Was my Grandmother an Entrepreneur?

Having been involved in Sales and Training nearly all my life in one way shape or another - It puzzles me that people just do not answer the phone!!!!

I get it - we are all busy.... (But that's kinda the point) but we really ought to actually have a strategy to make the most out of all the effort we put into "making the phone ring".

A good friend of mine runs a very successful publication - mainly featuring local businesses advertising their services, and he always calls his clients to see how their advert is working. He would often need to try them several times before they even picked up, and when he eventually spoke to the clients, they were sometimes honest and said they don't have time to answer their phone during the day.... Not surprisingly - they were not getting as much work as they would like from their advertising....(Funny That!)

All of our marketing, networking and promotions are there to promote people to pick up the phone and give us a call... These are WARM leads and they are genuinely interested in finding out more about how we can help support, and/or develop business relationships. So it's soooooo important that when the phone rings - it's answered... "Put yourself in danger of doing work".

If your phone is ringing, and it's not getting answered - you're half way there... You should consider if the marketing you are doing is attracting the right sort of enquiries (i.e work that you want), and if it is, and you are wanting to grow - you should obviously consider getting some help... I have heard of lots of people using outsourced PA's / VA's etc - which can offer great value in terms of answering all enquiries and providing great customer service... I remember when i was growing up in the 80's - my Grandmother had a phone (She was posh), and she used to allow Mr Noakes - An Electrician who lived on the same street - to advertise her number to his customers and she would take all his messages. I thought she was retired - but was she just an early version of a Virtual Assistant? I think my Grandma was onto something here...

Eventually, you might need to employ more people to join your business, and when that time comes, you should always consider using a part-time employee first. This will keep costs low, and you can allow the person to grow into the role... (Take advice from a HR Consultant on how best to employ people), but start by asking your friends and family if they know anyone (it might be someones Nanna!) But when you are ready, make sure you get the right person - do a full search for the right skills... (Don't be afraid to use a recruitment agency who specialises in your field). If you have a problem with your brain - you don't want to be treated by your GP - you need a specialist... Same rules apply - they know more about what solution you need, and they can save lots of time, money and stress in resolving your problem... We don't necessarily specialise in Administrators as such - but if you are wanting someone with more skills to help you close opportunities and arrange meetings etc - you should consider someone who can add value to your business, as well as taking away some of the distractions... If you have a decent CRM system in place - this can be somewhere to start, and make courtesy calls to previous customers, and generate more enquiries... The possibilities are endless!

We are all guilty of not being able to answer the phone, but I think the main thing we need to be aware of is that if you want to speak to people, and do more of the sort of business you want - you need to focus all of your efforts on your target market, and getting your phone to ring, and then when it does - JUST ANSWER IT.... You never know - it could be your dream client....

Have a great day,

Simon

??