Waiting on hold is something your customers don’t particularly want to do any time of the year. However around the holidays, everyone is a little more rushed, frazzled, and irritable than usual. Obnoxious holiday-themed, on-hold tunes can turn even a normally patient and friendly customer into a ranting, raving caller. Of course, there are delightful [...]

Your car is buried. The roads are impassable. Heck, you can’t even open your front door with the all of the snow piling up on your porch. It’s definitely a “snow day.” But, what is an unexpected and fun break from school for the kids can be downright costly and disruptive for business owners. Before [...]

Business travel can be grueling whether you’re heading out on the highway or flying half-way around the world to see clients. Here are some tips for staying connected on the days you’re out and about. Let Them Know When You’re Traveling While you’re getting ready to travel, changing your voicemail greeting may not be at [...]

Your workspace plays a key role in your productivity and happiness as a small business owner. Regardless if you frequently have client face-to-face time at your location or you conduct business solely over the Internet, you still need to have a space that’s productive for work. Functionality is important, but so are comfort and aesthetics. [...]

That busy time between Thanksgiving and January 1st can be extremely hectic for business owners who are scrambling to spread the word about holiday promotions while also attending celebrations. Too often, little details get forgotten somewhere between purchasing customer gifts and decking the halls with boughs of holly. Keeping it business as usual during the [...]

Here’s a great way to have even more control over your calls. If you’re on another call and don’t want to be interrupted, send a quick message to the caller using text-to-speech technology. Download the Call Controller™, if you haven’t already. When a call comes in, you’ll see the caller’s name and number and have [...]

So you have the website with search engine optimized copy. You’re on Facebook, Twitter, and diligently update your business blog. You’ve even sent out a press release or two. Yet, you’re still not getting as many customers calling as you’d like. Now is the perfect time to consider getting a toll-free number. An 800 number [...]

Why it pays to have test voice-mail Back in 2005, I was working for a start-up that had a traditional punch-key PBX system. It wasn’t the fault of the start-up, it was just the phone system that the commercial office space they occupied came with. The manual for the phone system that the previous tenant [...]

Important people have… people. The president doesn’t have a cell phone; he has people nearby him who do. The cliché executives in movies always have an administrator desked outside their door waiting to sniff out your legitimacy and guard their time and impress their constituants. Jennifer Lopez cavorts around town with twenty assistants. HBO has [...]

Most people are familiar with vanity phone numbers; a number that spells out a certain phrase or even your company name. This is commonly called a “phoneword” and is the alphanumeric equivalent of a telephone number. Vanity phone numbers are more advantageous than standard numbers because they are more memorable and also give you another [...]

The “call to action” is a vital part of any marketing campaign. The whole point is to get potential customers to transform into actual customers by contacting you. Once they do, however, what happens? People will not jump through hoops or fight to give you their business, certainly not so long as your competition is [...]