Are you struggling to keep up with actioning your marketing plan whilst balancing the demands of running your business? Did you know that we can help and what's more we are offering a tasty 10% off our packages if you book before the end of 2009.
Newsletter and Autoresponder package: Been meaning to write your newsletter for ages or set up your autoresponders and just not got round to it, not sure what packages to use or maybe you just don't have time to do it anymore? Get it sorted from £60 per issue sent.
Copy editing and proofreading: Get your sales letters, blogs, email blasts and reports written in a compelling way from £60 per draft.
Virtual Sales & Marketing Support Package: From £500 per month your business will have a minimum of 2 days a month undivided attention from an experienced professional to plan and carry out your sales and marketing plans to make your business boom.
Telemarketing package: We can get your sales pitch perfected, and weedle out those pain points which is why your customers hammer your door down for more. We will get on the phones and drive your business development forward from £250 per day.
Get 2010 off to a great start by calling us today on 0845 075 1044 or email Sarah to discuss your requirements and claim your 10% discount.
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Going to hell in a handcart
At some point in your business life, you will realise the restrictions of your particular business model. Whether it is down to your IT system not handling enough emails or not having enough back up staff, it will feel painful. Some business owners are great at planning ahead and are able to track, plot and manage for all eventualities, others like to live life by the seat of their pants. We think that when you are starting and running your own business, its not possible to plan for every eventuality. The fear of getting things going wrong would mean you would never get out of bed in the morning.
Even if you are a 'fly by the seat of your pants' kind of entrepreneur, it is possible to put aside a bit of planning time to think... 'where are my back up files kept'....'how quickly could I access my documents if it all went to hell in a handcart?'. These are quite dark musings for a Tuesday morning but Tailored Time has had our fair share of these and that is why we know that back ups.. human or technological are v.v. important if you are going to sleep well at night.
These are our top tips to help you sleep well at night:
1. Use a remote back up as well as /instead of your extra hard disk that you just keep forgetting to back up each week. Check out companies like www.carbonite.com or www.datasafehaven.co.uk - there are millions of companies out there and we think the most important things to consider are a) where are there servers located b) how quickly can you download the data c) how slow will your computer run when it is backing up d)cost
2. Have a remote call handling company to cover your phones if everyone is out of the office. There is nothing worse than an answer machine and call handling is so affordable and efficient there are no excuses
3. Use a bit of cloud computing technology that is currently reaching dizzying heights of functionality and accessability. This means that if you office disappears tomorrow (or you just want to work from home) your key documents are there, ready to use. We are liking www.officelive.com at the moment because it just looks so much nicer to use than googledocs.com (sorry google!)
4. Ensure all passwords are kept in a secure document somewhere - I can only imagine how much time I waste forgetting what password was used where despite best intentions and then I have to try and explain how to find them to a new hire
5. Ensure that all your procedural documents are up to date - this can be time consuming but if you have different people working on different accounts and projects and they have the most knowledge you need to make time to get that knowledge out of their heads on a regular basis
What are your most important contingency plans - we would love to hear from you!
Even if you are a 'fly by the seat of your pants' kind of entrepreneur, it is possible to put aside a bit of planning time to think... 'where are my back up files kept'....'how quickly could I access my documents if it all went to hell in a handcart?'. These are quite dark musings for a Tuesday morning but Tailored Time has had our fair share of these and that is why we know that back ups.. human or technological are v.v. important if you are going to sleep well at night.
These are our top tips to help you sleep well at night:
1. Use a remote back up as well as /instead of your extra hard disk that you just keep forgetting to back up each week. Check out companies like www.carbonite.com or www.datasafehaven.co.uk - there are millions of companies out there and we think the most important things to consider are a) where are there servers located b) how quickly can you download the data c) how slow will your computer run when it is backing up d)cost
2. Have a remote call handling company to cover your phones if everyone is out of the office. There is nothing worse than an answer machine and call handling is so affordable and efficient there are no excuses
3. Use a bit of cloud computing technology that is currently reaching dizzying heights of functionality and accessability. This means that if you office disappears tomorrow (or you just want to work from home) your key documents are there, ready to use. We are liking www.officelive.com at the moment because it just looks so much nicer to use than googledocs.com (sorry google!)
4. Ensure all passwords are kept in a secure document somewhere - I can only imagine how much time I waste forgetting what password was used where despite best intentions and then I have to try and explain how to find them to a new hire
5. Ensure that all your procedural documents are up to date - this can be time consuming but if you have different people working on different accounts and projects and they have the most knowledge you need to make time to get that knowledge out of their heads on a regular basis
What are your most important contingency plans - we would love to hear from you!
Monday, 28 September 2009
Top 10 twips for prooof reading (geddit?)
Some of the Tailored Time team carry out valuable proof reading and copy writing services for our clients. A client recently asked us what the difference is and for us the main difference is that when proofreading, we are mainly looking only for typos. Copy editing is a much more detailed process as we look for style consistency/inconsistency, technical punctuation and grammar problems and rephrase awkward sentences. If you don't have the budget to outsource your proof reading, then here are our 10 top tips to help you get it right the first time:
1. Re-read Your Work
Over and over again - even if it drives you crazy....
2. Minimize Distractions
It is a good idea that when you are proofreading your work that you minimize all distractions or as many distractions that you can, turn the radio off, take yourself to a quiet place, schedule time out of your diary, don't pick up the phone...
3. Read Your Finished Piece Out Loud
If you read it out loud, you are less likely to scan the document and miss vital errors. This might be difficult in a busy environment but it makes a big difference.
4. Use Spell Checker
The document spell checker is a great way to spot really obvious mistakes, but equally, you cannot rely on a 100% accurate document without re reading it yourself. Remember to make sure that you have chosen the correct language setting too...
5. Use Grammar Checker
Also a useful bit of kit but again, this is used in conjunction with reading the document through yourself.
6. Page numbering
Ensure that you always closely review page numbers and other footer/header material for accuracy and correct order.
7. Read Slowly
By reading both out loud and slowly you will increase your chances of catching an error. Follow the words with your finger, take your time and this will give you a chance to spot more inaccuracies.
8. Read it backwards
Sounds crazy but by reading it backwards you focus more on the spelling of each word.
9. Give it to someone else
Having a second/third/fourth pair of eyes on the document makes a huge difference.
10. Proofread Everything
Remember, if your document has tables, graphs and headlines read them all because your audience certainly will.
What are your recommendations? We would love to hear from you!
1. Re-read Your Work
Over and over again - even if it drives you crazy....
2. Minimize Distractions
It is a good idea that when you are proofreading your work that you minimize all distractions or as many distractions that you can, turn the radio off, take yourself to a quiet place, schedule time out of your diary, don't pick up the phone...
3. Read Your Finished Piece Out Loud
If you read it out loud, you are less likely to scan the document and miss vital errors. This might be difficult in a busy environment but it makes a big difference.
4. Use Spell Checker
The document spell checker is a great way to spot really obvious mistakes, but equally, you cannot rely on a 100% accurate document without re reading it yourself. Remember to make sure that you have chosen the correct language setting too...
5. Use Grammar Checker
Also a useful bit of kit but again, this is used in conjunction with reading the document through yourself.
6. Page numbering
Ensure that you always closely review page numbers and other footer/header material for accuracy and correct order.
7. Read Slowly
By reading both out loud and slowly you will increase your chances of catching an error. Follow the words with your finger, take your time and this will give you a chance to spot more inaccuracies.
8. Read it backwards
Sounds crazy but by reading it backwards you focus more on the spelling of each word.
9. Give it to someone else
Having a second/third/fourth pair of eyes on the document makes a huge difference.
10. Proofread Everything
Remember, if your document has tables, graphs and headlines read them all because your audience certainly will.
What are your recommendations? We would love to hear from you!
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Balancing the cost of hiring staff to grow your business
Finally, you are living your entrepreneurial dream and have launched your own business, sales are coming in, clients are happy but the reality of the dream is that you are working a 70 hour week, you no longer have your weekends to yourself, your in tray is overflowing and you haven’t even started work on your VAT return which is due tomorrow.
Okay, so you may be familiar with the story. You have a few choices at this point – either hire a full time member of staff, persuade your partner to help with the admin (a common starting choice) or outsource to a virtual assistant… or of course continue to do it all. Before embarking on hiring someone full time, let’s just check out whether the figures stack up for you.
Assume a minimum of £10 per hour at 40 hours per week which means that over the course of a year you're spending £20,800 on salary alone. Add in the cost of NI, taxes, office/desk space, supplies, fringe benefits etc. at approximately 60% of salary and you're spending about £33,280 annually for your full time, in-house employee.
Don't forget the less obvious, and difficult to quantify, expenses such as overhead related to time and money spent filling and training your position, the cost of lunch hours, sick and holiday pay, and numerous wasted, non-productive hours on the clock.
Now, lets look at how it stacks up using a virtual assistant....
Rates average from £15.00 to £35.00 for a good VA, and depending on what tasks are being fulfilled. Therefore, assume a minimum spend of £22.00 per hour for your Virtual PA (vs £19.00 per hour for a full time member of staff) but with this model you are paying for the time that you need for the tasks you need to achieve on.
Many see their virtual assistant as a full time partner that has a vested interest in the growth of your business that will work in collaboration with you towards the success of your company - sometimes this is a very lucky work ethic to find in an employee. A virtual assistant is much more focused on the task in hand - your money isn't spent on gossiping with colleagues or extra long lunch hours.... after all, time is money.
Other than the money element, you are saving time on training, payments made to NI and HMRC, administrative costs, recruitment, base salary, benefits, office space and furnishings, equipment....
But then again, of course, you could continue to do the work yourself....
Would love to hear your opinions on this! Agree, disagree, what have your experiences been?
Okay, so you may be familiar with the story. You have a few choices at this point – either hire a full time member of staff, persuade your partner to help with the admin (a common starting choice) or outsource to a virtual assistant… or of course continue to do it all. Before embarking on hiring someone full time, let’s just check out whether the figures stack up for you.
Assume a minimum of £10 per hour at 40 hours per week which means that over the course of a year you're spending £20,800 on salary alone. Add in the cost of NI, taxes, office/desk space, supplies, fringe benefits etc. at approximately 60% of salary and you're spending about £33,280 annually for your full time, in-house employee.
Don't forget the less obvious, and difficult to quantify, expenses such as overhead related to time and money spent filling and training your position, the cost of lunch hours, sick and holiday pay, and numerous wasted, non-productive hours on the clock.
Now, lets look at how it stacks up using a virtual assistant....
Rates average from £15.00 to £35.00 for a good VA, and depending on what tasks are being fulfilled. Therefore, assume a minimum spend of £22.00 per hour for your Virtual PA (vs £19.00 per hour for a full time member of staff) but with this model you are paying for the time that you need for the tasks you need to achieve on.
Many see their virtual assistant as a full time partner that has a vested interest in the growth of your business that will work in collaboration with you towards the success of your company - sometimes this is a very lucky work ethic to find in an employee. A virtual assistant is much more focused on the task in hand - your money isn't spent on gossiping with colleagues or extra long lunch hours.... after all, time is money.
Other than the money element, you are saving time on training, payments made to NI and HMRC, administrative costs, recruitment, base salary, benefits, office space and furnishings, equipment....
But then again, of course, you could continue to do the work yourself....
Would love to hear your opinions on this! Agree, disagree, what have your experiences been?
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Getting to task with your Virtual Assistant
Here at Tailored Time Towers, we live and breath in our virtual world. It sounds bizare but still some folks out there don't get working virtually. Face to face is good but sometimes it can just get in the way of getting on with the job. With that in mind, for those readers out there who might be thinking 'what could I get a virtual assistant to do for me' we give you our top 13 most requested jobs:
1. Telephone answering & diary management - having your VA answer your phone, manage calls and co-ordinate important meetings and appointments
2. Newsletters - the right VA will know about what package to use, can sort out the design and even work on the copy with you
3. Mail forwarding - if you travel a lot or are based out of the country for most of the year then you can get your VA to organise, scan the mail and deal with it in your absence
4. Research - got a new business idea but dont have the time to look into it right now?
5. Spreadsheet and mail shot management - timing and accuracy is very important so who better to get your VA to handle it
6. Co-ordinating suppliers and colleagues - when you are in meeting, holding events or juggling all the business balls in the air, your VA can be on the front line co-ordinating everything else
7. Event organisation - sending out emails campaigns, handling replies, liaising with venues and suppliers
8. Travel co-ordination - finding the best price, booking complicated arrangements, it all takes time
9. Transcribing meeting minutes and notes - qualified VAs can be demon typist with an ear and an eye for accuracy
10. Copywriting - your VA can be an experienced writer or editor so this would easily be within remit
11. Proof reading - if you have poured over the copy you can get your VA to proof read for any final mistakes before you publish it to the world
12. Website maintenance - need a new one designing or an existing one updating, well there are VAs with the experience to do this
13. Book keeping - sending out those dratted invoices that keep the world going round, chasing up payments and getting those expenses inputted in time for the VAT return and end of year accounts
We would love to hear from you so do drop us a line with your thoughts!
1. Telephone answering & diary management - having your VA answer your phone, manage calls and co-ordinate important meetings and appointments
2. Newsletters - the right VA will know about what package to use, can sort out the design and even work on the copy with you
3. Mail forwarding - if you travel a lot or are based out of the country for most of the year then you can get your VA to organise, scan the mail and deal with it in your absence
4. Research - got a new business idea but dont have the time to look into it right now?
5. Spreadsheet and mail shot management - timing and accuracy is very important so who better to get your VA to handle it
6. Co-ordinating suppliers and colleagues - when you are in meeting, holding events or juggling all the business balls in the air, your VA can be on the front line co-ordinating everything else
7. Event organisation - sending out emails campaigns, handling replies, liaising with venues and suppliers
8. Travel co-ordination - finding the best price, booking complicated arrangements, it all takes time
9. Transcribing meeting minutes and notes - qualified VAs can be demon typist with an ear and an eye for accuracy
10. Copywriting - your VA can be an experienced writer or editor so this would easily be within remit
11. Proof reading - if you have poured over the copy you can get your VA to proof read for any final mistakes before you publish it to the world
12. Website maintenance - need a new one designing or an existing one updating, well there are VAs with the experience to do this
13. Book keeping - sending out those dratted invoices that keep the world going round, chasing up payments and getting those expenses inputted in time for the VAT return and end of year accounts
We would love to hear from you so do drop us a line with your thoughts!
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
how much is too much?
I'm often asked how often should you chase a sales lead if they arent responding? It's a strange thing, as a business owner, when you receive a web enquiry and you respond and return their call. Sometimes they are very engaging and you get the impression that they really want your services so badly it hurts. And then they disappear. You are then in the position of wanting to convert the lead but sometimes not wanting to come across like you are stalking them.
My rule of thumb in cases like this is that you do have to draw the line somewhere. My line tends to be three calls, one voicemail message and then move on if you aren't getting any response. There are other ways to gently remind them that you are still there by dropping them an email every couple of months with some update on your service.
Then there are the cases when you have knuckled down to your weekly cold calls, it may be painful but you have set your targets and are getting on with it. But some people are hardly ever there - what do you do? Keep calling and keep leaving phone messages. My advice is in most cases, if you have never talked to the person, do not leave a phone message the first time - they don't know you, why would they call you back? If you do feel the urgent need to leave a message make sure it is clever and compelling enough for them to ring back, but also think about what you are going to say when they do ring back. I have had cases where a 'hard to reach' director has rung me back and Ive been in the middle of doing something completely unrelated (like getting a sandwich at the shop) and on the move and that doesnt give a good impression either.
The other issue that tends to come up from time to time that I get asked about is what to do with the leads that you have managed to talk to but you feel like you are always being fobbed off.. e.g. they are always saying 'send me an email' or 'call me back'. I say EMPOWER them to say No - a no is much better than a maybe... you cant buil your business on maybe... it might as well be a No in my book.
So, to summarise:
1. Warm leads - Three calls and then move on, you have better things to do with your time
2. Cold calls - In most cases don't leave a phone message unless you have already talked to them before
3. Cold calls - if you do get through to your caller and they keep saying 'send me an email, call me back' and you feel like it is a 'no' in disguise then empower them to say No; make it easy for them... because ultimately hearing a No means that you are going to hear a Yes sooner rather than later.
Was this helpful - what are your thoughts...?
My rule of thumb in cases like this is that you do have to draw the line somewhere. My line tends to be three calls, one voicemail message and then move on if you aren't getting any response. There are other ways to gently remind them that you are still there by dropping them an email every couple of months with some update on your service.
Then there are the cases when you have knuckled down to your weekly cold calls, it may be painful but you have set your targets and are getting on with it. But some people are hardly ever there - what do you do? Keep calling and keep leaving phone messages. My advice is in most cases, if you have never talked to the person, do not leave a phone message the first time - they don't know you, why would they call you back? If you do feel the urgent need to leave a message make sure it is clever and compelling enough for them to ring back, but also think about what you are going to say when they do ring back. I have had cases where a 'hard to reach' director has rung me back and Ive been in the middle of doing something completely unrelated (like getting a sandwich at the shop) and on the move and that doesnt give a good impression either.
The other issue that tends to come up from time to time that I get asked about is what to do with the leads that you have managed to talk to but you feel like you are always being fobbed off.. e.g. they are always saying 'send me an email' or 'call me back'. I say EMPOWER them to say No - a no is much better than a maybe... you cant buil your business on maybe... it might as well be a No in my book.
So, to summarise:
1. Warm leads - Three calls and then move on, you have better things to do with your time
2. Cold calls - In most cases don't leave a phone message unless you have already talked to them before
3. Cold calls - if you do get through to your caller and they keep saying 'send me an email, call me back' and you feel like it is a 'no' in disguise then empower them to say No; make it easy for them... because ultimately hearing a No means that you are going to hear a Yes sooner rather than later.
Was this helpful - what are your thoughts...?
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Little Fluffy Clouds
As our minds turn towards holidays, we might be considering how we could work remotely more effectively. A term that has been around for a while now is 'cloud computing' and Tailored Time has been exploring what this means, what is out there and the pros and cons of working this way for the entrepreneur/business owner.
According to the big dictionary in the sky ' Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet'. You may already be doing it... we all use remote mail servers, hosted webspace, google mail, hotmail, survey monkey, constant contacts, salesforce.com... we have embraced it and it means that it is easy to work with colleagues who are no longer sitting in your office. However, along with the highs that we experience on working this way, there are also some downsides to consider...
Some highs
Some lows
www.surveymonkey.com - surveys online
www.google.com - document sharing and lots of other functionality
www.salesforce.com - CRM system
www.freecrm.com - CRM system
www.officelive.com - document sharing and lots of other functionality
www.ymlp.com - newsletter software
www.constantcontact.com - newsletter software
We would love to know your thoughts, good applications to use and useful stuff like that so get commenting!
According to the big dictionary in the sky ' Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet'. You may already be doing it... we all use remote mail servers, hosted webspace, google mail, hotmail, survey monkey, constant contacts, salesforce.com... we have embraced it and it means that it is easy to work with colleagues who are no longer sitting in your office. However, along with the highs that we experience on working this way, there are also some downsides to consider...
Some highs
- you can access them anywhere you have internet access
- you can share documents easily
- it is often free (hooray!)
Some lows
- If your connection is slow, working on your cloud will be slooooowww... very frustrating with things like salesforce.com if you are used to working on a CRM hosted on your machine
- You are dependent on someone else for your technology and just like we have learnt to hate Microsoft, we could soon feel the same about the likes of Google....
- With google applications and others that are free it is very tempting but beware... you can get hooked and though it may be free now, we are sure it won't be free for long...
www.surveymonkey.com - surveys online
www.google.com - document sharing and lots of other functionality
www.salesforce.com - CRM system
www.freecrm.com - CRM system
www.officelive.com - document sharing and lots of other functionality
www.ymlp.com - newsletter software
www.constantcontact.com - newsletter software
We would love to know your thoughts, good applications to use and useful stuff like that so get commenting!
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