Disaster – What disaster? How to cope when your broadband suddenly goes down

What could have been a complete disaster…….. turned into a good team building exercise although we wouldn’t recommend you do the same purposely. No Broadband for nearly 10 days – absolute frustration all round. As a back-up precaution we had a second line in (a different supplier) and managed with Googlemail to send out every message with over 95% going immediately.

If you rely on broadband to communicate with the outside world you might find the following useful:-

The only company that can really help you is the provider that you buy your telecoms from. It’s no good phoning BT if you buy your telecoms services elsewhere. BT is divided into a number of independent units and BT Openreach looks after the lines so that’s probably who you need to get through to. Be advised that they will only speak to your provider.

Be prepared, before things go wrong:

1)      Put a second line in – with a different provider. If one goes down there a good chance the second will be OK. If they both go down….well luck’s not on your side.

2)      Sign up to Care Level 3 or Care Level 4 (ask your provider about this). If things go wrong this helps to queue jump – although you might still have to wait in line to some extent.

3)      If you haven’t done so already, create a record of all your user names and passwords. These are invaluable if you need a new router.

If things go wrong

 1)       switch off your router for 20 minutes – this cures at least 50% of all issues

If this doesn’t work —-

2)      Find out who your provider goes through (for future reference find out how reliable they are). It took us quite some time to find our last link before BT was in fact Talk Talk – say no more. Nag – nag – nag – don’t take bull.

3)      Try BT – the higher up you can get in BT the better. High up they do take complaints seriously and can possibly exert a little pressure in the right direction – we actually had a senior manager turn up on a Saturday morning to help find the fault. (We found out the email address of the CEO – this probably helped!)

Hidden Talents

How you ever wondered what hidden talents lie, bubbling away, under the surface in your office.

Here at Star, a couple have just risen to the surface .

Marise makes the most wonderful cakes (and is a complete newbie at this) – the only downside is that two slices of a rather delicious Lemon Drizzle Cake has about 50% of the recommended daily calorie intake – and forget the fat content and other measures that we’re constantly bombarded with.  However as one client retorted after a mouthful – “it’s worth every single calorie and more”.

Michelle is a font of good ideas, some workable and some not so workable. In addition to such moments of inspiration, Michelle also has a good knowledge of the local community.

OK, so I hear you ask, “how does this help in the workplace?”

Firstly; by recognising and acknowledging people’s talents you can create a feel good factor which in turn has a positive effect on the way they work.

Secondly; there are always ways in which talents can be used, no matter how diverse they may be.

We work on behalf of two charities, and short of risking broken bones by playing in charity football matches, we like to support the local community where we can.

One charity operates nationally and the other, locally.  The local charity has occasional coffee mornings so, in addition to answering their phones, Marise will be easily persuaded to bake a couple of her amazingly good cakes.

With regards to Michelle, whose talents we are still discovering, an interim plan has been agreed. Michelle and I will be sorting through our garages in order to raise money for charity by doing a car boot sale.

While not necessarily a giant leap for mankind, such gestures bring people together and in doing so benefit the local community. We hope to brainstorm still more ideas and also to receive a stream of suggestions from our friends.

So, let us know – what talents are lurking in your organisation and how can they be encouraged? It is surprising what can be accomplished by making full use of the many assets already existing within your team. Don’t make the mistake of overlooking such skills, whatever they may be.

Frank – The IT man

Just another Frank story – the amazing part is there’s no damage, to Frank, furniture or anything else for that matter.

There’s another side of Frank that we don’t often mention; well you know how modest the Brits are and Frank’s very much a Brit.

Frank is actually a bit of an IT wiz.  Things that we mere mortals fret over, Frank laughs at. When you might call for your IT support company we just ask Frank. These days, fortunately, there’s not much for him to do: Frank has managed to fix most problems that have baffled the systems original installers and with more success. OK so he has his idiosyncrasies – He talks to the server and frighteningly he reckons it talks back – but by jiminy it works and the server purrs away very happily. What’s more, left to its own devices it needs little or no attention.

So you might say “what’s all this got to do with me”?  In truth not a great deal unless you’re an IT company that could use some excellent first level support, or you know of an IT company that needs help with its support facilities. Maybe you’re just interested in seeing the other side to our famous, or should that be infamous, Frank.

We’re using this technology, with Frank’s expertise, to help clients grow their businesses. Some of our clients like to get calls at specific times at the weekend or in the evening.  For instance our heating engineers like to take calls in the evening, as they know there are emergencies that need to be dealt with.  Health and Beauty Clinics seem to be suffering higher than usual levels of cancellations and are happy to take calls on a Saturday if it means filling an empty slot. We can arrange this service for you.

Well, that’s another side of Frank you probably didn’t know about.

More to come.

Petrol and Marketing, a bit of a tip-mix

Petrol buying and how to get more for your money

Always fill up first thing in the morning - All service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the petrol, when it gets warmer petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening…. your litre is not exactly a litre.

When you’re filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to fast mode – If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle and high:

You should be pumping on low mode, minimizing the vapours that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapour return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapour. Those vapours are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you’re getting less worth for your money.

Buy petrol when your tank is half full – The reason for this is the more Petrol you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Petrol evaporates faster than you can imagine. Petrol storage tanks have an internal floating roof and serves as zero clearance between the Petrol and the atmosphere, minimizing evaporation.

Avoid filling up when the tanker is offloading into the tanks – If there is a petrol truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy Petrol, DO NOT fill up; most likely the petrol is being stirred up as the Petrol is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Now onto Marketing

There are a plethora of experts out there many of whom, I suspect, have never actually built a business but make money from telling you how to build yours; at a price.

We visited numerous sites and details of some of these can be found at the end of the blog, and the themes that were consistent throughout were (and no surprise here):

1)       Be very clear as to your target market, often referred to as a niche; do not try to be all things to all men.

2)       Build a marketing plan and base it on the SMARTER acronym.

• Specific – be specific about your goals and what you want to achieve.
• Measurable – set goals and targets that can be measured, i.e. specific numbers and not words like “substantial increase” etc.
• Achievable – in your own mind the goals and targets need to stretch you and the team but must be achievable.
• Relevant – is achieving the goal in line with the company’s overall objectives.
• Time based – be specific by when you want to achieve your goals.
• Evaluate – is it ethical, exciting will it get the team and you motivated.
• Re-evaluate – a continuous process to ensure you’re going in the right direction.

There are a great number of variations – try Googling Smart or Smarter Goals and chose whatever works for you.  But do build a plan.

3)       Do what you say you’re going to do.  A great number of marketing plans fail not because the plan is flawed but because the planned activities are never completed.  “Gurus” say that it takes between 4 and 8 No’s before you get a “yes”.

If you fancy surfing the net these are a few of the marketing “experts” who hold themselves out as such.  You can get a great deal of helpful advice but remember they are trying to sell you their services which can be very expensive.

The list is extensive and somewhere they all seem to connect to each other so don’t be surprised if you subscribe to one newsletter it may well promote one of the others. Here’s a few you might want to look at if you have a few moments:

• Dan Bradbury – He puts himself out as the coach to the coaches –
• Chris Cardell – Trawl through the continuous emails to find the odd, useful webinar
• Dan Kennedy – An American, personally I like his approach once you’ve cut through the B S
• Michael Cheney – He’s given away some nice goodies and can be found on LinkedIn
• Pete Bennett – He claims to have made a million or so by using Social Media to grow his business

If you have any of your favourites please let me know and I’ll pass on their details.

Next time we’ll put together the outline of a marketing plan.

Jack of all trades, Master of none. (Is this really what customers want)?

When someone asks, “what does your company do?” How do you reply?

Business (a) “We clean carpets” 

Business (b) “Well, we can clean carpets, furniture, upholstery, curtains and wooden floors. Plus, we also do lawn cutting, garden maintenance and design, block-paving, driveways and gutter clearing”.

If I was a customer looking for a carpet cleaner, would you choose the single-service business (a) or the multi-talented business (b)?

There are many people in business with several interests or skills, which they are equally good at, but these people are not run of the mill.  A real expert is someone who knows exactly where their strength lies and how to make the most of that strength. This doesn’t mean that they can’t do anything else; it just means that they excel in certain areas.

Business (a) is a carpet cleaning company. Does this mean that they are good carpet cleaners? There are no guarantees, but as it is the only service they offer, we must assume that they know how to clean carpets, but we probably wouldn’t ask them to do any plumbing.

Business (b) to begin with looks ok. Carpets, furniture, upholstery and flooring – these are all items in a similar vein and we are not put off by the variety at this stage. However, when (b) goes on to mention garden maintenance etc., we find ourselves asking “What do they actually do?” Do they do interior work or exterior work? Do they clean or cut grass?

A customer should never have any doubt what you specialise in and what you are good at. If they do have then they will simply look elsewhere.

Telephone Star is a call answering service and we know exactly what we are good at. Your calls will be answered expertly and your clients treated to the best customer service available. That’s not to say we can’t do anything else. We can process orders, manage your diary, block unwanted calls and be as good as, or even better than any receptionist you could ever employ.

Star – Not a “Jack of all trades” but definitely a “Master of One”

LikeUnlike · · Share · Delete

Frank, the taxi, the train and the terror

I promised you tales of the misadventures of our very own Frank (The only man who……..), but where to begin, the USA, the UK, Germany, there are so many to choose from. Sadly some of his adventures can’t be printed, as much as I’d like to.  Be warned, this is a true story.

Frank – the Taxi, the Train and the Terror (Town and station names have been removed in case of any outstanding warrants)

Frank regularly travelled to Germany on business and knew exactly where he was going. Landing at the airport he joined the taxi rank and when his turn came he asked to be taken to ********* train station. The taxi driver said he was sorry he couldn’t take him to this station. Frank, thinking that the driver simply couldn’t be bothered, argued the point saying that it was where he wanted to go.

The two way, language impaired, conversation went on for several minutes with the driver insisting that Frank didn’t want to go to ******** Station and Frank insisting equally that he did want to go to ********** Station. Finally realising that he was getting nowhere, the driver drove to ********* Station and, rather hurriedly, dropped Frank outside.

And so began Frank’s misfortune, it turned out that ********* Station was closed for renovation and there were no trains either in or out. After a bit of a walk and another taxi journey, Frank finally made it to another station and boarded a train to continue his journey.

After several hours, our hero began to feel a little concerned. The journey should not be taking this long. To add to his concern the train was filling up with rough sounding men who Frank describes as “Docker” types. His worst fears were realised as the train finally came to a halt, in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere, and was boarded by several border guards brandishing guns. Along with everyone else, Frank was herded off the train to a nearby guard station, where he spent an uncomfortable few hours not knowing what was going on.  (At this point Frank realised, to his horror, that he had passed from West to East Germany).

Much later, as darkness fell and after a rather uncomfortable few hours in a cell, Frank was placed unceremoniously onto a train that took him onwards to his intended destination.

It would be usual, at this time, to think that nothing else could possible go wrong; but alas, this is our very own Frank to whom misadventure is the norm.

After a most tumultuous journey, our hero finally arrives at his destination town and sets out for the short walk from the station to his hotel. It is Boxing Day in Germany, very dark and very cold; there is not a car or person anywhere to be seen. Frank nears the river and is in an empty street, there is not another living soul to be seen. Looking forward to a bite to eat and a large scotch, Frank steps from the kerb to cross the road. Suddenly, with no warning, the silence is broken. Sirens and flashing lights come tearing around the corner. A car containing two policemen comes to a handbrake halt in front of our hero and what follows defies belief.

Frank – the only man who,………………………can be charged and fined for Jaywalking while crossing a deserted street.

Frank, the only man who……………

Frank has worked for Star for, what do doubt feels to him, an eternity. He is our Manager, a techno wiz and an all round good egg, and he happily nurtures us lesser mortals. He keeps us amused with his daily Tales of the unexpected, which never fail to amaze and delight. So good are his stories of misfortune and adventure, that you will find them appearing on a regular basis throughout our blog.

Frank has charmed our clients to the extent that people who haven’t used our services have still heard of him. He is known as the man with the sexy voice and when people meet him for the first time they are heard to exclaim “Oh, you’re the Frank I’ve heard so much about”.

Now Frank finds this a trifle scary, but I personally think it’s wonderful. I seriously believe that the Star tag-line should be changed to:

‘If you need a Virtual Receptionist, then you need a Frank’ 

Frank, the only man who……………can fall over his own shoelaces whilst walking barefoot in the sand.