Posted by Marie on August 1, 2009
One of my projects last week was to reformat and assemble a series of handouts for a training seminar. The person who created them must have not been familiar with Excel because the text ran off the page and the margins were all messed up.
This person also did not use the automatic stapling feature of the copier and ended up hand-stapling everything. As a result, the pages did not line up. The packets looked sloppy, and no one could be sure of the exact quantities.
I cringe when people describe a task as “clerical” in the same tone they would use to say “simple.” It really isn’t that simple to copy and assemble materials. It takes a lot of focus and organization. It also helps when the person on a particular project understands the materials at which he/she is looking.
Businesses often try to hand these types of jobs off to the lower-level workers or the least expensive temps. This approach increases the risk that you’ll enter your meeting, presentation, or seminar with materials that are either wrong, short, or not reflective of your professional image.
Then you’ll need to expend even more resources to do everything over again. This time—correctly.
Posted by Marie on July 3, 2009
Have you heard that it takes about 10 minutes a day, 3 times a week to have a successful company blog?
I hear it all the time:
- We should have a blog.
- We should be on Twitter.
In reality, these avenues of communication are time consuming pursuits and shouldn’t be started without a certain amount of thought.
Some of the things to consider are:
- Who will be the primary contributor(s)?
- Do(es) he/she/they have the skills necessary to be a good written communicator?
- What should be the tone, message, and goal of the blog or Twitter stream?
And of course—Do we actually have anything to say?
This is not to mean that plans should not be modified because all plans, business or otherwise, change. But all too often, I see the most enthusiastic of beginnings die out due to lack of will and direction.
If you ask any responsible corporate blogger, he will probably tell you that the blog is always in his mind. She is constantly on the lookout for the next topic and composing passages in her head (if not on the pad of paper that’s always by her side).
As tools, blogging and Tweeting have so many benefits to offer a company that needs to be smart with its resources.
The time and effort, however, that need to go into making them work are usually a lot more than decision-makers may expect.
Posted by Marie on June 20, 2009
For the last three weeks, I’ve been supporting a traveling executive. On the one hand, it is a blessing for her business to be so busy. On the other, things can easily fall apart when the business runner is away for such a length of time.
As she traveled, there were hotel reservations to make, materials to forward, calls to return, and future meetings to organize. I did all that from right here in Chicago.
Through emails and cell phone calls, the executive received all her messages and continued to direct her business. Her clients were able to stay in touch and not experience any delays.
In addition, bills were not paid late, the mailbox didn’t overflow, and the plants didn’t die.
If you are a small business owner who may have travel in your future, could you use a reliable backup here at home?
Posted by Marie on May 21, 2009
These days, every business, large and small, needs at least one web page. There are far too many consumers who turn to the internet for everything—directions, phone numbers, price comparisons, etc.
There appears to be a growing distrust, merited or not, of places without websites. It is as if they are not even a real entity.
At the very least, potential customers like to have some kind of contact information available so they can reach you. That’s why I say that everyone needs at least one web page.
- company name
- address
- phone number
- email address
Perhaps, even a map and a nice photo.
Domains and web hosting prices are really affordable, and accounts are easy to set up. More and more people are adapting blogs to let the easier interface and preprogrammed operations become the shortcuts needed for self-maintaining websites.
How is your web presence doing? Do you need something simple and informative set up? Detour Services might just be the resource you need.
Posted by Marie on March 31, 2009
It is so handy to have an on-hand personal assistant at conventions and trade shows.
Conventions are rich networking opportunities but no one wants to leave a booth unmanned for fear of losing sales. An assistant gives an entrepreneur just that much more flexibility.
It doesn’t matter if there’s a meeting to take or a lunch run to complete, a trade show assistant provides options and opportunities.
If you are looking for a trustworthy and hard working assistant for your 2009 conferences, why not give us a call to figure out the details?
