Month: September 2014

Categories
Work Life

In Recovery — Are You?

In Recovery — Are You

I am a recovering multi-tasker and not always so much in recovery.  For years, I truly believed that if you can do more than one thing at a time, that was always the better option.

That if you can do several things at a time you simply get more done and save more time.

It’s only in the last few years that I have realized the folly of my ways!

It was late at night, I was on a training call, one of about 35 people dialed in from around the world.  The trainer was one of my favorites, she always had a word of wisdom or a real story to throw into the discussion to bring is alive and create connection.

I was dead tired.  I had been up with one child or another all of the previous night.  And I had gone straight into work and house chores all day.  That’s what work felt like those days…chores.

I saw the call as the perfect opportunity to clear out my inbox, work on my accounting and make some to-do lists.  So I got busy.

My headset was on.  I checked in with the call and said hi to everyone.

Then I started to get busy, listening all the time.

I have to say, I did get my inbox cleared and my accounts finished.  Just then I realized that it was the end of the call.  The call leader asked for final input.  I noticed that I hadn’t commented at all throughout the class.

Then she asked me directly what I had taken from the materials.  I quickly glanced at the class title.  It was ‘presence’ in coaching.

I responded, it makes me realize how important it is to be truly present.  She agreed and finished the call.

At first I felt like a total fraud.  I mean, I had lied to her.  I was so distracted in my multi tasking I hadn’t even hear the call.

Then I realized, that was my lesson.

My distraction had created absence.  And now I realized the true value of presence, because I had missed out on this opportunity to be there.

It was a valuable lesson, I’m still learning.

How are you doing with ‘presence’ vs. multi-tasking?
Have you missed out on something you regretted because of lack of presence?

Categories
Operations

3 Ways to Eliminate Productivity Busters

Productivity signpost

Article Contributed by Dr. Joey Faucette

You’re in a team meeting. Your desk phone rings. Do you read the Caller ID and decide about answering?

You’re working on your computer on an important project. Is your e-mail open? Is it set on automatic?

What if you’re with a customer and your smartphone buzzes with a call? Do you take it?

Marilyn vos Savant says, “Working in an office with an array of electronic devices is like trying to get something done at home with half a dozen small children around. The calls for attention are constant.”

Technology intrudes with a creep, then leaps onto the stage of our productivity; seizing the starring role. Greater productivity is yours when you daily recognize the creep and create boundaries that limit it.

Multi-tasking is a productivity buster. The myth is you do more. The reality is you do less and what you do get done is less well.

Here are three actions to take today to increase your productivity and limit technology’s intrusion:

Establish Technology Schedule

Set up specific times when you employ various technology. Answer email on a schedule—a certain block and time yourself. Turn off the automatic updating and notification features on your computer and smartphone’s email. Forward requests best answered by a team member. Listen to voicemails and return calls on a schedule.

Engage Selectively

Your phone may be smart, but most of us are not when selecting how to engage with it. Social media is a marvelous relationship-building tool. Use it. Monetize it.

But do you really need a notification when someone wants to connect on LinkedIn? Or, posts a picture of lunch on Facebook? Or, tweets a rant about the government?

Engage selectively with those in your primary sphere of influence. Clients, team members, and family members are top drawer. The rest are also-ran’s for your attention.

Your productivity is at stake. Want to increase sales and get out of the office earlier? Create boundaries with your smartphone with categories for interaction. Engage selectively.

Execute with the “OFF” Button

You pay for technology services. They are to serve you, not vice versa. Turn them totally off at designated times to innovate and create. A buzz, bing, or bleep dams up your flow for broadening outcomes and developing a new mindset. Avoid drying up your creative stream by pressing the “off” button. 

Create boundaries around your technology that allow you to focus completely on what is most important and enjoy your increase in sales with greater productivity which gets you of the office earlier to play with your family and friends—your new Work Positive lifestyle!

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who help business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they get out of the office earlier and do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org/speaking.

Categories
Branding

5 Reasons why Business Shouldn’t Use Generic Envelopes

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How many times have you simply grabbed the nearest envelope for the posting of crucial business correspondence? Without knowing it, you could be harming the image of your business by sending important letters and documents via sub-standard, inappropriate or generic envelopes.

The first job of an envelope is to get its contents to their final destination safely. However, it also the first thing your clients and customers will see when you make contact through the mail. A neatly addressed envelope that is appropriate to the tone of its contents, and designed specifically for your business, can deliver five unexpected benefits.

1. Creates the right impression with new clients

If you are approaching potential customers and contacts for the first time, the envelope you use may be responsible for creating first impressions of your brand. If it looks the part, you may be able to impress people before they’ve even read the contents. If you are sending formal business correspondence, printed envelopes depicting your company logo may enhance your credibility and increase the chances of your mail being opened by the recipient.

2. Gives your company exposure

Hundreds of millions of letters and parcels pass through the UK’s mail system every year, and most of them are generic and dull. However, by using custom made envelopes, you can grab the attention of your recipients, and persuade them that opening your mail is essential. There are specialist envelope manufacturers that will work with you on design aspects such as colour, logo and texture to create envelopes that truly grab the attention of recipients.

3. Delivers a cost-effective solution for customer communications

It doesn’t matter whether you order standard or bespoke envelopes, buying the right type for your business in bulk represents a cost-effective way of staying in touch with your customers, contacts, and clients. You may also find that by using printed envelopes that contain slogans and marketing messages, certain groups will be far more likely to open them and read what you have to say. This type of marketing using digital channels can cost a small fortune.

4. Enables brand consistency

It is important that all your communications with customers are keeping with your brand values. Envelopes can act as a fantastic marketing tool when it comes to spreading awareness of a particular brand – through the use of various colours, slogans, fonts and textures. As envelopes are the first thing new customers may see, they need to represent your products or services in a positive light. Select the right design, size and format, and the chances of customers remembering what your company stands for will increase dramatically.

5. Free advertising

Let’s face it; anyone can buy a plain brown C5 envelope for the sending of crucial information to customers. Of course, this could send out the message that you don’t take your correspondence seriously, or that you don’t treat your customers as individuals. However, it could also be a huge missed opportunity. Dozens of people will come into contact with your mail – from the moment you post it to the moment it’s slotted through a letterbox. If you’re sending thousands of custom made envelopes instead of generic ones, you can be grabbing the attention of postal workers and anyone who sees your correspondence arrive at its final destination.

Too many businesses in the UK rely on the kind of generic envelopes that can be bought in stationery stores up and down the country. However, bespoke designs could be promoting your business in ways you never imagined.

Article Contributed by:

Ace-Envelopes is one of UK’s leading suppliers of envelopes, over 25 million envelopes in different sizes, colours and shapes available for next day delivery services to meet your needs

Categories
Sales & Marketing

The Holy Grail Of Every Business Owner – The Right Marketing Agency

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Article Contributed by James Burbank

Most business owner whose business has just started to grow and who are getting into the whole marketing game find that the search for the right marketing agency is not the simplest task in the world. In fact, after a while, it becomes quite obvious that this is a task of herculean proportions and something that has to be approached with due diligence and prudence. In the following text, you will find a few questions that you need to ask yourself as a business owner when looking for your perfect marketing agency.

Will I benefit from the services of a marketing agency?

Before you actually start looking at different marketing agencies that are available to you, you need to take a good hard look at whether you actually need the services of such an agency. There are cases in which business owners hire marketing agencies simply because they think they earn enough and that this automatically means they need marketing experts.

You have to work out whether a marketing agency will be able to bring you new business and whether it will pay off for you. If it is going to be an uphill battle where you will be throwing money at an agency and they will be struggling to find a single new customer. It is a cliché, but it all comes down to the return on investment.

What do I need from my marketing agency?

Once you have definitely decided that you need a marketing agency, you need to work out for yourself what it is exactly that you need from them. You may need just a market research and a few ideas on what you can do; you may need a comprehensive marketing campaign that will last more than a year and that will involve your entire brand, it all depends.

The reason why you need to get this straight is that this will be the most important factor in choosing the marketing agency. You will need to find the experts in that particular field. It is unrealistic to expect that every marketing agency does everything perfectly.

Can I trust this marketing agency?

You will never hire a marketing agency just because their name sounds cool. You will be checking their reputability; you will be checking their track record and you will even be checking their finances if you are smart. You can find plenty of information on pretty much every agency these days and it has become very difficult for them to hide things that they do not want known. Still, with all the information that you can get anywhere you look, the best thing is to get a recommendation from another business owner that you trust.

Can I work with these people?

Sooner or later, you will meet with the people from the agencies that you have narrowed down your search to and this is where you need to ask yourself whether they are people with whom you will want to work. This is more important in this industry than in most other that may be involved with your business. For example, when you are looking for an accountant firm, you just need someone who is reputable and know their stuff.

With a marketing agency, it goes deeper. They will need to understand you and your business and you will need to be able to work with them towards getting the best possible service that you deserve. We are not saying that you need to be best friends with your marketing people, but they should be more than just a service.

About the Author

James Burbank has spent years in marketing and brand promotion for US-based businesses in Australia and Europe and currently blogs from home on a number of subjects. For anyone’s marketing needs, he always recommends Marketing Angels, a marketing firm from Sydney, Australia.

Categories
Technology

Hot Shot Email: Use your Domain Name #entrepreneurfail

entrepreneurfailHotShotEmai

What does your company email address say about you?

Nothing screams “newbie” as a free domain email address. And nothing dates you as much as a Hotmail or Yahoo! email address, especially if you are a technology-focused startup company. This is an #entrepreneurfail that can easily be avoided.

It is important that as you launch a company, you focus on building a sustainable business and not waste your time on unnecessary distractions. However, first impressions come from communication, preparedness, appearance and aptitude. Little touches such as your own domain name, and a web presence add significant credibility. If a potential client searches for your name or your company name, do they hear virtual crickets chirping? Or do they see a robust online presence including your:

  • Website – even if it just a landing page with contact information
  • LinkedIn profile
  • PR/Blog posts about your Business

And when future customers look to contact you, are they typing an unprofessional phonetic alphanumeric email address like “mybiz4u@hotmail.com” or a more professional one like “info@mycompanydomain.com”?

How did we tackle it?

We use GoDaddy and Gmail to solve for our email. GoDaddy provides us the domain and linking it with Gmail gives us the UI and the accessibility that we are all used to. Here are the steps we used.

  1. Purchase an operational domain name and a Gmail account.  Good luck to you if you need to find a domain name – see our post here for resources and inspiration to find yours!
  2. We used GoDaddy for the domain name; they give you 100 free email aliases with every domain you purchase. (This means you can create You@YourDomain.com, YourIntern@YourDomain.com, Info@YourDomain.com, Sales@YourDomain.com, etc a hundred times over).
  3. Forward the aliases to the appropriate Gmail addresses based on how your team is structured. For example, if you are wearing multiple hats, “You” and “Sales” can be forwarded to your Gmail account, while YourIntern and Info can be forwarded to your intern’s Gmail account.
  4. Remember to create a catch-all alias (or use an existing one as a catch-all), so you still receive emails that may have typos in the address. Now, at this point, you are successfully configured to receiving mail to YourDomain.com.
  5. To send email from your domain, we are going to leverage the free SMTP relay that GoDaddy provides when you buy a domain.
  6. To configure this, create a mailbox on GoDaddy and make a note of the credentials. (Their customer service can help).  It’s these credentials that will be needed to configure your outgoing email in Gmail, so it looks like its coming from your domain.
  7. Go to your Gmail account. Click Settings, then click Accounts. Here, Gmail gives you the ability to send email from a different email account. Follow the UI to add your applicable email alias using the SMTP settings from GoDaddy. You’ll have to update the SMTP Server, Username, Password and Port. (We used smtpout.secureserver.net and Port 25 but yours may be different).
  8. That’s it! Your team is now configured to send email from @YourDomain.com. You will see a drop-down choice in your “From” field in Gmail, which will allow you to select the email address you want to send an email from.

What do you think? Do you believe using a Hotmail or Yahoo address may hurt your chances of getting your next client? Or do you think it is too superficial to matter? Let us know in the comments below…

This comic and post were created by Kriti Vichare for #entrepreneurfail: Startup Success.