When the Rep leaves the company, goes on vacation or merely becomes ill, calls can immediately be re-routed to another company Rep. T

Jealousy and Territoriality in the Workplace
There are times in every company when people "butt heads" with each other whether subtly or overtly. These conflicts, if persistent, can become detrimental to the business and should be addressed if possible.If you are a manager or co-worker of the conflicting parties, you can have a positive effect on tension reduction. If you are an underling of one or both parties, hide under the desk and avoid the crossfire unless you have an exceptionally strong relationship with a "superior".If you are in a position to help, there are two things to do: gain understanding, then take

If you have outside sales or support personnel, you run a very high risk of losing your customers when your outside staff leaves the company to work for another company or to go into business for themselves.

Here's the typical scenario. You've got a great outside salesperson, often located hundreds or thousands of miles from the home office. Maybe, even in a different country. This salesperson loves his job, and works hard to service the customer. So hard, that he tells them: "Don't call the number on my business card. That's the home office and I am never there. Instead, call my cell number. I've written it on my card."

All is well until your salesperson leaves the company to go to work for a competitor or even into business for him or herself. Can you guess what customers hear when they call the cell phone number to place an order? It's probably something like: "I am so glad you called. I am no longer with that company. I am with a new company that has better products and lower prices. Let me tell you all out my new company."

This disaster happened because the company lost its connection to its customers, by allowing customers to call its staff directly on a phone number that is owned and controlled by the employee. If this has already happened to you, you're well aware of what it feels like to be blindsided by such an unexpected loss of business. If this has not already happened to you, it almost surely will, sooner than later.

Companies of all sizes have learned that protecting their customer base from such attacks starts by controlling the communications system between the customer and the company's staff. That means providing voice and fax numbers to every employee, whether they work inside or outside of the office and regardless of the country in which they work.

An easy and inexpensive solution is to outsource to a hosted service provider that can provide a voice and fax number, called a Virtual Office, for each outside employee. The Virtual Office number can be a toll free number. Some service providers have local phone numbers in the cities in which the employees work, even cities outside the US. That number is printed on the Rep's business card. When customers call that phone number, the service provider automatically routes the call to the Rep's cell phone or home office number. If the call is not answered, the call can be routed elsewhere, perhaps to an assistant or the corporate office, or it can take a voicemail message. The Virtual Office can then call the Rep and deliver the message immediately, as well as deliver the message to Rep's email, where it can be played over any Internet devise.

When the Rep leaves the company, goes on vacation or merely becomes ill, calls can immediately be re-routed to another company Rep. Th

Let's Be Realistic About Nepotism: If You Hire Your Children Be Prepared For Criticism
I was recently approached by a transportation company owner, I will call her Beth. Beth and her business partner both have adult sons that they would like to take over their business someday.The partners named both sons Fleet Managers about a year ago. Beth’s son has proven to be very good at the job. He manages the people and equipment well and is very reliable. Beth’s partner's son is another story. His work habits are terrible and he often doesn't show up for work at all. The staff jokes about what time he will call in on sunny days. He has shown no signs of improvement in

never there. Instead, call my cell number. I've written it on my card."

All is well until your salesperson leaves the company to go to work for a competitor or even into business for him or herself. Can you guess what customers hear when they call the cell phone number to place an order? It's probably something like: "I am so glad you called. I am no longer with that company. I am with a new company that has better products and lower prices. Let me tell you all out my new company."

This disaster happened because the company lost its connection to its customers, by allowing customers to call its staff directly on a phone number that is owned and controlled by the employee. If this has already happened to you, you're well aware of what it feels like to be blindsided by such an unexpected loss of business. If this has not already happened to you, it almost surely will, sooner than later.

Companies of all sizes have learned that protecting their customer base from such attacks starts by controlling the communications system between the customer and the company's staff. That means providing voice and fax numbers to every employee, whether they work inside or outside of the office and regardless of the country in which they work.

An easy and inexpensive solution is to outsource to a hosted service provider that can provide a voice and fax number, called a Virtual Office, for each outside employee. The Virtual Office number can be a toll free number. Some service providers have local phone numbers in the cities in which the employees work, even cities outside the US. That number is printed on the Rep's business card. When customers call that phone number, the service provider automatically routes the call to the Rep's cell phone or home office number. If the call is not answered, the call can be routed elsewhere, perhaps to an assistant or the corporate office, or it can take a voicemail message. The Virtual Office can then call the Rep and deliver the message immediately, as well as deliver the message to Rep's email, where it can be played over any Internet devise.

When the Rep leaves the company, goes on vacation or merely becomes ill, calls can immediately be re-routed to another company Rep. T

A Natural Phenomenon? Really?
Sure. What else do you call a human discipline whose very nature is firmly rooted in the principle that people act on their own perception of the facts. Then goes on to create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization?I call it public relations, and one heck of a natural phenomenon!In fact, I believe it's the fundamental premise of public relations. Especially when it deals with the survival of just about any organization by successfully altering the percept

connection to its customers, by allowing customers to call its staff directly on a phone number that is owned and controlled by the employee. If this has already happened to you, you're well aware of what it feels like to be blindsided by such an unexpected loss of business. If this has not already happened to you, it almost surely will, sooner than later.

Companies of all sizes have learned that protecting their customer base from such attacks starts by controlling the communications system between the customer and the company's staff. That means providing voice and fax numbers to every employee, whether they work inside or outside of the office and regardless of the country in which they work.

An easy and inexpensive solution is to outsource to a hosted service provider that can provide a voice and fax number, called a Virtual Office, for each outside employee. The Virtual Office number can be a toll free number. Some service providers have local phone numbers in the cities in which the employees work, even cities outside the US. That number is printed on the Rep's business card. When customers call that phone number, the service provider automatically routes the call to the Rep's cell phone or home office number. If the call is not answered, the call can be routed elsewhere, perhaps to an assistant or the corporate office, or it can take a voicemail message. The Virtual Office can then call the Rep and deliver the message immediately, as well as deliver the message to Rep's email, where it can be played over any Internet devise.

When the Rep leaves the company, goes on vacation or merely becomes ill, calls can immediately be re-routed to another company Rep. T

How to Catapult Your Career With Specific Career Education
Maybe you have already gained a degree or maybe you have absolutely no interest in embarking on a four year course to achieve one. Either way when it comes to getting a job you can be absolutely sure of one thing - employers are picky, very picky! And they can afford to be because they have so many job applicants to choose from.The trick is to make sure you stand out amongst all the other applicants and one very good way to ensure that you do is to have qualifications relevant to the job you are applying for.That’s where a degree is often simply not enough. Sure, a degree

and fax numbers to every employee, whether they work inside or outside of the office and regardless of the country in which they work.

An easy and inexpensive solution is to outsource to a hosted service provider that can provide a voice and fax number, called a Virtual Office, for each outside employee. The Virtual Office number can be a toll free number. Some service providers have local phone numbers in the cities in which the employees work, even cities outside the US. That number is printed on the Rep's business card. When customers call that phone number, the service provider automatically routes the call to the Rep's cell phone or home office number. If the call is not answered, the call can be routed elsewhere, perhaps to an assistant or the corporate office, or it can take a voicemail message. The Virtual Office can then call the Rep and deliver the message immediately, as well as deliver the message to Rep's email, where it can be played over any Internet devise.

When the Rep leaves the company, goes on vacation or merely becomes ill, calls can immediately be re-routed to another company Rep. T

Ten Ways to Help You Improve Your Customer Service
1. Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Justas it is bad news to send out too many emails to customers,it is just as bad to not stay in contact with them.Customers don't want to feel abandoned.  So don't. Here are three things to help you stay in touch. (1) Offer them your ezine subscription at least once amonth.(2) Ask customers if they want to be updated by e-mail whenyou make changes to your Web site.(3) Follow-up after each sale to see if they are satisfiedwith their purchase.  Send an e-mail out a few days afterthei

hone number, the service provider automatically routes the call to the Rep's cell phone or home office number. If the call is not answered, the call can be routed elsewhere, perhaps to an assistant or the corporate office, or it can take a voicemail message. The Virtual Office can then call the Rep and deliver the message immediately, as well as deliver the message to Rep's email, where it can be played over any Internet devise.

When the Rep leaves the company, goes on vacation or merely becomes ill, calls can immediately be re-routed to another company Rep. The result is that the company always controls its connection to the customer.

Losing a customer to an employee who leaves the company is not the only risk. When employees are on vacation or sick, it's common for messages and orders to pile up until the employee returns to work. This is frustrating to customers and can result in cancelled orders and losing customers.

The cost for these Virtual Office numbers is nominal, usually only a few dollars a month, and not even on the same planet with the cost of losing even one customer or sending out a team to try to save the account. The Virtual Office can be provisioned and maintained online and in real time and usually includes both voice and fax receiving, with faxes delivered by email. This eliminates downtime when a Rep is away from their fax machine. Reps can receive faxes wherever they have an Internet connection.

Businesses no longer have to risk losing customers when employees leave the company or are slow in returning calls or placing orders because they are sick or on vacation. Businesses who control the telephone number will keep control of their customers. By outsourcing, a company can buy as little as one Virtual Office phone number or thousands, with no capital expense or burden on the in-house IT department. The Virtual Office numbers will automatically transfer calls to the Rep's mobile or home office phone number, take voicemail messages, receive faxes and deliver voice and fax message to email. The destination numbers and email addresses are managed online and in real time, so customers will always be connected to company personnel.