Posts

How To Manage Office Maintenance Without Expensive Disruptions

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Office Maintenance|How To Manage Office Maintenance Without Expensive DisruptionsMaintaining your office is crucial to keeping everything running smoothly. However, office maintenance can often lead to disruptions in the workplace. This can cause lost productivity and even expensive downtime. In this blog post, we will discuss some tips on how to minimize disruption during office maintenance. By following these tips, you can keep your business running smoothly and avoid any costly disruptions!

Do Things In Stages

When performing office maintenance, it is important to do things in stages. This will help minimize any disruptions in the workplace. If you have to perform work that will impact employees, try to stagger the work so that not everyone is impacted at the same time.

Businesses often make the mistake of thinking that it’s better to get everything done at the same time to get the disruption over with right away. But if you do things in stages and you plan it carefully, you can avoid disruption as much as possible.

Do As Much As You Can Outside Business Hours

If possible, try to do as much of the office maintenance as you can outside of business hours. This will help avoid any disruptions in the workplace. Of course, there are some things that have to be done during working hours, but try to schedule those tasks for times when employees won’t be impacted as much.

Getting things done in the evenings or at weekends means that you won’t have to shut areas of the business down. However, bear in mind that if you are hiring contractors, they will charge more to work during these times. So, weigh up the costs and consider what your best option is. Ideally, pay a little extra to do the most disruptive work outside of business hours and then smaller jobs can be done during the workday.

Hire Experienced Contractors

If you do have to hire contractors, make sure that you hire experienced ones. They will be able to minimize the disruption in the workplace and get the job done quickly. You also need somebody that will do the job right the first time so you don’t have to do maintenance as often. For example, if you are resurfacing your parking lot, find a good asphalt company (click to learn more) that can quickly fix any cracks and bumps so your employees can still use the parking lot.

Inexperienced contractors often cause more problems than they solve and they create more disruption. So, even if it costs you a little bit more, always pay for the best people.

Set People Up To Work From Home

If possible, try to set people up to work from home. This will help avoid any disruptions in the workplace. Of course, not everyone can work from home, but if you can do this then it is a great way to minimize the impact of office maintenance. People can continue as normal for a few days and your business won’t slow down at all.

Most businesses are already set up for home working, to an extent. But if you invest in project management software and communication tools, you can make sure that your team is just as efficient as they are in the office.

Keep Your Employees In The Loop

If you are going to be doing office maintenance, make sure that you keep your employees in the loop. This will help avoid any disruptions in the workplace. If people know that there will be some disruption in their office next week, they can start planning ahead. They’ll work out what tasks they will be unable to do, so they can get a headstart on them. That way, when the maintenance does take place, people won’t fall behind as much. But if you spring it on them and they are unprepared, you will see a lot of disruption.

Don’t Neglect Routine Maintenance

You may think that avoiding routine maintenance helps with productivity because you are not disrupting the business, but that is not the case. In fact, avoiding routine maintenance can often lead to more disruptions because things break down more often. You will end up with more serious issues further down the line too, and they will take longer to repair. They’ll also be more expensive. So, make sure that you keep on top of all the routine maintenance in your office. This includes things like changing the air filters, checking the smoke detectors, and cleaning the gutters.

Office maintenance is vital, but it can also cause a lot of expensive downtime in your business. Luckily, if you follow these tips, you can reduce disruption as much as possible.

Business Use of Virtual Number

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Business Use of Virtual NumberIf you are running your business for some time, you have probably heard about virtual numbers and IP telephony. However, you still do not understand what these concepts are and why they are necessary. Our article will help you to figure out what virtual numbers are and point out the benefits of virtual telephony for business purposes. For more information, visit telnum.net/services/toll-free-numbers/.

What Is a Virtual Number, and How Does It Work?

A virtual number, or online phone, is a service provided by various telephone providers. To put it simply, it is an ordinary phone that uses many channels for voice communication.

How Does It Operate?

In IP telephony, data transmission goes exclusively through the Internet, but there are also cases when you can use virtual numbers without the Internet if you set up forwarding from online to fixed and mobile devices.

Basic principles of virtual phone numbers:

  1. An incoming or outgoing call goes to the provider, which carries IP telephony services.
  2. Then, the call is processed, and in seconds, it is redirected to the main server of the virtual station.
  3. After processing, the call goes to a virtual number in the case of an incoming call. If it is an outgoing call, you just get to the recipient for voice communication.

Advantages of a Virtual Phone Number

A virtual phone number has many advantages, but we want to highlight the main ones:

  • When your business moves, you don’t have to worry about transferring all communications.
  • IP telephony combines all your company’s existing numbers into one and distributes the load to your employees, depending on the scenarios you set.
  • It guarantees convenient, fast, and reliable communication between employees within the organization.
  • Such numbers are fully customizable. You can set voice greetings and menus.
  • You can record and listen to conversations, analyze call statistics, and much more.

Since virtual numbers are fully customizable, depending on your preferences, the phone call can be routed to any desired device. The priority may depend on various factors: the call may go to the first available manager or the one who received fewer calls.

6 Reasons to Start an Employee Mentorship Program

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Employee Mentorship Program|6 Reasons to Start an Employee Mentorship ProgramIf you’re like most business owners, you’re always looking for ways to improve your company. You may have heard about the importance of employee mentorship programs, but you’re not sure if they are worth the investment. Below, we share the top five reasons you should start a mentorship program today.

Attract Top Talent

Mentorship programs can help you attract top talents in your industry. Generational differences are shrinking, and younger employees want to learn from the best in their fields. A majority of highly-skilled professionals would prefer working for a company that offers something unique like mentorship programs. It’s even better for your company if you use the latest mentoring software to power your program.

Increased Employee Retention Rate

Mentorship programs can help you increase employee retention rates. Millennials often change jobs because they are looking for a new challenge at the workplace or find conditions that better suit their needs as individuals. You can keep them engaged and motivated by putting them in a mentorship program with a more experienced worker. Mentors also tend to get inspired by mentees, making them stay in the program longer than they would have otherwise.

Improved Company Culture

Mentoring helps to improve the overall culture of your company. It is a good way for employees from different departments and roles to interact. This can lead to less interdepartmental conflict because it brings about better understanding across divisions in your organization. Employees are likely to be more productive and engaged in their work through rich company culture, as they’ll have the urge to learn and grow.

Efficient Communication

A mentorship program helps in fostering effective communication across departments. Through the different conversations that will be ongoing, employees are likely to share ideas about how your company can improve on its products or services. They’ll also keep sharing lessons they’ve learned from their mentors with others, leading to a more knowledgeable workforce.

Employees who would otherwise fear approaching their bosses will now find it easier to air their concerns and ideas that could help propel the company forward. A mentorship program will help ensure that everyone has a voice in your company’s decision-making processes.

Creation of Future Leaders

A successful mentorship program can also help identify potential leaders for your company who have a clear understanding of the company’s vision and mission and its goals and objectives. This reduces the costs of hiring new talents and the time wasted in training these new hires.

Improved Career and Personal Development

The career and personal development of your employees can also be enhanced by a mentorship program. Employees who have mentors tend to find their work more interesting and challenging, which helps them perform better at their jobs.
An employee mentorship program is a great way to engage with your employees, improve their performance, and help boost your company’s overall productivity. If you’ve been skeptical about starting a mentorship program at your company in the past, keep in mind that it’s never too late to start.

Innovation In The Gardening And Lawn Care Industry

/in /by

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Lawn Care Industry|Innovation In The Gardening And Lawn Care IndustryThe gardening and lawn care industry is huge in the United States of America. The lawn is a suburban American institution, and a whole cadre of businesses and technology innovators have sprung up to support the modest green plots that so many people cherish. In American middle-class culture, the lawn has historically been seen as an indicator of comfort, wealth, and stability. A well-tended lawn is an externalization of internal contentment. Lawn grass is the most grown crop in the United States of America: an inedible plant that is grown in higher quantities than corn, wheat, and sunflower.

It is therefore unsurprising that innovation is always taking place in the lawn care and gardening industries. Here are some of the most high-profile innovations that have taken place in recent years.

Software

Lawn care and gardening used to be in the hands of many small-scale operations that marketed themselves via word of mouth. Lawn care scheduling and payment were done in person and on the fly. Today, software has changed all of that. Modern lawn care software enables the management of multiple jobs using multiple teams – allowing for the swift expansion of companies. Software is quickly making a big impact on the gardening and lawn care industries, and companies that refuse to adopt it are set to be left in the dust.

Virtual And Augmented Reality

Virtual and augmented reality software allows lawn care and landscaping professionals to show concepts to clients in ways that could only have been dreamed up in science fiction until now. Large-scale, high-budget landscaping and lawn design projects have always included an element of risk: clients might not fully understand what they are buying and what their beloved garden might look like once work is complete. With virtual and augmented reality tours of prospective landscapes, clients can see exactly what they will receive at the end of the day.

Social Media Marketing And SEO

Gone are the days in which gardening and lawn care jobs were exclusively advertised using word of mouth and in local newspapers. Modern green industry professionals typically harness targeted social media marketing and Search Engine Optimization in order to draw in clients. Search Engine Optimization is especially important for lawn care professionals. A well-optimized online presence is essential if a company wants to draw in the clients that search for local lawn care solutions using a search engine like Google. Targeted social media advertising can draw in clients that live in the local area or who post about homeowning topics online. With so many lawn care and gardening companies operational in each given area, professionals need to be hyper-targeted with their marketing in order to stand out from the pack.

Automation

Automated sprinklers are nothing new, but today’s automated lawn watering systems use sensors to account for environmental conditions when distributing water. One of the features of the American lawn is that it is typically grown against nature. Water sprinkling systems are essential in hot states.

Check Out This Guide To Choose The Right Marketing Agency

/in /by

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Marketing Agency|Check Out This Guide To Choose The Right Marketing AgencyWithout the right marketing solution, your business is going to be dead in the water. Here are the factors that you need to think about when you are choosing a marketing team that will be able to propel your business forward.

Strategy Choices

First, you should think about exploring different strategy choices and the options that marketing companies use. There are various paths that a marketing company can follow to ensure that you are able to achieve your brand goals. Agencies should be completely open about the strategies that they are planning to use. The more comprehensive and clear the plan is, the more reassured you should feel that a marketing company knows how to help your brand specifically. Remember, whichever strategy they choose should match your company. You need to make sure that you avoid a cookie cutter service because this will provide diminished returns.

Cost Concerns

Next, you should think about cost concerns when you are choosing a marketing company. You need to make sure that you think about how to guarantee that the costs of your marketing solution isn’t far above the average. If you are paying more than the typical company for marketing, then this is going to make your business less competitive while also putting more financial pressure on your company. Some companies also work to provide more value with their package. For instance, Dezan Social Media provides a 50/50 SEO program. Here you only pay 50% until 50% of your key terms rank on page one of Google. If you explore this level of value, then you can ensure that you have found a great marketing team you can count on.

The Right Team

You might also want to think about how to make sure that you find the right team that you can trust. One of the ways that you can do this is by checking out the reviews for a marketing company. Make sure that there is a clear trend of past clients that are happy with the service that they received from a company.

Contact Points

Finally, you should think about the contact points that a marketing agency provides. When you use a marketing service, this isn’t a team that you can check in with every couple of months. Instead, you need to make sure that you are constantly looking at the metrics to explore whether or not your business and brand is performing the way it should be or the way you hoped for. That’s why when you look at different marketing companies, you should find out what contact points they can offer. This needs to be more than just an email that they can or can’t respond to.

We hope this helps you understand some of the key steps that you should take to guarantee that you choose the right marketing agency for your business. If you explore the best options here, then you will be able to push your brand to the top of the market where it belongs.