Employing Staff vs Answering Service
So you are at a point in your business where you are out of the office a bit and have a lot of work to do. You are considering taking on your first employee or even another employee. Exciting times ahead, it’s a big step to take on a staff member. There is an awful...
Hurdles
Business is tough and competition fierce. Business is as we all know, is tough, competition is fierce. Here in Cambridge we have recently lost HMV from the main area of the city centre. It got me thinking, as there is now just 1 specialist music and DVD retailer in...
Setting The Bar
Customer Expectation and Managing Customer Expectation It sounds like a very impressive and trendy new business buzzword or phrase doesn’t it. In fact it isn’t anything new, but comes down to communication and common sense. Let me explain….. Part 1 – Customer...
“I’m Free”
How available are you? In the words of John Inman in ‘Are you being served,’ can you say with confidence 'I'm Free?' Of course it is always a great thing to be available to speak to your prospects or clients. While you may be able to talk to them but are you really...
We are 5 – Happy Birthday to us and a Very Special offer for you!
It's hard to believe we are celebrating our 5th Birthday! It is shocking how fast 5 years has flown by. It is even more amazing that online statistics state that 95% of businesses fail within the first 5 years. We count ourselves among the 5% of survivors and having...
It’s all in the “ist”
Call a Specialist! If you were sick and something was seriously wrong you would more than likely be referred to a ‘Specialist.’ Someone who is an expert in their field, whatever that may be. Perhaps a dermatologist or oncologist you may need to have an x-ray in which...
More Than Just Taking a Message.
I often attend networking meetings where my clients speak about the Answer-it service to other people (usually when introducing me to someone.) I quite often hear them say ‘they do more than just taking a message.’ Being on the inside it has made me stop and think...
Just one moment I’ll try to connect you……
'Call Forwarding ' or 'Patching' is something we get asked about.... This is something that we sometimes get asked about. Yes we can do this for our clients. However following the old adage ‘Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.’ The following is why. If you...
Welcome to 2012 from the Answerettes!
For the past few years at around this time I have tweeted some respected business people and asked them for their thoughts and opinions for the coming year. Well this year I got a negative response from @DuncanBannatyne this was what he told me his thoughts for 2012...
The Right Tools For The Job
Worrying I recently heard a very worrying story from a new client. They had met a ‘Virtual Assistant’ at an event some time ago and decided that the Telephone Answering service that was offered was a great idea. It became apparent however when a call was taken for...