10 Ways to Make Your Employees Feel Valued

On July 31, 2019
10:31 am
Filed under Tips and Tricks

Employees are the bread and butter of your small business. They keep things moving and they keep things under control. Without them, you’re, well, you’re toast—minus the butter. You appreciate them every day, but do they know it? If you think a twice-monthly paycheck and the occasional happy hour and/or annual holiday party gives them the warm and fuzzies, think again. It’s time to step up your game and show your employees just how much you value them. But how? We’ve gathered 10 easy ways you can make your employees feel appreciated. It’s

You’re a business owner and you’ve got work to do. Business proposals to write, marketing material to draft, brainstorming, strategizing, the list goes on. To get anything done at all, you need to be creative, but you feel like your brain’s on vacation. You’re tapped out, you’re tired, and, as they say, you’ve got nothing. It might be because you’re running on empty. You might just be feeling uninspired. Whatever the reason, you need to dig deep and get ‘er done. But how do you get your creative juices flowing when there’s no juice and definitely no

No one who’s just launched a business wants to look like they just launched a business. But how do you seem like you’ve been around a while? And that you’re successful? And that it’s not just, you know, you and two other employees? (Or, uh, just you?) The answer may surprise you, as it revolves around your business phone, which probably isn’t something you stop to think about often. Just the term “business phone” may feel a bit dated—especially since it’s likely the cell phone you’re holding in your hand right now—but hear us

It sounds like something only a techie could love: VoIP. You hear the acronym and think, “No way. Not for me.” Not so fast! VoIP—which just means phone service over the internet—is insanely easy to use and, thanks to a slew of cool features, can take your small or midsize business to new heights. Ideal for entrepreneurs and growing businesses, once you try it, we guarantee you’ll love it. And you don’t need to be the least bit technical to figure it out. Here are 10 reasons even you, a self-declared non-techie, will love VoIP.

VoIP (voice over IP) is packed with high-tech perks. Many of them are designed to make your life easier. But just as many were created specifically to serve your customers. And one them is a magical little feature called Click-to-Call. It works like this: your VoIP provider gives you a bit of code to embed on your website and voilà, a button appears that quickly connects customers to your business. The catch is that they enter their number and your business calls them. It’s kind of amazing. From preventing callers getting stuck in a phone maze to just making their

Being an entrepreneur is tough. That’s why so few of us do it. It can be lonely, exhausting, and intimidating. On days when it’s particularly trying—when you’re down in the dumps and feeling discouraged—a pep talk can really help. We know a thing or two about innovation and entrepreneurship. And we’d love to boost your spirit with some wisdom we’ve gleaned over the years. We’ve all been there. You’re not alone. Here’s our very best advice to make you feel better even on your very worst days. You’re doing this for a reason. Yes, branching out on your own

We don’t know how it happened, or why, but the 90s are apparently back in style. But just because teenagers are sporting, ahem, mom jeans again (*sob*) doesn’t mean you and your employees have to work like it’s 1999. Today’s business is mobile. If there’s anything that defines business today it’s mobility. We’re all working on the go, taking calls, making calls, and writing emails. Even with the best grunge playlist on earth, there’s absolutely nothing nostalgic about being chained to your desk simply because your work phone is there. But how can you and your employees cut the cord?

If you feel like you’re getting more scam calls than ever, you’re right. And it’s not just you. Americans received an astounding 26.3 billion robocalls in 2018, up a whopping 46% from 2017. It’s hard to fathom, but nearly 50% of all mobile calls are spam. It’s no wonder only half of all cell phone calls are answered at all. Why answer if it’s just a scammer—live or recorded—on the other end of the line? From why robocalls are so prevalent to what you can do to stop them, we’ve put together a quick primer so you can face the

They may drive you crazy sometimes but let’s face it: you kind of love your coworkers. (You know you do!) And it takes all types to really get a business off the ground, then keep it running like clockwork. VoIP (also known as “voice over IP”, pronounced voyp; which basically means phone service over the internet) is brimming with features to suit all of them. Even the ones never at their desks. The ones that run from fax machines (and voicemails!) like they’re on fire. The goofy ones. The frugal ones. The don’t-bother-me-I’m-busy ones. The nerdy ones. (Oops! That’s

It can be one of the biggest blunders of the business call, eliciting sighs, eye-rolls, and universal irritation. It’s the call transfer—and it has a bad reputation for a reason. If you do it right, it can help your customers and leave a lasting, positive impression. But if you do it wrong—and many of us do—you’ll not only annoy your customers, you may make them angry. And you could lose them for good. If your call transfers could use some work, there are some easy steps to make them a whole lot better. Listen carefully. Whether your business

Procrastinating is something we all like to dabble in now and then, some of us more than others. But putting things off doesn’t always have to do with deadlines. Sometimes it’s an overflowing email inbox, 100 voicemails you’ve listened to and don’t know what to do with, or a pile of books doubling as a paperweight. From technological clutter to actual clutter, spring is the perfect time to stop putting off what you should have cleaned up months ago. Clean your inbox Let’s start with your email. There’s lots of clever metaphors (your ever-growing closet, your

At the very least once a month. In a fast-paced world where we’re inundated by endless scrolls on social media, a 24 hour news cycle, and increasing responsibilities at the office and at home, it’s hard to engage with customers regularly and effectively. And because there are so many statistics pointing to customers disengaging after poor customer service experiences, it pays to be on top of attentiveness and to approach this customer care with a hospitality-minded strategy. With that said, we’ve put together some thoughts on why and how you should keep in touch with your customers. Talk to

entrepreneuring using VOIP business phone

If you have a small business, you’re probably trying to cut corners. And one of those corners may be a business phone. After all, isn’t calling people—even answering the phone—outdated these days? In the era of texting, emails, and live chatting, why would someone want to actually pick up the phone to call a business? We hate to go old-school on you, but using the phone to make actual phone calls is still (surprisingly!) popular, especially when it comes to small businesses. If you’re thinking about (literally) cutting the cord, consider the following. People are

We’ve all been there: in need of assistance, furiously shouting “Operator” to an automated voice-over. Help seems, well, futile. Wouldn’t it be nice if you have a real live person on the other end of the line? Thanks to a growing number of outsourcing companies, it’s possible you now can. Live answering services have been becoming more popular and more affordable to small and medium businesses. Apart from the myriad reasons how they can help, perhaps the biggest is how it immediately elevates your brand. The big business look-and-feel can be a huge factor in whether customers choose your

You can have your dream job, a great boss, even a never-ending supply of your favorite coffee. But if your workspace isn’t quite right, your productivity can suffer. Whether your office is at home or away, a cubicle or an executive suite, if it’s dark and drab, messy, uncomfortable, and/or full of distractions, some small upgrades can yield amazing results. We’ve compiled nine simple ways to create a more productive workspace, from reducing clutter in your hard drive to increasing the green around you. Clear the (physical) clutter Nothing gets in the way of productivity like clutter. It makes

Analytics, in really any form, are paramount to a business’s success. So for a company of any size, especially those with a call center or those who suddenly have an increase in call volume, monitoring the customer experience and making it smooth is key. And the way to do that? Caller analytics. If you know how to use them, call analytics data can be a mighty tool. By studying the specifics, you can get a clearer picture of how long customers are spending on the phone when they call in, location of callers, wait times, times of day

You’ve decided to host your first webinar. That’s a big deal. It’s the first time you’re putting out such a big piece of content, the first time you’re putting yourself on camera, and, most importantly, the first time introducing your company to a wider audience. There are plenty of factors that go into making a successful webinar, but we wanted to highlight a few. Production & Promotion If this is your first webinar, it’s probably best to keep your focus razor-sharp. This is a time where you have 20-30 minutes of time to dive into a specific topic.

a call center of a company using toll-free numbers

Remember phones? Like, real ones. Not the 4K video-computers we have in our pockets. I’m talking about ones where there were actual buttons with number that you had to dial. We’ve come a long way from landlines, cordless & car phones. And we’ve also come a long way when talking about numbers. Let’s take a trip back in time. Back in the mid-1960s, AT&T devised a plan to lessen the burden of collect calls on their phone operators.The volume simply was too much. They devised something they dubbed “automatic collect calling,” where the charge for the caller is