First Impressions: Executive Assistants

Executive assistants may be more important for your startup business than you think. They give the first impression and convey your company’s message, which is key for your new brand’s image. For every company, especially a startup, customers are extremely important for the future of your business.

ABILITY TO MAKE OR BREAK YOUR BUSINESS

In Micah Solomon’s article “Leadership is Swell, But Your Receptionist Makes or Breaks Your Business” he claims a “clueless receptionist today, a bankrupt business tomorrow”. Every single employee is a representation of the brand. Moreover, a disgruntled employee creates a dissatisfied customer which ultimately hurts your brand and businesses bottom-line. Solomon believes that the “first and last impression creator is among the most important positions in your enterprise.” Executive Assistants, receptionists, or any employee on the front line, are essential for your entire business.

KEEP A LEAN TEAM AND SPEND WISELY

Now, I understand that a startup business may not always have the means to provide rigorous customer-service training for their employees. Or perhaps, even have the time to hire or train new employees at all and there’s so much minutiae within a customer’s experience with your brand that often goes overlooked, especially on the first go around. Newly established entrepreneurs tend to be more concerned with back-end business operations. In that case, it would be ideal to source procedural admin tasks to a professional.

In an interview, a first-time business owner gave tips to make a successful startup company. Her #1 tip was to “Keep a Lean Team and Spend Wisely,” where she advises avoiding unnecessary hires and spending every dollar intentionally. This cost efficiency is what all startup business owners can connect with.  As a business owner, having an executive assistant would allow you to use your time adequately. But there is simply not enough time or money to hire and train these employees.

YOUR EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS

Don’t shy away from having your cake and eating it too! Now, it is easier toExecutive Assistants have professionally trained executive assistants who are versed in and exude your brand’s image, without having to spend time or money on staff training.

Well, with Officense it is! At Officense you will have a team of executive assistants, both in office and virtually, who tailor services to your company’s needs. Our team comes at a fraction of the cost of hiring an assistant on your own. You will gain a fully trained and professional staff that will give your startup the great first impression it needs.

We have executive assistants to answer your calls, greet your clients, follow up with leads, schedule appointments, and much more. We also provide high-end business facilities with fully furnished dedicated and a la carte office space, as well as conference rooms by the hour. Give Officense a call at (410) 814-7500 to meet your new staff and tour your new prestigious business location, today!

With the rise in the bedbugs and other insects in the US, the Pest control services industry continues to grow in the market. Pest control services have seen a huge growth in revenue and are projected to generate some 17.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2023. There is huge competition in the pest control service market. Pest control services have to come up with a better business solution to stay on the top and address customer problems. One of the major challenges for a pest control service company is managing customer calls, scheduling, and keeping track of leads.

One of the major challenges 
As a pest control service company, you are always out in the field, traveling to multiple work-sites to get your job done. It can be difficult to answer calls while trying to accomplish your everyday work. Answering all the calls, scheduling clients and keeping up with your calendar can get very hectic if you’re a small firm. Moreover, if you end up missing calls, it means you are missing out on leads. Today if your calls get forwarded to voicemail, customers often move on to another company. Unfortunately, for many pest control service companies hiring full-time staff to answer the phone is just not practical and may be expensive.

A better business  solution
Officense Executive Assistants can help lighten some of the stress of booking appointments and handling customer calls. For over 10 years, our company has been reliable when it comes to providing affordable call answering service. Using Officense will allow you to focus on your business without worrying about missing out on potential customers due to lack of support.

With Officense, you can have a receptionist who filters your calls and will only forward the calls that are important. Our skilled team will screen every call and you will no longer be frustrated answering calls that turn out to be a solicitor. Officense receptionists will not only answer calls from your customers, but we will also schedule appointments. Our phone answering runs 24/7, 365 days a year, so your customers will never get a busy signal or voice mail. For many of our clients, we simply send text messages with caller information so you can follow up at your convenience.

The Officense staff is ready to be of assistance and make your job easier! We don’t want your business to get in the way of business, and we also don’t want you to miss great opportunities to improve your company. Let us help keep track of your leads and provide effective follow-ups! If you’re ready to have a live receptionist greet your customers and provide excellent service, call us at 410-814-7500.

An Employers Dilemma: Maintaining a Work-Life Balance

As the workforce continues to evolve, employee work-life balance has become an important focus in the business world. However, many employers find difficulty balancing social responsibility to their employees with worry about creating policies which promote work-life balance. They think, “who is going to cover these hours?” or, “I cannot have my support staff absent all the time!” Perhaps, you have had these very thoughts when employees request time off.

Despite what you may think, work-life balance can have tremendous positive benefits for both a company and their employees. A stressed employee is an unhappy employee and an unhappy employee is most likely job hunting. Business owners know high employee turnover rates are expensive as the time spent on the hiring and training process is costly for any business. There is cause for a company to champion employee satisfaction. Studies show the more an employee takes ownership in their job duties and involves themselves in their company’s objectives, the more enthused and dedicated they become as an employee. In return, this enthusiasm directly affects job performance which is reflected in the company’s overall performance as well.

Work-Life Balance Solution: The Officense Team

Why not implement policy in your business to promote work life balance? For example, flexible work hour options have been proven to increase employee retention by 89% in 2012 by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).  Another option is offering telecommuting hours for your staff. They do not necessarily need to be in the workplace daily. Wouldn’t you like to work from the comfort of your own home? Think of the money your company could save! If you have few employees working from the office, then you could have a smaller more affordable office space, ergo lower rent. Indeed, both employees and employers could benefit from flexible hours or telecommuting.

Officense has the toolkit needed to assist you with creating work-life balance at your company. For example, our fully trained Executive Assistants can continue to live-answer your business calls even if you or your support staff leave the office at 3:30 pm! Your clients will feel satisfied speaking with a real person and not some pre-recorded automatic answering machine. We can even answer your calls and have them transferred to any number you request, so you can speak with clients, regardless of your location.  Lets talk about how you can save money and create a work-life balance for you and your staff.  Call Officense today at 410-814-7500.