Posts Tagged ‘small business tips’

Can You Afford NOT To Have A Small Business Answering Service?

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

Small businesses do have to be money-smart when choosing where to place their pennies; but what may seem like a cost-efficient idea may be doing just the opposite. Small business answering services are prime examples of this common misconception.

Think of yourself as a customer for a moment, searching for a new product or service provider with which you are unfamiliar. Reaching voicemail after voicemail leaves you doubtful that you will ever receive a return phone call. As a result, finding a business that utilizes a business answering service instantly gives that company a one-up over competition. Businesses that are available to their customers 24/7 are the ones that persevere.

A Company With A Business Answering Service Increases:

  • Potential client acquisition – callers are less likely to hang up the phone when they reach a live person
  • Ability to measure call volume and number of prospective clients
  • Less opportunity for competition to grow
  • Ability to filter calls
  • Acquisition of important information to send the caller in the right direction
  • Promotion of products and services – a call center representative can easily mention additional products, promotions, and deals to increase your company’s bottom line
  • Locking in business leads

Frances Starr, Director of Sales & Marketing for Alert Communications.  Alert Communications provides 24/7 call answering support.

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Fourth Quarter Is the New Destination

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Summer is over and as fourth quarter moves closer, small business owners find their thoughts turning more toward year-end results than vacation destinations. The fourth quarter of any year is an important time for small business owners. That’s when you need to be doing year-end tax planning and looking ahead to next year.

Whether you do it yourself or with the help of a CPA, don’t put off fourth-quarter planning. You could end up paying a heavy price — and not just in taxes —  if you don’t look at your books and think about how your company will fare for the rest of 2010 and into early 2011. By looking at your business over a longer period of time, you can make smarter decisions about spending and running your business.

Looking at your business performance over the long term is the best way to plan for what’s ahead. Accountants look at balance sheets as well as income statements for the past few years. Balance sheets show a company’s cash flow, and income statements help determine whether your business is likely to turn a profit. For instance, your company might show a significant profit by year’s end, but if the first quarter usually is a slow period (shown by cash flow), don’t be throwing your money around. Instead, put it aside for those lean days that are sure to hit in early 2011.

Fourth quarter is a good time to think about capital spending, too, and whether you can benefit from certain tax breaks, like Section 179 deductions. Those deductions allow you to deduct, up front,  the cost of certain kinds of equipment bought and used during the tax year rather than depreciating the purchase over time. You’ll also want to keep in mind what you’re cash flow is like when you’re making capital-spending decisions. Forgoing the tax break in order to have the cash on hand for the lean days of first quarter might be the smarter thing to do.

If you’re diligent about contributing to your retirement plan, take a look at your financial statements to decide how much you can contribute for 2010. Fourth quarter is also a good time to make any plan changes you might be considering and still possibly benefit from those changes in the current tax year.

As the summer heat starts to dwindle, consider turning up the heat on your fourth-quarter business review. It just might save you some cold, hard cash.

Frances Starr, Director of Sales & Marketing for Alert Communications.  Alert Communications is a 24/7bilingual inbound call center, specializing in professional attorney answering, virtual receptionist, Spanish answering and business answering solutions.

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Multi-tasking, Multi-tasking, Multi-tasking — Does it Work?

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

I saw a mother yesterday pushing a stroller, talking on her cell phone and walking two dogs simultaneously. I immediately admired her. But when I looked more closely (I was at a traffic signal, so I had a few minutes), I saw the baby was crying, the phone was slipping and the dogs’ leashes were wrapped around each other and her arm.

How well does multi-tasking work? My Google search was split almost 50-50 between articles and studies supporting it and those stating that it leads to productivity loss. So how do you know if it does or doesn’t work? Check it out at work.

The most obvious cases are the people who are doing other things while on a muted conference call. Chances are they do fine until someone asks them a question. Then it’s a scramble to try to figure out what, exactly, they were asked and to find the button to take the call off mute. (Hopefully, your customer service folks aren’t into multi-tasking…)

But what about the guy or gal who’s perpetually tuned in to their “mobile device”? I’m not talking about using your cell phone while you’re driving; enough states have already passed laws forbidding that kind of multi-tasking. I mean the person who’s having a conversation with you but never looks at you, because they’re texting, checking their e-mail or surfing the ‘net. Did they hear anything you said? (Aren’t you tempted to interject “…so you’ll have that report ready in an hour, right?” to see if they’re paying attention?)

So I’m curious. Do you think multi-tasking is effective in your personal or professional life? Do you have an embarrassing multi-tasking-effort-gone-bad story you can share? C’mon, stop talking on the phone while you’re reading this, and tell me what you think.

Frances Starr, Director of Sales & Marketing for Alert Communications.  Alert Communications is a 24/7 bilingual inbound call center, specializing in professional attorney answering, virtual receptionist, Spanish and business answering solutions.

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