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Are you procrastinating about crafting an auto-response “Out of Office” e-mail to let small business customers and associates know that you’re heading out for a summer holiday? As much as you need a vacation – and your family and close friends are strongly encouraging you to take one – it’s not easy to take a break from the business. If you are on the fence … Continue reading How to take a worry-free break from your small business
Considering the challenge many small businesses face in finding and retaining good employees (Plantronics survey found that 44 percent of small business owners say attracting and finding quality labor is the biggest HR pain point); you don’t want to lose team members because they feel their opportunities are limited and the company is not investing in their future. Among millennial workers, in particular, employer education … Continue reading Cover all the bases when training remote small business workers
Are you concerned that your small business employees are less productive these days? In the first quarter of this year, the Labor Department reported that productivity – the hourly output per worker – declined at a 1.0 percent annual rate. Fourth-quarter 2015 productivity saw a 1.7 percent rate of decline. Furthermore, productivity has only risen in two of the last six quarters. Some attribute the … Continue reading Is small business worker productivity declining? Noise may be the culprit.
No doubt you’ve heard that “you need to go where your customers are,” and today your small business customers have gone mobile. In fact, according to comScore, mobile surpassed the desktop as the leading digital platform in 2014 with total activity on smartphones and tablets accounting for 60 percent of digital media time spent in the U.S. The growing use of mobile devices means that … Continue reading Go mobile: Be where small business customers are these days
Discerning, informed, and connected. With a multitude of choices in the marketplace, multiple buying channels, and instant access to information, today’s customers have never been more empowered, or more demanding. They’ve come to expect the ability to deal with a company on their own terms, very often opting for the convenience of self-service. So, when they do take the time to call a company, it’s … Continue reading Today’s CSRs are under pressure to do a lot more for customers. Is your IT department equipped to deliver what they need?