The Talkroute Blog

With a brand new year comes so many new opportunities for your business. After the challenges of the past 2 years, you may be very much looking forward to a fresh start in 2022. So, what is the best way to start the new year with a positive perspective? When it comes to goal planning and setting your business up for growth, the beginning of the year really is the perfect time to re-evaluate your current practices. In the following article, we will explore some of the most effective strategies for propelling your business to even more success in 2022. From goal setting to disaster planning, use these tips to make sure this a banner year for your business.   Set Clear Goals for the Coming Year   Start by thinking about the long-term goals you hope to achieve by the end of the year. Where do you see your …

When you are running a business, growth and progress are always at the forefront of your mind. It’s helpful to have some general sales goals for your company when starting each new year in order to ‘keep the needle moving’. We all want more sales, don’t we? Sale strategist Jill Konrath once noted that “Sales is an outcome, not a goal. It’s a function of doing numerous things right”. If you want to make 2022 your biggest moneymaker yet, then you’ll need more than one tool in your toolbox. Which is why having some thoughtful advice and helpful tips on hand can aid in propelling your business even further..   Here we provide our 12 most powerful tips to help you increase sales in 2022:     1. Use Phone Tracking It’s estimated that phone call leads deliver between 5–10 times as much revenue as online form submissions alone. Despite …

  In a highly competitive world like today, where everything happens in the blink of an eye, ensuring that you are at the forefront & reaching your audience can be a big challenge. Marketing is one way that can help you reach new customers and propel your business to success. Unfortunately, small businesses have a relatively tight budget when compared to large scale ones. Most of the money that arrives ends up in the operations of the business.. payroll, inventory, payment of suppliers, etc. In this context, marketing or advertising can get short shrift. But did you know you can effectively market/advertise your business with under $200? It seriously is possible! However, with a minimal budget, you must be more creative in determining the right marketing strategy.   Here are 15 ways for business owners to grow their business on a tight budget.   1. Ensure a strong & competitive …

Telecommuting has become commonplace for workers across almost all industries especially due to Covid-19. Most people have adapted to the situation, but as with anything, it comes with challenges. Working from home requires you to manage your time wisely, which is not always easy when you need to hop on multiple video meetings throughout the day as well. Dealing with frequent remote meetings is one of the biggest complaints from teleworkers. Which is understandable! In the following article, we give some helpful tips on how to better manage your video meetings going forward.. So you can be confident AND productive.   1. Test Your Video Conferencing Technology   Thanks to modern technology, you typically don’t need any special hardware for video conferencing. Laptops, smartphones, and tablets include cameras and microphones. You can also get headsets with mics for better audio or for adding audio to a desktop computer. No matter …

There are many positives that come along with running your own business. You can make your own schedule. You make all the decisions about how to spend your revenue. On the flip side, making all the decisions all the time can feel overwhelming and stressful. It’s important to develop the tools to handle stress and anxiety as a business owner. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports that 70% of adults encounter stress or anxiety every day. Most of these adults say the stress interferes with their lives. Similarly, most business owners would likely report that stress has a negative impact. The problem with being afflicted with burnout when you’re a business owner is that you can’t exactly stop and smell the flowers for a while, and then come back when you’re refreshed and re-centered. The business isn’t going to slow down for you, and neither is the workload. …

Teleworking became one of the most common ways that businesses have dealt with the current coronavirus pandemic. Before COVID-19, about 18% of the workforce worked remotely full-time. In May of 2020, during the height of the lockdown orders, about 35% of employees worked from home. As local & state governments began easing restrictions, businesses started bringing employees back to the offices to get things back up and running again. Well over a year later, close to 25% of workers still telework. So is it a viable long-term solution or simply a short-term answer for dealing with the pandemic? To answer this question, we need to take a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking for small businesses. Why Continue Teleworking After the Pandemic?     Teleworking provides a way to keep employees safe but it comes with limitations. Some businesses have struggled to replace in-person communications with remote …

More than a year after the start of the pandemic, millions of people are still teleworking. Remote work offers a variety of advantages. It allows people to avoid close contact. It also tends to boost productivity. Unfortunately, telework also comes with a few challenges, including burnout. Depending on the type of job, working from home can provide more freedom. You may get to set your hours or enjoy a little more schedule flexibility. This is great for some people, but it tends to blur the lines between work and home life. When you struggle to separate work from your personal life, anxiety and stress creep in. In April, about 45% of US workers reported feeling “burnt out.” By July, close to 69% of employees were experiencing symptoms of burnout while working from home. So, how can you maintain a work/life balance when the two are intertwined? Here are seven of …