Your Answering Machine Said What?

Posted by Barbara Jones on July 7, 2009 – 1:32 pm -

Most answering machines play a polite greeting from the owner and take a message.  Nothing fancy, just good old-fashioned automated communication.   There are exceptions, though, to all of this bland harmlessness.  I was talking recently with David Wachtel of Hauticam Consulting about business etiquette mistakes we can’t believe happen.  High on David’s list is answering machine greetings that include the phrase, “…and I will return your call at my earliest convenience.” 

 I have experienced this too, and am not sure why it happens.  What appears to be colossal self-centered rudeness might be simple cluelessness.  I always want to reply, “What do you mean “at your earliest convenience?  What kind of thing is that to say?  I would hate to think my call caused you to do anything that was actually “inconvenient.” 

If this phrase is on your answering machine don’t blush, don’t stammer, just erase the message right now and start over.  Say what we all hope you meant to say like, “I will call you back as soon as I can.”  Call several friends or colleagues when you know they are not available and listen to their messages.  Borrow some of their nice wording for your own message. 

 

If you really do resent having to interrupt your workflow to respond to inquiries there are better ways to express that.  One simple one is to say your current workload means you cannot check voicemail more than once a day and will not be able to return calls until a certain day and time in the future.  Such a statement is honest, is not derogatory, and doesn’t make you sound like a jerk.  A much better solution all around.

Sphere: Related Content


Tags: answering machine etiquette, Business Etiquette, linkedin
Posted in Best Practices, Business Etiquette, General, Small Business | No Comments »

Round Up Your Prospect/Client Data

Posted by Barbara Jones on June 2, 2009 – 9:22 am -

Okay small business owner, be honest.  Are prospect business cards stashed all over your office?  And handwritten notes about prospects or clients?  Are your people getting frustrated because it takes so long to figure out who talked to a prospect or client last and about what?

 

You need a home for all of this information.  One that is accessible to everyone 24/7.  You could assemble a set of business card files and some sturdy boxes but it’s probably time to look at digital options.  The search tools alone are worth the cost.  There is a wide range of software options available from Contact Managers to Client Relationship Managers. 

 

First, a note to those of you who have put all of your contacts in an Excel file.  Excel is a kind of database but it is not intended to be a contact manager and has none of the labor-saving tools almost every CM or CRM has.  I know you are working around that fact but you are working entirely too hard. 

 

Shop carefully and weigh what you really need.  Contact Management software tends to include the contact database and a few other tools like calendars and email.  Client Relationship Management software tends to include the contact database and several other tools like email, calendars, multimedia publication, web form generation, sales force management, automated marketing and others.  Prices vary widely.  Expect that a low price means you spend your own time doing the integration built into a more expensive product. 

 

Every choice is a trade-off, but your reward is the time reclaimed and the security of knowing you haven’t lost track of precious prospect or client information.  Peace of mind and free time.  Wonder what you could do with that?

Sphere: Related Content


Tags: Client Relationship Manager, CM, Contact Manager, CRM, linkedin, Small Business
Posted in Best Practices, General, Small Business | No Comments »

Structure is Not a Straightjacket

Posted by Barbara Jones on April 16, 2009 – 8:17 am -

So you went out on your own because you just felt stifled in that big organization.  Now you are having some success, you’ve hired some people, and you’re busy all the time.  Problem is the sales resulting from all that “busy” aren’t what they should be.  Your people are starting to get frustrated and short-tempered. They ask questions all the time that they should know the answer to.  Some days you feel like all you do is repeat yourself.  This is not what you had in mind when you started your own business.

The problem is your business doesn’t have as much structure as it needs to be productive.  I know you are afraid of turning into the over-bearing rule-bound place you fled, but that’s not likely to happen.  You only need enough structure to create predictability. Too much predictability is boring, but the right amount allows a sense of security to develop, lowers stress levels, and brings all kinds of positive results. 

Job descriptions are a good example.  Legal requirements aside, a job description tells employees what they are supposed to do, what standards are being used to judge their performance.  Without a job description employees can get the feeling that what is expected of them changes every day.  Often what is expected of them seems to depend on the boss’s mood so they have to ask what they should be doing, every day.

Maybe you just need to standardize your sales process.  If the way prospects are approached depends on the personal preference of each sales person, managing the sales force will be like herding cats.  Everybody will experiment, and re-invent the wheel, every day with every prospect.  There is no way to judge what works and what doesn’t.  Establishing a sales process, with specific actions in a sequence, helps everybody be as efficient and as successful as possible.  And helps you run the business you had in mind.

Sphere: Related Content


Tags: linkedin, sales proc, small business process, work process
Posted in General, Small Business | No Comments »