which do you need

Toll Free or Local Number: Which One Does Your Business Need?

  Something as simple as a phone number isn’t often on the minds of entrepreneurs starting a business for the first time. With most business tools found in the cloud or on your computer, you probably won’t need to worry about your phones until you have at least a few customers. As your company grows and evolves, the number of phone calls you have to handle will increase, and having a professional phone number will prove to be invaluable. This leaves you with an important choice to make; should you go with a local or toll-free phone number? These different types of phone numbers provide a similar user experience, but offer a diverse range of opportunities along the way, making it critical that you consider them carefully. Before diving into the differences between these number options, it’s a good idea to take a look at what they are.   What …

Top 10 Giveaways to Show Appreciation to Your Customers

  What does it mean to take care of your customers? Just about every business on Earth claims to “take care” of their customers in some way, shape, or form; but what do they mean when they make that claim? There are also plenty of cases wherein businesses say it but don’t really do anything to take care of their customers beyond charging their credit cards. The point is that you couldn’t exist without customers, so treating them in the best possible way that you can should constantly be a top priority. You might have great support and service for those who choose to give you their hard-earned cash in exchange for whatever you’re selling, which goes a really long way, but you can do even more than that to secure their undying patronage. One of the ways you can do that is to give them things for free. That …

10 Signs That You’re a Smart Business Owner

There are all types of business owners, at all levels of talent and experience. You might be just breaking into small business ownership with a lot of skill and talent, but you also might be a veteran owner with decades of experience but not as much talent as others. Whichever category you fall into, you have to be smart, which you may be naturally gifted with or you’re in the process of learning how to run your company intelligently. If you think you’re pretty smart, take a look at these 10 attributes to see how you measure up. 1. You Don’t Shoot Down Ideas To begin with, one sign of a business owner who isn’t very smart is if you shoot down ideas from people on your team right away, before you even consider it. Many times, this comes from having a master-of-the-universe syndrome that is common to a lot …

What to Do When Your Business Outgrows Your Cell Phone

  If you’re starting a new business today, then chances are, you’re running it from your cell phone. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, and it can work for you for a long time. As your business begins to grow, however, it will probably demand some kind of a system that is capable of managing your calls professionally and efficiently, no matter how many calls you’re getting. Here’s how you can handle your success as your company exceeds the capacity of your cell phone.   Make Sure Callers Don’t Get a Busy Signal As your business gets bigger and call volume goes up, the first thing you need to be concerned about is making sure that you don’t miss any of those calls. When all of your business calls are coming into your cell phone and multiple calls are coming in at once, some of those calls are going …

How to Pick the Right Phone Number for Your Business

How important is your business’ phone number? Outside of your website, it’s typically the first point-of-contact with your business for your customers, so… pretty important. Sometimes you just end up with a random number to serve as your main line, but if you have an opportunity to choose your number, then these criteria can help you to choose one that fits, practically and aesthetically. Local or Toll Free The first decision you’re faced with when picking a new business number is whether to use a number with a local or toll free area code. There are a couple of factors to consider here. Foremost among them is deciding if you want to give people the impression that you’re kind of a hometown company, for which local area codes are good; or if you would rather convey a larger-scale, national feel, in which case you’ll probably want a toll free number. …

All Your Work Doesn’t Matter Unless It’s Effective

  Our time is short in this life to get done what needs to get done. That’s why we constantly think about what we can do better to achieve success in our field, to create a profitable business that we can pass on to our children or at least give them a better start than we had, to make the absolute best of our time. And that is what this post is about—how to not only put in the hours, but to make sure all those hours are spent with clear intent and actually produce results.   Just working hard doesn’t get it. There are a lot of inspiring people out there who are constantly telling you that there is no secret to achieving success, but that you just have to work relentlessly and consistently, every single day. They are definitely not wrong; however, there is more to it because …

Stop Making Excuses

Stop Making Excuses and Attack Your Goals

How comfortable are you with your current professional position? Whether you already have a large company, a solid small business, or are only aspiring to start a business—it’s imperative that you ask yourself this question because if your answer is that you are not satisfied with the level you’re at, then you are doing yourself a huge disservice if you’re not pushing hard for the next level and beyond. If you’re happy where you’re at, have no desire to break into a higher echelon, and are truly fulfilled in your present state, then you’re good! Honestly, you are lucky because most people are not able to find that balance of contentment in their lives; but, if you’re reading this post, it’s probably safe to say that you have a strong desire to grow. It’s Not a Secret Yes, there are some people who naturally have certain traits and talents that …

Veteran vs. Rookie: Who is the Better Entrepreneur?

There is a lot to be said for entrepreneurs who have experience with running a business and know the right move to make in a variety of situations. It really helps to know what to what to watch out for, and to understand why some decisions only seem like they will benefit the business when they might actually be harmful. These points illustrate the difference between how a rookie business owner runs a company, and how an experienced veteran handles it. Funding The rookie business owner starts a new venture with a runway of only a few months; the veteran doesn’t open a new business until more than enough funding is available, to give the business the best chance possible to succeed. Web Presence The rookie throws together a basic website that barely functions, while the veteran devotes considerable resources to building a premium website because he or she knows …

How to Stay on Schedule and Be Uber Productive

“The best way to effectively use time is to schedule it.” —Sunday Adelaja Write All of It Down First of all, don’t underestimate the power of physically writing things down. The greatest benefit of writing down all of your project ideas, reminders, appointments, etc. is that the physical action of writing it forces you to engage with it mentally, making it more likely to stay in the forefront of your mind. It’s not enough to plaster your desk with sticky notes; you really have to plot out your day thoughtfully, especially if you’re not inherently an organized person. It Only Works if You Adhere to It Writing something down is only the first step. Let’s say you’ve got a full schedule laid out for the day in your daily planner or in your calendar software. It might as well be an art piece at this point because if it’s not …

22 Tips for Running an Exceptional Small Business

  No matter what level you are on, this comprehensive list of tips can provide a foundation for running your small business in a growth-minded fashion, as well as help you to avoid many of the pitfalls on the road to success.   1. Get a Premium Domain Name Of course, “.com” is the most recognized, and this is the extension that you need. If it comes down to a face-off between “yourbusiness.net” and “yourbusiness.com”, the first click will almost invariably be the “.com”.   2. Utilize A/B Testing The next time you decide to change the font of your subject line, the color of your landing page background, or the position of your comments section, run an A/B test.   3. Content Marketing is a Powerful Tool You could be drawing huge traffic to your website through content, but none of them are converting because they were not your …