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All Blog Posts Tagged 'time-saving' (34)

Staying in Touch with Your One-Time Customers

It’s easy to keep a relationship going with customers when you have a product or service that creates repeat purchases. But what about when your business is mostly a one-time sale per customer? There are two questions to answer: Why continue that relationship, and how?

Why you should keep that relationship going is, in one word, referrals. If you gave your customer a great experience, they will refer family, friends, neighbors and even people they don’t know (have you listened to… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on October 22, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

Y'all Come Back Now, You Hear?

When you own or manage a business that provides repeat business opportunities, it’s important to stay in touch with your customers. It’s not a difficult thing to do, but often something small business owners and managers don’t think about – or feel they don’t have time for.

There are many quick, easy ways to stay top of mind. Just “being there when they need something” isn’t enough. Why? Because there are many other companies up and down the street who offer the same product or… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on October 19, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

The Value of a Thank You Card

Isn't it true so often that as we get older, we realize how right our parents were in many situations? For example, I remember sitting down at the kitchen table after each birthday and Christmas and writing thank you cards to everyone who gave me a gift - something my mom would make me do every time. I often thought “how lame” because, in many cases, I already thanked them when I opened the gift.

Fast forward to now, and I see how smart she was! And she didn’t own a business. When I… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on October 15, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

What Business Blogging is and is not

What blogging is: HARD. It takes time, creativity and often research to create a good blog. But it can also be rewarding when done right. It can introduce you to an audience you would not otherwise meet. That can bring you new prospects which could and probably will turn into customers.

What blogging is not: EASY. You need to establish a commitment to it. Blogging once in a while will show you don’t value it, so your readers won’t value it either. Your information must be pertinent,… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on October 11, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

Are Blogs Personal, Business or Both?

View the plethora of blogs today, and you’ll find there are plenty of each. There is no hard-and-fast rule for blogging. Many people blog for themselves rather than for others – often these are in a format similar to a journal. Others share a journey of recovering from an illness, losing weight or coming out of a hurtful time in their lives. Many of these blogs serve as a healing process or as motivation for the writer. But they also provide great inspiration for others.

Business… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on October 8, 2009 at 7:30am — 4 Comments

A Salute to Subs (not the sandwich)

Now that the kids have been back in school for about a month, it’s time to recognize the substitute teachers. This, in fact, is Substitute Teacher Appreciation Week. Thinking about this, I must say that I have a great deal of respect for all of these dedicated men and women. Can you imagine going to work and usually having a totally brand new experience each day? Let’s think about this … a different building, different classroom, different grade to teach and different students. How do you know… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on September 15, 2009 at 7:01am — No Comments

Pulled Pork and Stakeholders

My husband and I were brainstorming the other evening trying to come up with a rebranding of Admin Advantage (yes, something is in the works). The reason for this – I realized probably 85% of our business is really focused on building relationships – be it helping clients with their e-newsletters, article writing, blogging, social media or email/calendar management. It really is all about building relationships and keeping them top of… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on September 10, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

It's Not Always as Easy as Donald Trump's "You're Fired!"

A well-known purchased service, in addition to those provided by a virtual assistant, is human resources. Are you the owner - or do you have an office manager - who also does the payroll and “HR stuff”? Small and medium-sized businesses owners must consider the laws regarding employment. You have to be extremely careful when terminating someone, even though Indiana is a right-to-work state. Should your employee(s) be paid hourly or on… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on September 3, 2009 at 7:00am — 1 Comment

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

Do you sometimes feel, as a small business owner, that this is REALLY your title? Constantly trying to do everything eventually wears you down. So, what can you do to at least stop being the bottle washer? Consider hiring a cleaning service.

Whether you’re home-based or lease or own office space, this one task is well worth outsourcing. How could you be spending your time instead of scrubbing, washing, dusting and vacuuming? Probably plenty – like meeting with customers or prospects,… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on August 31, 2009 at 6:54am — No Comments

Where'd I Put That?

Buried under paperwork! Files piled high on your desk – or on the floor! Papers not filed because you’re afraid you won’t remember where you filed them! Does this sound like your office?

Professional organizers will rescue you from the chaos. There are many options that you might want to consider. If you’re usually an organized person, but just let everything get away from you, a one-time project of getting a system put in place is probably what you need. Organizers will discuss your… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on August 27, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

What Syrup and A Virtual Assistance Service Have in Common

Today is National Waffle Day, designated to celebrate the patenting of the waffle iron by Carnelus Swarthout of Troy, New York, on this day in 1869. Waffles date back to Greece in the 1300s, where they were cooked flat between two metal pans. There was no pancake syrup back then, so they topped their waffles with cheeses and herbs.

According to Holiday Insights, this is also a day set aside… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on August 24, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!

Many times small business owners call Admin Advantage because they just can’t get everything done any more, but don’t have the need for a full-time or steady part-time employee. But small businesses are not the only people who need an assistant.

Professionals (doctors, lawyers, dentists to name a few) usually have a busy life outside of the office. How many things do you do on a daily, weekly or monthly basis that is… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on August 20, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

As the Beatles song goes..."Help, I Need Somebody!"

As a virtual assistant, I certainly am all about outsourcing! There are many reasons to hire someone to do a specific task or to continue to provide a service rather than hire an employee to do so. Some of those reasons:

· seasonal

· one-time projects

· irregularly scheduled projects

· a new marketing campaign

· increased workload but not enough for an employee

· needing a specific skill set

Business owners, professionals and CEOs find times that… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on August 13, 2009 at 7:30am — 1 Comment

I Am No Reuben Lucius Goldberg, and That's OK with Me!

Purdue University is the host of often-held Rube Goldberg Contests, the 1st of which was held in 1949. According to the Popular Mechanics website, The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest was named after Goldberg’s cartoons that used everyday objects to construct outrageous and complex machines to perform simple tasks. This year’s contest was to see how inefficient and complex the engineering students could make the task of replacing an incandescent light bulb with a more efficient… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on August 10, 2009 at 9:24am — No Comments

I'm In Stitches

July 24 is going to be a fun day. It is National Tell an Old Joke Day! So, here’s mine, about Customer Service, courtesy of Basic Jokes.

I'm not saying that the customer service in my bank is bad, but when I went in the other day and asked the clerk to check my balance ... she leaned over and pushed me.

Do you have a favorite joke? Send it to me!

Added by Serina Kelly on July 23, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

who You Gonna Call? Ghost Bloggers!

Famous authors have ghost writers. Many businesses hire a writer for their newsletters and web content. A newer category is “ghost blogger”, who is someone that writes articles for this additional marketing initiative.

Small business owners like to do their own marketing, but most will admit they don’t have the talent to write or the time to keep up with the demands of consistency that a blog requires.

Hiring a virtual assistant for this segment of the marketing plan… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on July 20, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

An Understudy Knows the Part as Well as the Featured Star

Hiring someone to attend meetings for you seems a little odd, until you really give it some thought. I’ve mentioned networking and seminars as two occasions you can utilize the services of a virtual assistant. Another time hiring someone to attend in your place would be beneficial is when you’re representing a non-profit, association or similar organization at luncheons, non-official meetings or other gatherings. Sending a ‘stand-in’ would keep you up on your responsibilities because you’ll be… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on July 16, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

Finding Time to Network

I recently posted a blog that introduced attending seminars as one of the services we at Admin Advantage offer our clients. But what about networking? Well, there are some things that you just have to do yourself! If you’re looking to connect, there is no replacement for you. Networking is about building relationships and helping others as much as finding business for yourself. The relationship has to be sincere.

However, if business is great and you’re overwhelmed with immediate… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on July 13, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

You CAN be in two places at once!

Let’s set the scene. You’ve been registered for months for a seminar covering a topic you’re wanting to learn more about. A few days before the seminar, one of your top prospects calls, says their calendar opened up and would like to meet with you … you guessed it! He wants to meet on the day of the seminar.

What to do? Admin Advantage will attend the seminar for you. How can that be? We will arrive on time, take thorough notes, and type them for you.

You meet with your… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on July 9, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

Cell Phone Courtesy Month

We’ve all experienced it – you’re having a nice quiet dinner at a restaurant with a few friends and the person at the table next to you takes a call. And he feels a need to be very loud to the point you can’t help but hear him. The people ACROSS THE ROOM are listening to his conversation!

Or how about this one – you’re in a meeting or seminar, trying to pay attention and the lady sitting next to you is whispering (loudly) and doesn’t even realize that she is being totally… Continue

Added by Serina Kelly on July 6, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments