I recently wrote an article for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Edge Business Magazine called, “The Advertising Machine Inside Your Phone.” ( January 2010 edition.)
In it, I describe the general idea behind On Hold Messaging…what it is, how it works, etc. I intended it to be a good introduction to On Hold Messaging, while also encouraging business owners to think about the fact that their phone system is more a Marketing and Customer Service tool, than it is an IT system.
This is the text of my guest article which appeared in the October 2009 edition of the Edge Business Magazine in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
“If only I didn’t have to work with some of these people,” you’ve thought. “I wish I could just start my own business and be on my own.” It’s a mental cry repeated by many. But here’s your warning about the grass on my side of the fence: the Midwestern determination to “go it alone” can do more to hold you back than to propel you. If you want to run a successful business, you can’t really be “on your own.”
Mr. Know it All
I was like most people starting out in business; money was tight and I looked for ways to do it all on my own. In 2004, after a few years of testing the waters part time, my communications consulting business became my full-time job and I held on to the belief that I could do everything.
After a few months of full-time entrepreneurship, I began to realize that there was plenty I could use help with, but it was a tough decision to finally take action.
Here’s a look at some of what I’ve learned over the years and how I’ve acted on it. You can apply these lessons whether you’re self-employed or leading a large organization.
Know your tricks
Deciding what regular business tasks to keep in-house and what to push away requires an honest talk with yourself about your strengths, weaknesses and desires. Why did you go into business in the first place? What tasks do you (or your staff) do well, and not so well? Find ways to answer those questions that will move your business forward, while casting off the time-sucking tasks that numb your brain or detour your staff.
Take time to find trustworthy people when looking for help, but set a deadline. Ask other business owners for recommendations.
My first big step was to hire a tax adviser. I realized the time spent to keep on top of the W-whatever forms was time I could better spend on billable, enjoyable, creative work with my clients.
Get help
If taking on a project for a client means looking beyond your in-house skills to ensure success, do it.
For a time, I only accepted projects I could complete on my own. Today, I engage people with special talents to help get the job done. For example, I have created many Web sites, but I don’t claim to know every programming language, so I occasionally call in a programmer.
My voice is heard all over the country on telephone systems (plus radio and TV ads, training videos and more), but it’s only my male, baritone voice. I knew that my On-Hold Message production service could grow if I offered a great female voice, too. It turned out that making a connection with an old friend to be my female voice option gave both of our businesses a boost.
Subcontracting specialized skills can yield success for you, your clients and your subs, plus it adds to your firm’s capabilities for the next elevator speech. Your subcontractors also benefit. They earn money and expand their portfolio – which means they’ll get more jobs elsewhere – making them even more valuable the next time you bring them in. (If it’s work you do often, help the economy and create a new job.)
Win together
I believe we can be more competitive as businesses and help others succeed by crafting win-win-win situations.
Right now, I’m building marketing partnerships with select companies to expand awareness of a service line and generate new business for everyone involved:
Win No. 1: My marketing partners benefit by adding a needed service to their portfolios and increasing revenue as a reseller of my services. They also enjoy customer contact and recurring revenue opportunities by selling updates to the service.
Win No. 2: End customers benefit by receiving a needed, revenue-generating service as part of a complete solution from a single vendor.
Win No. 3: I increase sales without having to hit the streets as a salesperson. My marketing partners will be my sales force. I get a greater return on my marketing investment by targeting partners, compared to blanket marketing on my own.
Realizing that being in business on your own doesn’t mean working alone, pushed me toward my toughest decision. Today, my decision to reach out is opening new doors for my business.
Web hosting...be sure to shop around.
I had an experience with a web hosting company recently that underscored my belief that, if you’re in business, you should always know who you’re up against.
A Little Web Hosting History
In the world of web hosting there is a great deal of competition. This is good news, as it has driven prices quite low. The cost of storage (hard drives) has dropped dramatically over the last 20 years, bringing the cost of servers down. Data centers that were built to behemoth size 15 years ago now have plenty of extra space to lease as computer equipment shrinks and becomes more energy efficient. So, overall, the cost to host a web site has dropped. You can find many hosting companies offering unlimited disk space and bandwidth for around $5.00 per month – super cheap. And because of the volume of clients they have at those prices, hosting companies offer many free web tools and very good customer support.
Most small business Web sites, like the ones I build, are hosted on what is called a “shared hosting” environment, in which many web sites are hosted on a single server (pricing indicated above). This, too, has helped to drive costs down. Furthermore, many Web hosting companies also offer a choice of Microsoft server software or open source Linux hosting (I choose Linux because it opens up the door to use all of the open source tools like Magento and Joomla! and a wide variety of other Web applications).
And Now, On With Our Story…
A new client approached me recently and asked me to build their first web site. I was told that they had plans to engage a smaller hosting company, which I knew did not offer Linux hosting, but only Microsoft hosting software. I shared my preference, but the client really wanted to use this particular company. No problem. I could make that work. We didn’t have plans for anything fancy for this site, so basic HTML would probably suffice.
It turned out that a particular feature that my client requested could not be built (by me) because I do not have knowledge of .asp code that is widely used in the Microsoft hosting environment (Active Server Pages). I asked the hosting company (a small, local company) if they would please complete the code necessary to make the requested function work for our mutual client (most of the larger, “national” hosting companies will perform these quick tasks, no questions asked, as part of their customer service commitment — or more often, they’ve provided the necessary documentation and set-up the code, ready to copy and customize). This is where it gets interesting.
Now, it is important to note here that this particular hosting company charges nearly triple what the typical company charges for very basic web hosting. They do not provide any tools, scripts or even the popular “cpanel” webmaster control panel interface or anything similar, nor do they have any documentation available about how their servers are set up (email server naming, etc.) Big price. No extras.
Are You Kidding Me?!?
Now here’s the kicker. In response to my request to either provide me with documentation or complete the code to make a basic web function work on their server, I was told that they would be very glad to help me — for only $95 per hour development time! Incredible!
While I probably won’t be able to get this site moved from this host (I have already solved the web function issue) I know that I will stand my ground more firmly if anyone asks me to work with this particular web hosting company again. Their lack of service and documentation, coupled with high rates, has placed them on my blacklist.
Consumers looking for Web hosting — shop around. If you want to know which companies I use, send me an email and I’d be glad to share. I won’t share the name of the company I’ve written about here; they don’t need any help on their downward spiral.
Business owners of any kind — always know who and what you’re up against. The Web makes it very easy to check up on your competition…whether you’re reviewing pricing, services or product offerings, it can be done from the comfort of your favorite chair at the coffee shop.
If you want to stay ahead of the game — or stay in business — you’d better keep an eye on your competition. (Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer!)
Until next time…
Eric
Go to lunch with an old friend...you'll improve your spirits and maybe your business, too.
I recently had the opportunity to catch up with classmate from high school. Although it had been 20 years since we graduated, it was more our ‘present’ that we discussed than our past. And by the end of our lunchtime conversation, we had discovered ways in which we could help one another in our work.
This meeting — and a comment my friend made – caused me to think about the focus our business society has placed lately on “social networking” as a marketing tool. It’s interesting that we call it “social networking,” yet we most often think about the electronic, online implementation rather than the face-to-face, hand-shaking type. And there’s no doubt about it — social online interactions help to build a comfort level with a person or business over time, when done correctly.
This meeting with my old classmate reminded me that connecting face to face on a personal level is far more powerful than any text, pictures or ”LOLs” you can place on a screen. I think as we all sit at our desks each day staring into an LCD panel, we sometimes forget that. My friend and I were able to have a conversation — out loud — with words — not typed on a screen. And we looked at each other and gauged the emotion with which things were being said. No emoticons. Real faces.
I knew going into our meeting that there were ways that we could help each other in our business lives and was hopeful that we’d be able to discuss them. But, of course, we started by talking about our families and work lives in general. We established a personal connection first. After talking about our children and schools and challenges in our personal lives, it was then very easy to discuss ways we could help one another with our business lives, too.
What I gained that day was not just an opportunity to expand awareness of my business and also help my friend, but I was emotionally buoyed by the power of the connection and the renewed friendship as we talked about our families and our work. I left that meeting with an even stronger sense of possibility and hope for my business, and the excitement of being able to help my friend overcome a business dilemma, too. But most of all, it was enjoyable to have re-discovered a “new” old friend.
So keep on Twittering and Facebooking (is that verb?) and Linking-In and Blogging…they can pay off. But I encourage you to seek out someone you haven’t seen for quite a while and make a date for lunch. What you’ll find is that you both likely have ways in which you can help one another, personally and professionally. And it just makes you feel good.
Oh, and when you meet your old friend for lunch, you’ll probably spend more time together than your schedule allowed and you’ll be busier that afternoon because of it. But it will be worth it. I know it was for me. Just be sure to bring plenty of change for the parking meter.
Eric
Save money with a coupon code at onholdwebstore.us
Here’s a coupon code that will take 10% off your total purchase over $100 (limit 4 total cart items) during July and August 2009 at the On Hold Web Store – onholdwebstore.us :
julyaug10
Enter this coupon code anytime when viewing your shopping cart to see the savings! If you are buying selected equipment items in quantity to cover several locations, you’ll save even more, since we have quantity discounts posted right on our product pages.
The On Hold Web Store – found at onholdwebstore.us - provides On Hold Message audio production services and playback equipment for business telephone systems; PBX & Key systems and files for VoIP — we can send custom audio for your current player, too. Other services include custom system menu promts and voicemail recordings. Questions? Just give us a call toll-free at 1-877-808-0794 or visit us online. No long-term contracts or monthly fees – straight buy-out production…you pay for it — you own it.
-Eric
The brilliant folk of Monty Python...back in the day. (photo: BBC)
I’m a big fan of the legendary English comedy troupe, Monty Python. When I read this article, I knew you’d want to see it, too. It’s a fun mix of quotes from their TV shows and movies, with business lesson commentary.
This is a good little read by Todd Mintz on FOCUS:
Writing an On Hold Message Script doesn't have to be a struggle.
That’s a question we get asked all the time here at the On Hold Web Store. And the answer is: “just about anything you’d like.”
An on-hold message is basically just a very long radio commercial. It can be as long as you like, although most businesses find that a message of about 5 minutes or so does the trick.
As for what to include in your on-hold message script, we offer a free PDF download at the On Hold Web Store – we call it our Ideas Sheet – because (surprise, surprise) we’ve filled it up with ideas of topics you might want to include in your message.
Every business is different, but most retail businesses include their location, store hours and information about a special sale, among other things. While professional services businesses typically choose to educate callers about their awards, certifications and specialties.
The list goes on and on (no, really it does — you should check it out). But every on hold message should include a variety of what we call “courtesy messages” that let your callers on hold know that YOU know they are waiting for you to come back to the phone, and assures them that you are working diligently to get back on the line.
If you’re adventurous and willing to break out from the pack, we can create a script for you that includes all of the information you want to share, but in a clever – maybe even humorous – way!
If you have any questions, please drop us a note at info@onholdwebstore.us or give me a call toll-free at 1-877-808-0794.
Eric Wylie
Owner, On Hold Web Store
http://onholdwebstore.us