Author: Pamela Swift

Categories
Customer Service

How Businesses Can Connect with Reluctant Customers

Not all customers are enthusiastic. True, some consumers can’t wait to buy a business’s new tech product or to sign up for a new streaming service. However, many businesses have to contend with “reluctant” customers. That is, a number of customers may be good leads for a business, but for whatever reason, they’re reluctant to make a purchase. Indeed, these customers may face financial difficulties or even societal pressures that could prevent them from engaging with a business. Here, we’ll take a closer look at this subject and explain how businesses can win over uncertain customers. 

Identify the Problem

Certain businesses just have a bad reputation simply because of the nature of their industry. For example, it’s reasonable to assume that few people are excited to speak to a divorce attorney. Yet, thousands of people need divorce attorneys and rely on their expertise. As such, it’s imperative for businesses that fit this description to identify why a good lead might not  want to engage with their brand. Once you make this determination, you can move on to the next steps . . .

Address Concerns Directly

In many instances, individuals may be hesitant to spend money on a product or a service because they don’t understand it fully –– or because they have misconceptions about the business. Let’s look at another example: millions of people suffer from foot pain and bunions, yet, relatively few are willing to undergo surgery for tailor’s bunion. That’s because people still wrongly assume that bunion surgery is painful, unnecessary, and expensive. In reality, none of those things are true, but businesses have to address those concerns in order to reach leads who are on the fence. Remember, the more transparent your brand is, the better. 

Don’t Apply Pressure

Hesitant customers are unlikely to respond to “the hard sell.” Rather than trying to browbeat reluctant customers, look to offer them support. Deciding to make certain purchases can prove very difficult for customers in a tense emotional state. So the more you’re able to comfort and reassure them, the more likely you’ll be able to build emotional bonds with them. 

Focus on the Positive

No one ever wants to declare bankruptcy. Or purchase a security system for their home. Or get a prostate exam. Yet, the truth is that there are tangible benefits to all of these purchase decisions. Indeed, some of the things customers are least willing to spend money on may well prove to be the most beneficial to their well-being. Businesses with a high number of reluctant customers should make it a point to focus on these positive outcomes. If at all possible, enlist satisfied former customers to spread your message too. Reluctant customers may be tough to reach, but they’ll listen if you send them the right message!

Categories
Operations

Scissor Lift; A Safer Material Handling Solution

Suppose you have been thinking of a mechanical lift that is accurately matched and can achieve task within the production, maintenance and other industrial settings. Then scissor lift is your go-to equipment. Operators, site managers and maintenance personnel utilize this machine to increase industrial productivity. And this is only achievable if the concerned machines are high quality scissor lifts with the recommended standard of size and weight. To understand the concept of this post, let’s quickly define critical terms.

Scissor Lift

This is the primary focus of this post, and then we would shed light on this term in the simplest way possible. A scissor lift is a machine designed to transport people and heavy-duty materials including equipment in a vertical direction, and get them to the spot where they are needed for further processes. Any industrial activity that requires a ladder can be done using a scissor lift. The main objective of this machine is to access areas that are difficult to reach when performing whatever task is required. The scissor lift varies in size and model; however, they perform the same industrial activities.

Material Handling

There is no one single description for the term material handling. However, there have been several attempts to define this term. Whenever a material is moved from one place to another may be in the distribution, production or workplace, then it’s material handling. On the other hand, it is much more than the movement of materials – it involves all the activities that facilitate the moving of materials until they get to the point of direct consumption. So, it ranges warehousing, storage, protection and the control of material throughout their lifespan.

How Scissor Lift Becomes a Safer Material Handling Solution

For every activity that goes on in a factory or warehouse, there is a high level of risk. This is because different technological tools and machine are used to perform individual task. And these machines are to be controlled by an experienced operator. Therefore, the need for balance and knowledge is highly required.

Individuals have a specific limit they can attain pertaining to height, but with a scissor lift, the limitation can be overcome. A number of jobs require scissor lifts, and it equally contributes to the hygienic and sanitary circumstances in the food and pharma industries. It handles production materials neatly and safely.

Scissor lift handles material safely, and with its flat top surface, the machine can carry heavy-weighted loads with prior balancing without any drop-off. It provides a safety harness or cable with a sturdy platform surrounded by a protective rail. The machine is developed to operate efficiently indoor, that’s more reason it is used within warehousing and building maintenance business niche. A scissor lift may not be able to stand the outdoor condition and challenging paths. As part of the basic safety rules, it is prohibited for scissor lift users or operators to move the machine at the same time, the platform is in the up position, especially with heavy loads.

Categories
Planning & Management

8 Essential Tools to Manage A Remote Workforce

This article will examine 8 types of workforce platforms and recommend specific tools that are essential to get the most out of your remote team.

Remote work is becoming the new normal for many businesses all over the world. Many managers are now faced with the struggle to manage remote teams for the first time. Managing remote teams is not the same as managing teams in a traditional office setting. The lack of face-to-face interaction may cause communication issues. The need to facilitate collaboration with team members across multiple time zones can get messy. Fortunately, there are tools and resources that help managers stay on top of their telecommuting employees and maximize their production.

To help determine the best tools for your business, we have categorized them by 8 functions.

  1. Video Conferencing

Video conferencing allows remote employees to visually interact with each other. Face to face interaction is important to build a stronger connection between coworkers and allows attendees to communicate via visual cues. When communication is restricted to only verbal or written, a portion of the message could be lost because people communicate with visual cues. Managers have the opportunity to see discomfort or hesitation in their team and can address the issue immediately.

Google Meet is a solution that allows employees to communicate visually with coworkers all around the globe. The application integrates other Google applications such as Calendar and Gmail to enable users to present and collaborate with viewers across all devices. 

Zoom has become the go to solution for video conferencing. The program is user friendly and allows attendees to join with video or dial in with a phone connection, share their screen and record the meeting to be reviewed at a later time.

  1. Instant Messaging

Instant messaging allows team members to quickly and instantly chat with each other. There are status settings that allow coworkers to know when other coworkers are available, away, in a meeting or any other status. This is ideal for teammates to communicate and find answers from each other quickly without drafting a formal email.

Skype is one of the oldest instant messaging systems around. With Skype, users can host virtual meetings and create group chats. VOIP options are also available to quickly call and verbally chat with a teammate or make voice calls. 

Slack has become popular for instant messaging. Users can create group chats called “channels” and when there is too much traffic within a channel, it can be sectioned off into smaller channels. Slack also integrates with Google Docs and DropBox and the API allows developers to tailor apps for specific needs within the team.

  1. Project Management

Project management software is now more important than ever because it allows managers to setup projects, assign tasks to team members and monitor the progress of a project. Managers can setup a task within a project and assign it to their employee and ensure the task is completed within the schedule assigned to the employee. 

Asana is a powerful project management tool that goes beyond task management and collaboration. It features workflow management which allows managers to take point and draw a project map. This allows managers to fix plans, spot errors and ensure no tasks are lost. The timeline feature also allows managers to ensure tasks are completed within their scheduled time frame.

Basecamp is very popular because it features a highly intuitive interface. It provides the basics of project management such as task management, messaging, filesharing, arrange meetings and search. The dashboard provides managers a bird’s eye view of all ongoing projects.

  1. Employee Monitoring

Managers have the ongoing responsibility to ensure their team is constantly improving its performance. This is especially important to businesses with sales or customer service call centers because sales training and coaching to improve performance is key to the company’s success. To properly coach a sales or customer service call center, employee monitoring is necessary and this includes both a call recording solution and screen capture software.

VSLogger is a powerful call recording software program by Versadial Solutions. VSLogger goes beyond a basic call recording system and features in-depth call reports to determine when call volume is highest for businesses to properly staff their call centers, a book-marking system to silence or extract a portion of a call for further review, the ability to monitor, download, search and playback both live and recorded calls.

Screen Capture is a computer screen recorder program to capture the activity on an employee’s computer. The program may run in the background of an employee’s computer and take snapshots of the screen. The manager can also setup the program to record the computer screen activity like a video and setup triggers to begin recording such as microphone or speaker activity.

Businesses can setup both VSLogger and Screen Capture to work in tandem and save the activity into a single audio / video file.

  1. File Collaboration

File collaboration on the cloud is the perfect tool for businesses to share files with remote teams. Collaboration of files can be stored in a centralized location that can be easily accessed over the internet.

Google Suite (G Suite) offers a platform to allow teams to collaborate using their Google Docs platform. Tools such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentation slides and more are included in the platform. Managers can create folders, store files and provide read or edit access to these folders or files for any team member.

Microsoft Office 365 offers the same cloud storage, file sharing and collaboration features as G Suite. Microsoft takes it to another level by allowing team members to download software apps such as Word, Excel and Power Point to their local computer. This frees the employee from requiring an internet connection to work on a file. Microsoft also has a type of version control to allow users to checkout a file, make changes and check the file back into the system. Managers can view the changes and restore an earlier version of a document.

  1. Cloud Storage and File Management

Cloud storage is also a great tool for businesses to transfer files to remote teams. Access to multimedia files and documents that are too large to be sent by email can be stored in a centralized location.

Google Drive is a cloud storage platform to store all of your business’ files. Google drive syncs with each team member’s local drive to ensure the entire team has access to the most recent files. When managers pair the file collaboration feature in G Suite, they can control and provide different levels of access to folders to each employee.

Drop Box offers cloud storage and file sharing. The program is highly intuitive, can be downloaded easily onto the employee’s desktop and provides a drag and drop feature for file sharing. Managers may also setup auto-sync to ensure every team member is working on the latest files.

  1. Time Zone Monitoring

One of the greatest benefits for businesses with telecommuting employees is hiring talent all around the globe. This does create an issue for managers because they will need to facilitate collaboration between team members in different time zones.

World Time Buddy allows managers to add multiple time zones in a single view. The program integrates with Google Calendar to help managers find an open time slot to schedule a meeting. World Time Buddy also features tabbing to group different teams together.

Every Time Zone offers a user friendly and intuitive interface. The work schedules of the team can be entered into the system. Managers can then choose a date and the system will provide recommended times when each team member may be able attend a meeting. The manager can then setup the meeting, download a file and email it out to each meeting member. The file can integrate into each attendee’s respective calendar.

  1. Password Vaults

Security is essential for all businesses and when employees are spread all around the globe, managers need to ensure shared systems have secured passwords. Password Vaults allow managers to generate strong passwords and store them into a central location. Users can log into the system and retrieve the passwords from a single location. 

1Password features the ability to secure workstations both in the office and remote locations. It also allows managers to choose which team member gets access with multi-authentication.  1Password provides a watchtower that alerts users of security breaches.

Lastpass features a Sharing Center to share notes and passwords to an unlimited number of users and provides a security level check to let users know the level of safety in the passwords they choose.

Conclusion

This article has listed many tools and it may be difficult to decide which tool is the right fit. Every business is unique and a solution that works best for one company may not work well for another. It is up to the business to furnish their employees with the right resources to help them be as productive when they are working remotely as they are working in a traditional office.

About the Author

Jim Shay is the Senior Copywriter at Versadial Solutions, a software company that provides powerful call recording solutions to government, manufacturing, telecommunications, call centers, public safety, financial services and many other industries.

Categories
Entrepreneurship

3 Business Advice No One Ever Discussed with You as a Business Owner

Every business owner seeks advice in one way or the other, the belief is that advice usually is a thoughtful statement, and when acted upon, there is a result to show. When it comes to advice, you have the right to choose which one to ditch or follow. Often, this is a long and confusing process. However, it is well-deserving and demonstrates a new way to act in the future. So, we have gathered some relevant business advice in this article.

First, Always Announce your Business 

One major challenge most business owners face is that they do not have selling skills. Especially if they are new to the business world, however, it is inarguable that selling a product or service can be quite difficult, but it takes conscious and consistent efforts to get it right. If you are discouraged about what people will think about your business when you announce, you need to build confidence in what you sell. Anyone who needs to succeed can’t afford to be shy; instead, be keen on always facing your worst fear. Speak confidently about your business anytime, anywhere you find yourself and any day.

Be a Problem Solver

A business is much easier to run if it is set out to solve a significant problem, making it easy to gain a solid customer base. When your business focuses on a specific niche fixing a problem, then, you’ve successfully created a brand. Know the problem that your target customers are facing, and what is critical is how you can solve them. 

Have a Comprehensive Database

Countless businesses lose it all when it comes to keeping a comprehensive database. This is critical for every business because they help communicate information about income, expenditure, assets, customers, and marketing activities. Having a database is beyond possessing a skill in the accounting niche because it outweighs that course. A comprehensive database can help to determine a better strategy channeled towards the growth of your business. To read more business advice follow this link.

Categories
Branding

How To Create A Professional Business Email Address On Gmail

There are several simple steps to create a professional business email address using Gmail. In the world of small business communications, emails are secure, ethical, and reliable. Naturally, a business email account boosts brand awareness, drives website visitors, and encourages helpful feedback for your company. Even more, business email communications can improve customer relationships and generate consistent leads. If you do not know where to start, there are several steps and strategies to help you navigate the process. Often, it is recommended to use Gmail, one of the top email service providers, while getting started. Read on to learn about how to create a professional business email address on Gmail. 

Get Started With G Suite

All business Gmail accounts are created through G Suite. If you don’t have an account already, this will be the first step to set up your company account. Visit G Suite and choose your plan based on your business and account preferences. Next, you will be required to fill out your business name, number of employees, alternate communication mediums, and other basic account information. By setting up your account settings in G Suite, you can begin distributing secure, ad-free, and private emails for your business. To begin the process, use G Suite to build your small business account. 

Add Required Email Accounts And Users

Now, you can add all the required accounts, addresses, and users associated with your Gmail business email. Add clear addresses for sales representatives, customer service agents, executives, and other essential personnel. Remember, you can always add more users later on if you wish to do so. Once your accounts are outlined, create secure, unique passwords for each user to access. This way, administrative users can easily access their accounts, without risking internal or external attacks. Using these accounts to improve administrative and access control, you can protect your company against cyber attacks. To start sending professional communications, consider all your crucial staff and create separate email accounts to accommodate these users.

Insert An Email Signature

Next, you should add a professional email signature to your business account. When properly designed, an email signature drives brand awareness, encourages trust, and keeps your target recipients engaged. In fact, you can use a professional, free generator to easily add a signature in Gmail in minutes. Simply insert your business contact details and branded social account. Then, design your templates and overall signature layout. To customize your signature even further, you can add a styled signoff, disclaimers, videos, or custom banners. To start sending professional communications, insert an email signature onto your Gmail account.

Secure Your Business Email Address

Strong business email addresses need to be secure against spamming, phishing, internal and external attacks. Fortunately, there are several things to do to fight business security risks across your email inbox. Start off by encrypting all email and server connections. This way, secure messages can never be intercepted or read by cyberattackers. Next, be sure to verify all communications, update software whenever available, and educate your employees on security technology. In many cases, you may even want to consider reaching out to a third party for heightened email security. For businesses of all size, taking the time to evaluate and plan for email security is a crucial step to setup your account. 

Grow Your Email Contacts

With your professional small business email account established, you now need to focus on building your contacts. Include key networking information in your signature. In addition, you can consider traditional marketing techniques, such as telemarketing, direct mail, or hosting an event. Then, follow up these activities with an email. At the same time, you can always use social media, giveaways, and online communities to entice people with your email signature. Naturally, taking the time to build your email contacts by increasing personalization, building authentic relationships, and improving your targeting. To start sending communications, use the top marketing tactics to grow your email contacts.  

There are several easy steps to create a professional business email address for your company using Gmail. To begin the process, use G Suite to build your small business account. Now, you can add all the required accounts, addresses, and users for your email account. Next, you should add a professional email signature to your business account. For businesses of all size, taking the time to evaluate and plan for email security is a crucial step to setup your account. Finally, use your email signature to grow your contacts by promoting and reinforcing engagement. Follow the steps highlighted above to learn about how to create a professional business email address on Gmail.