Automatic Speech Recognition & Mixing it with IVR

The first time companies began using Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) to direct callers through their automated menus, callers were constantly becoming frustrated because in the beginning, speech recognition was crude and very limited in its capability. Though it is vastly improved from the original versions and used by more businesses all the time, there is still some debate as to whether it is effective, or not. In fact, most callers who are forced to interact with it would probably tell you that they would rather never hear that automated customer service robot again. How has speech recognition improved? ASR now uses advanced algorithms to process data it compiles from your voice, filters out background noise, and can even learn your voice patterns in real time, all of which allow the program to understand what you’re saying with far greater accuracy than the original versions. Speech recognition programs are also making …

Multitasking vs. Single Tasking: Which is More Effective?

    Do you consider yourself a multitasker? Just about everyone does, and none of us are afraid to brag about it. But you have to ask yourself, are you actually multitasking? Not only that, but we have to consider whether or not it’s a good thing, in the first place. Here, we’ll take a closer look at this method of working and see if it holds water.   Why do we want to be multitaskers? Anytime someone questions if we can handle the things we’re working on, we immediately tell them, “I’m a multitasker.” We’re proud of this because we feel that this ability somehow makes us superior beings, smarter than others. But are we really doing multiple things, at the same time?   There is no such thing. Jim Taylor, Ph.D. comments on this misconception in his article, Technology: Myth of Multitasking (Psychology Today). He says, “There is …

16 New Year’s Resolutions for Entrepreneurs

We’re headed into another new year that promises to be very interesting, at the very least. Below, you will find 16 New Year’s resolutions that are perfect for entrepreneurs, from cleaning out the office, to updating your company website. Start the year off right, and take one of these resolutions, to improve your quality of life and bring your business to the next level. 1. Start setting reasonable deadlines, and meet them consistently. One of the most common mistakes business owners make is giving customers and colleagues unrealistic completion dates that just don’t allow for enough time to finish the project. Most people will be happy to wait a little longer for something to be finished, if you consistently deliver by the time you promised, rather than giving them an earlier deadline that you end up blowing past. 2. Meet with your accountant. First of all, if you don’t have …

3 Undignified Stories of Office Christmas Parties

When coworkers gather together for some spirits and holiday cheer, they sometimes forget that they’re at a work party. The alcohol doesn’t help, and some pretty awkward things can happen when everyone lets it all hang out. These 3 unforgettable stories are as entertaining as they are cringeworthy. Taking the Edge Off A mild-mannered maintenance worker at a foster home was happy to be invited to the Christmas party by a coworker, but he had a dilemma. The man suffered from debilitating social anxiety. Would he attempt to face the small crowd at the party and try to overcome his fears? Or would he just stay home, and avoid a potentially terrible experience, altogether? Excited at the thought of actually having a good time in public, he decided to brave the party. Because he was so nervous about being around that many people, the man had eight shots of vodka …

Why Business Owners Need a Mental Health Day

    In this country, we have been brought up to pursue success at any cost, by way of the American Dream (most of us have, anyway). Though this universally-held dream of the good life has been all but debunked in the past few decades, as we ride out the wave of the so-called Great Recession, American entrepreneurs still work themselves into the ground to keep their business alive. As the owner of a new small business or startup, you will naturally have to eat, sleep, and breathe your business. That takes its toll on someone pretty quickly, which is why you have to periodically take some time for self-care.   What is a “mental health day”? A mental health day is basically a new way of saying you’re taking a day off from work. We started to call it this only as everyone began to place more value and …

Top Complaints of Customers Calling a Business

Welcome greeting is too long. The initial greeting someone hears when they call you should ideally have a duration of only a few seconds, and it can even be a simple, “Thank you for calling [your business]”. A quick hello with a brief identification of who you are is sufficient. Callers tend to become irritated if you start trying to pitch them something, right off the bat, so avoid selling your latest promotion in the greeting. No option to speak with a real person. Sometimes when we call a business, all we want is to speak to someone because, for a variety of reasons, the automation just won’t fill the need. There are times when the caller’s issue is complex and requires a human touch. If the option to speak directly with a human is simply not available, then the caller is sure to become frustrated and exasperated from listening …

If You Can’t Execute Your Idea, It’s Not a Business

One of the greatest stumbling blocks for entrepreneurs is turning an idea for a business, into actual production. There are an untold number of businesses that never get off the ground because the founder cannot execute his or her idea. The purpose of this article is to show you how to keep your business from becoming a statistic, before it ever gets started. Planning and Doing When you see a need for a product or service and think you can fulfill that need, it looks easy at first glance, but of course the truth is that once you put yourself in the position of creating a business, it becomes more complex. There are a variety of things of which you need to have knowledge, as well as certain skill sets, before you can start producing and bringing in revenue, and that is the point: Having a great business idea and …

9 Effective Ways to Shorten Your Work Meetings

    If your meetings regularly exceed their scheduled time, or they just generally seem to take too long, then this post is for you. Long, unproductive meetings are extremely common, but you can get them running like a swiss watch if you put these strategies into practice.   1. Only invite people who need to be there. There is a tendency to invite all department heads, or even the entire staff, to meetings with a specific agenda. Make an attempt to only invite the people who are directly involved with the project or agenda, and everyone else can remain productive.   2. Come with a written plan, and stick to it. Many team leaders come into a meeting planning to discuss general topics, instead of specific points. Whomever is leading the meeting must have clear items that will be presented to the group, and what is to be accomplished. …

How to Run Multiple Businesses from a Single Phone

When you’re not familiar with virtual phone systems, the idea of running more than one business from a single phone might seem like a really bad idea, if it’s even possible at all. But it is more than possible; it actually works excellently if you have a virtual phone system like Talkroute. What you’ll see in this post is a breakdown of the steps you can take for exactly how to set it up in a very short amount of time, with an explanation of the features that you will have at your disposal. Open a Talkroute Account To get started, just go to talkroute.com/sign-up and sign up for a new account. Don’t worry; there is a free trial period, so you don’t have to commit right away. If you do decide to take advantage of the trial, then you can select a temporary, working phone number which you can …

How You Can Guard Against Phone Number Spoofing

Caller ID spoofing (for lack of a better term, apparently) is simply masking the outgoing caller ID with a number other than the real one, which is technically not illegal unless you’re doing it for unlawful purposes.   The reason it’s not illegal is because there actually are legitimate purposes for spoofing, such as businesses who want to show only one phone number for multiple lines, as part of a PBX system, or victims of domestic abuse who want to hide their number for safety reasons. It is definitely illegal, however, if someone spoofs a phone number to impersonate a bank, for example, in order to solicit your account information. Though it can be difficult to track down the person responsible, there is some action you can take to protect yourself. When you suspect a caller to be a malicious spoofer Use common sense. Caller ID spoofers can sometimes be …