Bill4Time Staff

Our society today is obsessed with the Internet. We can shop, read the news, watch TV, and talk to our friends without having to change out of our pajamas. Of course, the shining star of the Internet craze is Facebook. Facebook recently achieved a remarkable milestone – 1 billion active users. That’s right, 1 in 7 people on the planet has a Facebook account.

Customer service is no exception to the Internet craze. Using social media as a platform for customer service is easy and convenient for both you and your customers. It brings your business directly to their fingertips. They can share their concerns with your entire customer base, and get instant, personalized responses from you.

Your Facebook and Twitter pages are the portals straight into your office. Are you using them to their full potential? Here are some tips to maximize the customer service experience for your customers:

• Instant reply. The reason customers use Facebook to contact your company is because it’s convenient for them. If you don’t respond right away, then they should have just called your support line. Try to respond within five minutes.
• Mind your mannerisms. Your brand has a personality, and so do all of your employees. Try to maintain a consistent personality (of course, one that is helpful and friendly) in your interactions so that customers associate it with your company. Whether you’re playful and casual, or completely professional, make sure to stick to it.
• People like talking to people. If you have multiple people using the same social media account, each person can sign their responses. It reminds the customer that they are interacting with a real person.
  For example: “I hope this helps! Feel free to let us know if you have any further issues. –Brian”

Do you have any tips on using social media for customer service? We would love to hear them! Just post them in the comments section below.

We’ve all seen them. Many of us have even clicked on them. But you look at them with a completely different perspective.

They’re the advertisements on the side of Google’s search results, and you want them to be yours. Setting up a Google AdWords account is easy, and getting your ad displayed a few times isn’t terribly hard, either. But to reel in significant new business, you’re going to have to step it up a notch.

1. Vary your keyword types.
Google provides an excellent guide that thoroughly describes the different types of keywords, and what they do for you. Study it. If you have many broad match keywords and very few of the other types, you’ve got a problem.

The more broad match keywords you have, the more your ad will be displayed when it’s irrelevant. Cut down on these, and your ad will only appear when it’s really being searched for. Because your ad will only be seen when it is relevant, your clickthrough rate will gradually improve, thus raising your overall ranking.

2. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
Let’s say you have one ad group. It has all of your keywords, and all of your different advertisements. While this method seems organized and logical, unfortunately it is not the most effective. Google will eventually select your “best” ads, and only display those, regardless of which of your many keywords was searched.

Users need to see that your ad is exactly what they’re looking for in a split second, or they will move on. This means that your ad should have as many of their keywords as possible. For example, if I search “12 megapixel camera,” I’m probably going to click on the ad that says “12 Megapixel Cameras!” rather than “Name Brand Cameras!”

The best way to accomplish this is to have many ad groups, with fewer keywords (maybe including some of those exact match keywords you learned about in tip #1), and ads that closely match the keywords. So instead of a “Cameras” ad group, you would have “12 Megapixel Cameras,” “SLR Cameras,” “Point-and-Shoot Cameras,” etc.

3. Direct users to landing pages.
Just because somebody clicked your ad, it doesn’t mean they’re committed. Now they are at your website, where once again, you must captivate them before their attention span wears thin. Most users could probably be directed to your homepage, but some may want something more specifically targeted to them. Direct different audiences to pages that emphasize the features best suited to their needs. It may even be worth your time to make a special landing page that cannot be reached from anywhere else in your website.

The success of your AdWords campaign is a direct result of how much you put into it. Take time to plan out your ads and ad groups. Research your keywords. Lastly, track the success of your ads and keywords, and update them accordingly.

Follow these guidelines, and with a little luck, the clicks will start pouring in! For more tips, tools, and articles, check out this handy post by Richard Ball.

There is only so much time to complete so much work. Even on your most productive days, there is usually always something you will have to take care of the next day. When you realized this, you hired more employees, and now it’s time to give them work to do. But that’s not as simple as it sounds – you’re used to doing all the work yourself. Successfully sharing the workload requires that you can strategically and confidently delegate tasks to others.

While this may sound easy, most people find that they aren’t comfortable assigning others work. First, let’s address the two most common fears people have when confronting their employees.

“They won’t be able to do it as well as I could.” You hired your employee because you believe that they are skilled. You have to learn to trust them – don’t underestimate their abilities. When the time comes, you can have them run their work by you before it’s finished, so that you can check if it meets your standards.

“I feel bad assigning boring tasks.” What you find boring or tedious, others may enjoy. I sometimes like to get lost in time consuming, repetitive tasks that many of my peers dread doing. A good manager can delegate work to employees who will enjoy doing it. In addition, in most cases, when you are delegating work, you have authority over others. You need to embrace this authority – you are paying your employees to do what you ask of them.

Now that we’ve addressed the fears, here are a few tips to help you get started delegating:

1. Start small. Delegate less important tasks first, so that both you and your employee can get used to the process.
2. Clearly define your expectations. Let your employee know exactly what you want from them. However, avoid telling them how to do it – it is best to let your employee control the process, as long as they reach the desired end result.
3. Leave a large margin of error. You’re new at delegating, and you don’t know how long it takes other people to get work done. Try to set deadlines a few days before you actually need the result, so there is room for troubleshooting.
4. Make yourself easy to contact. Employees need to ask questions of you until they get the hang of things. If they don’t understand something, it will take them much longer. Make the process easy for them, and they will get the work done faster.

Find these tips and many more in The Beginner’s Guide to Delegation, written by Thanh Pham of Asian Efficiency.

Years ago, my boss at the time shared an interesting metaphor with me: his business was a duck. Seen from above water, it appeared to float gracefully toward its destination. However, a view from under the water revealed the duck’s awkwardly flapping feet, which writhed wildly in all directions. The lesson was simple: he wanted his customers to only see the view above water – that is, everything should appear to run smoothly, even if my peers and I were scrambling to make it happen.

You have probably heard this metaphor used before. While I appreciate its meaning, I refrain from using it in this context. Should we not strive to be smooth both above and under the water? Who says that the duck’s feet are not also graceful, calculated, and efficient?

I began to wonder, what sets apart a streamlined office from the chaotic “duck’s feet?” Here are a few tips that can help you and your employees run your business at its maximum potential.

• Dual monitors. The convenience and efficiency that come with using a second monitor will make you wonder how you ever survived without it. But it’s not just for pleasure – with the increased productivity, a second monitor quickly pays for itself.
• No more droning meetings. People have been griping about meetings as long as meetings have existed. It is common to feel as if “this doesn’t pertain to me,” and as a result many people lose focus. If you must draw your employees away from their work, make sure you have a clear goal planned for your meeting that you address concisely.
• Organize. While it may seem obvious that organization will make you more efficient, we forget to occasionally take a step back to assess our workspace. Do you know what all of those things on your desk are? How frequently do you use them? If you use them daily, leave them on or in your desk. If you use them once a week or less, you can put them in a nearby drawer or file.
• Stand up. Nothing good comes out of sitting still for 40 hours per week. Numerous studies have shown that standing at a waist-high desk not only will make you more productive, but it can also help you lose weight, strengthen your back, and even improve your disposition.

If you have any other tips on how you have made your office more efficient, feel free to share them in the comments below!