by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | May 21, 2012 | Delegation, Organization
We are repeatedly bombarded by data overload via our push notifications, social media notices, text messages, phone calls, e-mails, Skype chats and news alerts on a daily basis. It is marvelous to always be connected, in touch and just a mere keystroke away. You are never alone and continuously up to date in both your personal and professional life. But there is a hitch and that is the negative impact it has on our concentration.
As a technologically in-tune society, we must learn to filter the urgency of our incoming communications in order to remain dedicated to the tasks at hand. The constant interruptions have a pronounced impact on our productivity and efficiency level, never mind time management. If we continue to allow outside distractions to compete for our time and focus, we are unable to give our absolute attention to our present moment and activities.
Computerworld reports that we are now living in a world of “interruption technology.”
Learning to unplug and tune out can present a challenge for many, but as an entrepreneur, it is paramount to your success, effectiveness and time management. Researchers at the University of Kent in Australia monitored the eye movements of 100 people using an eyeball-tracking camera. They asked the participants to read a section of text on a computer screen, before disturbing them with one-minute messages – like phone calls. The research subjects were then told to resume the original reading, while the eye-tracking camera analyzed how they did so. The investigators discovered that there was an average 17% increase in the total time it took to read the whole passage on the screen.
Psychology lecturer Ulrich Weger was quoted as saying: “I wasted time by reading emails whenever they came into my inbox. I noticed that once I had started reading the name of the sender, I read the first line of the text. Once I mastered that, I continued reading the entire message, and once I got to that point, I felt compelled to respond because there was no point in leaving an already half-finished task. Then sometimes I needed extra information to answer the message, so had to add other tasks.” Which meant it was harder to get back to the original task.
Now just imagine all of the alerts and communications you receive during the day; probably much more than what was instituted in the above research. If there was a 17% increase in the length of time it took to read the passage, can you imagine how your output is affected with a continual barrage of steady disturbances?
Here are a few tips to assist you in halting unnecessary diversions:
- Schedule time on your calendar to tune out and turn off
- Let others know you are “off limits” during certain working hours
- Close the door or put on earbuds
- Silence your Smartphone
- Just say NO to social media! (Facebook and Twitter updates are always accessible).
- Shutdown everything that notifies you of an alert, sound, or other announcement (your e-mail will still be waiting for you).
- COMMIT to your decision to focus and jump in with gusto
- Once your project is completed, come up for air, stretch, respond to voicemails, text messages and other communications.
- Grab an energy snack to refuel for your next session
Remember, being offline is an industrious act toward completing your projects, achieving your goals and remaining on task. You will see a considerable increase in your productivity as you continue to shield yourself from outside disturbances.
Turning off isn’t just for the business world. We are electronically tethered 24/7 and this crosses into our personal boundaries. It becomes too much when we allow technology to consume our time and energy away from the present moment, sacrificing the things that truly matter.
How do you tune out and limit distractions?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | May 16, 2012 | Social Media
Most companies have realized the tremendous benefits of creating communities and becoming involved in social media. It is a vital component to your business, marketing, sales and customer service strategies.
Some companies fear creating a social media presence because they believe that if they do, they may provide their audience with a platform to complain or otherwise post negative feedback. Whether you create your community or not, the “talk” is still out there and if you are not listening, then you are missing the opportunity to troubleshoot and amend any potential detrimental comments about your organization.
The Internet is a vast abyss of content and if a customer or prospective buyer is having an issue with your company, they will surely voice their opinions and with the viral reach of social media, you need to be able to counteract and turn the situation around before it spirals out of your control.
Your company can create alerts using Google, YAHOO, Twitter or other social media tools for keywords to monitor the chatter about you and your business. Isn’t it better to know what is being said than to hide from the conversation?
Be proactive and take the opportunity to listen and respond to what your audience is saying. It will help to create loyal customers, increase sales, provide customer service, instill goodwill, and give your company the chance to provide the best service and industry voice.
Real Life Example:
Recently I was having issues with AT & T and I chose to utilize social media to reach out vs continuing to endlessly remain on hold or deal with offshore techs. After 3 months of conventional methods, I chose to tweet and post on Facebook. My voice was heard- loud and clear!! I received responses on Twitter and Facebook and shortly thereafter, 3 phone calls from their corporate offices. My problems were solved, I received credits and now have direct phone numbers of people who can make a difference.
This was not the first time I used social media to get in touch with organizations who were not responding to phone calls or emails. These companies are listening to the conversations and responding. Social media proves to be a valuable customer service tool.
You don’t have to tweet, or Facebook, or even blog. But choosing not to embrace social media, even minimally, is choosing to be invisible.” Cindy Kraft
Your customers are talking, are you listening?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | May 2, 2012 | Delegation, Organization
Decrease desktop clutter.- File or discard papers and folders.
- Purge outdated materials, manuals, scraps of paper in your drawers.
- update customer management database with ALL client/prospect data and discard associated paper.
- Assign a place for everything and keep everything in its place.
- file as you go, don’t wait until “sometime” to put things in their place.
- Organize your workspace for maximum productivity.
- Reserve your inbox for action items.
- Create email folders to organize your inbox and sent emails.
- Break down large projects into smaller tasks, and prioritize them. Block off time each day until the project is completed.
- All projects and tasks should have clear goals, objectives, and deadlines.
- Plan your To Do list for the following day before you leave work.
- Break your To Do list into categories
- Must do with deadlines
- Open-ended tasks (i.e. reorganizing files)
- Enter calls and appointments into your calendar.
- Take a break to refresh and refocus, without interruptions.
- Set aside 1 hour per day for NO technology: you do not answer phones or respond to emails or engage in office communication. You take this time to regroup and work on pressing issues, modifying your To Do list, and working on projects.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Apr 29, 2012 | Social Media
Social media meets the fundamental need to be heard, to be noticed, to be known and to be validated.
Social Media (SM) is not a trendy marketing tool but rather a key facet in your viral efforts to drive business to your website, enhance company recognition, build your brand, create market segments, meet your clients and prospective client needs for information and customer service, join communities, disseminate news, press releases, product launches, improve customer service, troubleshoot issues and listen to the chatter about your company.
It is hard to believe that Social Media is only 7 years old. Facebook started in 2004. Blogging did too. Twitter was born a few years later in 2006 and LinkedIn, the business networking site began in 2009. It’s unbelievable that something has impacted the marketing world with such a force in such a short period of time.
Social media has evolved from a powerful communication avenue to a key marketing channel. It offers a platform for clients, colleagues or prospects to discover you when they’re looking for reviews, comparing pricing, or researching offers. It is paramount for you and your company to maintain a presence, ensuring the opportunities for listening, effective online communications and increased visibility. It is essential that companies create and utilize a variety of social media platforms to cross promote, market and enhance their organization. Each channel offers an individual as well as combined opportunity for company-wide growth and expansion.
How do I Measure my results?
The ROI on SM is multi-faceted: it is a return on influence and before you have influence, you need visibility. You have the opportunity to increase followers, create deeper meaningful connections, develop relations with industry colleagues and associates, increase web traffic, RTs, “likes,” shares, +1s, and discussions about your company or brand and all this eventually translates into dollars. The list below applies to ALL social networking platforms.
- Return on engagement — the duration of time spent either in conversation or interacting with social objects, and in turn, what transpired that’s worthy of measurement.
- Return on participation — the metric tied to measuring and valuing the time spent participating in social media through conversations or the creation of, social objects.
- Return on involvement — similar to participation, marketers explored touchpoints for documenting states of interaction and tying metrics and potential return of each.
- Return on attention — In the attention economy, we assess the means to seize attention, hold it and as such measure the responses activities that we engender.
- Return on trust — A variant on measuring customer loyalty and the likelihood for referrals, a trust barometer establishes the state of trust earned in social media engagement and the prospect of generating advocacy and how it impacts future business.[1]
How much time should I expect to spend each day/ week to get best results?
You could easily spend a few minutes or a few hours per day engaging followers, creating relationships, and searching for content to share and building your brand. You have to be patient. Times builds results.
25 Eye-Popping Internet Marketing Statistics for 2012
The Internet Advantage
- Over 2 billion people use the Internet on a daily basis – this is about 30% of the world’s population, reaching more people, in more demographics than any other marketing tool.
- This represents a 480% increase in 2011 alone
- Over 245 million people or over 80% of Americans, use at least one social network.
- Creating a social media strategy is simple and inexpensive. You can easily integrate it into your existing marketing plan.
Videos:
Social Media Revolution Socialnomics 2011
What Is The Business Value of Social Media? – Advice from @Hubspot
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Apr 19, 2012 | Delegation, Executive Administration
One of the most important lessons a business owner can learn is that you do not have to do everything, nor are you able to. Communicating your vision to others and empowering others to take an active role within the organization is important. Empowerment can only come if you effectively delegate projects and responsibilities to others. When delegating make sure the person you are giving responsibility to knows exactly what is expected and has the interests and skills to successfully complete the task.
Delegation is giving others the authority to act on your behalf, accompanied with responsibility and accountability for results. Three basic but major skills needed to be an effective delegator are:
1. Trust – You must believe in the people you delegate to.
2. Honesty – You must be honest with them in what your expectations are.
3. Communication – You must clearly articulate what you need done.
