraction. Well, this could cause you to feel excited and bewildered at the same time, especially if you did not expect that this could happen in your wildest dreams. So, if you are planning to travel in one of the Los Angeles party buses, then you can prepare for this kind attention. All of a sudden, you could transform from an unknown boy or girl to become the center-stage at your prom. This exactly how the prom party buses in Los Angeles could be beneficial for attention-seeking college students. These students will have no problems to hire this luxurious bus, if not they might have parents who can afford to spend some money to help them experience what could turn out to be a life changing event. Party bus in Los Angeles can help to make virtually any special event a memorable one. So, since you are celebrating prom night which is one of the important days to end your High School years, you should definitely have a memorable one. With a party bus, you could even start the celebration before arriving at the event. You can find special offers for prom, such as package rates designed for eight to twenty four passengers. This a good option to consider if you want to share this special night with your close friends. To avoid the last minute hassles, it’s best to book early to ensure that you are traveling in style to your prom or graduation.

Things to keep in mind before booking Los Angeles Limos

April 1, 2011 at 6:17 pm

Los Angeles Limo, limos los angeles Make your money’s worth by ensuring the feature of limo you were getting in Limo in Los Angeles. A Limo service comes out with so many changes. In their most professional ways their family business turns into a multi-dollar business. Los Angeles Limo makes sure that you’ll choose the most wonderful of choice. There are many kinds of limo that you could possibly find. The choices obviously lie in the limo being traditional or modern. Surf the interiors and exteriors of the limo through their online services. The kind of program you’re going to follow is the next thing to be done. This will give you a fair enough idea about what time to call the limo and to keep it for how long. Write down the program if you already had it in place. You could spot loopholes in this and go on to make sure that you plug them. This will ensure that you have a fabulous party that has been planned to perfection. The best of everything has been offered by Los Angeles Limos. They have all the latest of amenities. Several packages that have been pre-defined and can make you choose from them or just tailor them as well. Customized your need and specifications so that you’ll love it. Make your guest comfortable but also have a sweet time with limos Los Angeles. When the party is over that’s the time your guest would started talking. The ample of space in limo is bound to dress-up with hilt, with the right kind of formal clothes, expensive make-up and etc. They don’t want anyone to trample their toes or gown when they travel a limo.