I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
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Tash
Finding the obvious may lead to jobs…
What opportunities are you missing by taking things for granted?
I am not an expert in Microsoft Excel but I can use it competently and am aware of its capabilities even when I don’t use some features.
This simple graph was produced from a table of data in excel for one of my clients. For me, it was an obvious way to produce a graph; for my client, it was a major challenge to know how to produce it at all.
And it hadn’t occurred to me that someone who uses Excel for various tasks wouldn’t know that you can easily create graphs from the data entered into Excel. It’s just obvious to me so I took it for granted that it was obvious to others.
Yet, that isn’t the case.
Graphs in Excel – not so obvious to everyone
A couple of weeks ago I did a presentation which included a simple graph on one slide. Afterwards, I was talking with a client and he mentioned wanting some graphs for a report he was working on.
Long story short, he didn’t know excel would do that for him.
I set up that simple graph for him and now am managing a larger excel-based project for him. I say managing because it is a more complex graph so I have outsourced it to someone I know who is an Excel expert!
Missed opportunities
It has me thinking though. How many more graphs could my client have used, in reports or presentations or for his own use, if I had told him about excel graphs sooner?
How many clients could I have referred to my excel expert?
When we know something, it’s hard to remember that many others don’t know it or at least know it as well as well as we do.
Are there some obvious tasks or skills you aren’t seeing for your business?
I wonder what great opportunities you could find by spotting those obvious tasks and skills…
One coin, two sides; One budget, two perspectives
There are always two sides to a coin, two side to a story and two perspectives to view things by.
Which perspective do you chose? Or does it depend on the sides of a coin?
On Tuesday, the Federal Budget was announced.
I’ve read quite a few summaries of the Budget so I can write updates for clients. Some are better than others, of course.
Perspectives of the Federal Budget
However, my point relates to how small business is impacted by this Budget. Noting that small business got very little direct mention by the Government in this budget.
A number of business groups have released their view that Government ignored this significant sector of our economy. As advocates of this diverse group, they are annoyed because small business don’t appear to have been included.
Yet another business group or two has put out the view that small business was lucky to have avoided the attention big business got in the Budget. I for one am glad we don’t have to report PAYG each month, for instance.
Both views are based on the same fact (little mention of small business) but are looking at it in different ways. I found that very interesting.
Taking breaks makes you more productive, less overwhelmed
No one can stay productive at a desk like this without regular breaks
How often do you feel overwhelmed with things?
How often do you feel quiet – no tweets, emails or status updates firing at, no phone calls or client/boss requests, no attempts at reducing a to do list?
As I mentioned a few days ago, I heard a webinar in which Matthew May spoke about his book, The Laws of Subtraction (6 simple rules for winning in the age of excess everything).
I intend reading this book, and will review it in this blog, as I am very conscious of how much stuff business people have to deal with. We’ve always had to deal with multiple roles (accounts, marketing, sales, staffing, production, etc) but now we have digital presence and technical changes to keep up with as well.
I am also thinking of reading one of his other books, The Shibumi Strategy (A Powerful Way to Create Meaningful Change). It sounds interesting and apparently is written as a story rather than in typical business book mode.
Taking and making breaks
Matthew’s fifth law is ‘break is the important part of breakthrough’ and I think that will be a very interesting chapter. I think breakthroughs can change lives – whether it is a breakthrough new product that changes the world or a simpler breakthrough on a better way to deal with a difficult client or finding a new tool that will save you time.
Any break from routine/habit/patterns can make us look around, take notice and see the things we take for granted most of the time. Then we can be more creative and find solutions or new ideas.
I like the idea of regularly getting away from my desk – and by regularly I mean once an hour or so – but I admit I often get caught up in things and stay working for longer than I probably should.
So I want to ask how you fit breaks into your working day/week. Is it something you plan or do you ‘go with the flow’?
What do you do in your breaks?
Limiting information engages imgaination
Today I heard a webinar based on the book The Laws of Subtraction (6 simple rules for winning in the age of excess everything). Matthew E May, author of the book was interviewed by Suzi Dafnis of ABN.
His third law hits a similar theme to what I often write so I wanted to share it.
Limiting colour can engage and stimulate imagination and thought
Law #3: Limiting information engages the imagination
This law is commonly stated as the cliché ‘less is more’ and writers are often told to ‘show not tell’ for more powerful writing.
Giving all the facts leads to overload and disinterests people so I suggest writing as little as possible to suit the message.
But I like Matthew’s twist – I believe it is true that too much information stifles imagination. Giving enough information to set a foundation is enough.
What information can you limit to get people’s imagination working in your favour?
Matthew gave the example of Steve Jobs launching the first iPhone – he showed one, explained some of what it could do and then said no more until it launched a few months later. And something like 20 million people signed up to buy one before it was on sale. That’s a lot of people acting on limited information, isn’t it?
* Image from Word Constructions
Adding an online chat feature – good idea or not?
Maybe it seems a little back to front. I mean, first I reviewed some online chat software and now I am writing about whether or not adding online chat to a website is worth considering.
For me, that’s the order things have happened – I did the research because a client asked me too. And now I am thinking about adding chat to my site as well.
Of course, I could wait a while and see how chat goes for my client… Yet again, their business is so different to mine that any data would probably have limited value.
So what’s so good about offering online chat functions?
Here are what I see as the reasons for adding chat to a website…
- you appear approachable and interested in helping potential clients
- it is simply another way people can choose to contact your business
- you can solve issues quickly – no waiting for emails or loosing people because they can’t find the answer they want from your site
- some people prefer to interact online instead of via the phone – and I suspect this tendency will increase
- an online chat can be quicker and less intrusive than getting a phone call
- by answering immediate questions, you can learn what people want to know when visiting your site – and maybe what is missing (or hard to find) from your site
- it’s a relatively simple way to make your website more interactive
- as a service provider, it can also be a great customer service tool for existing clients
- for someone like me, knowing how to use a new feature can be beneficial in advising my clients
And what’s NOT so good about adding chat to your site? 
If online chat was perfect for every website, we’d all have it, right? So here are some downsides to adding an online chat function…
- it costs money – there is quite a range of prices but you are likely to pay for the software and maybe hosting
- it will take time to set up - choosing a supplier, adding the code to every page on your site, customising the system to match your site/brand/clients
- there may well be time and money in getting a designer involved to integrate things nicely into your site
- it’s a new tool to learn how to use
- it’s potentially a distraction – being interrupted as you work and having a new set of stats to look at and worry about
- if you can’t be online a lot of time when your clients may expect you to be, it may give an impression of being unavailable or disinterested. Most software shows you are offline – yes, people can leave a message for you to get back to them, but not all will and the offline message may not be great. Some software has the chat button disappear when you are offline so that could be a solution if you are frequently unable to monitor chats.
- it may not suit your audience. Taken to extremes, a blind audience is more likely to prefer phone calls to online chats, but there would be less extreme examples where chat would be a waste of effort to install
- being live, you need to think faster than if answering an email or even updating social media. If writing (or writing clearly with good spelling) is a struggle or you’re concerned with being 100% accurate, then an online chat feature may be intimidating
Making the choice
Have I missed any other points to consider?
I think it’s also important that a website gives the right impression. Do you think online chat is suitable for professional businesses or perhaps just for more informal or technology businesses?
Or put it this way, would you ever use an online chat feature on a professional website?
Online chat solutions in review
I have been researching online chat software for a client. There are a lot of options available so I thought I’d share some of my observations for anyone else who may be thinking of making their website more interactive.
Of course, these are my personal opinions and experiences, and are based on a user’s perspective. I looked at many websites, compared features and made a short list of six suppliers to try – this is my short list.
Online chat suppliers
I will list these roughly from best to worst so you can skip the rest of the list once you’ve found one to suit you. I’ve added a couple of explanations at the end, too, so you can understand their terminology when visiting their sites.
Prices listed are as listed on their sites – presumably in USD so at least comparable to each other. You can convert to local currency online if need be.
Note many of these have an affiliate program if that is important to you. I am not an affiliate with them (I won’t promote products/services I wouldn’t use myself!) and note that the ones I like best either don’t have or don’t promote an affiliate program – I wonder how coincidental that is?
Live Help Now
- this was highly rated in a review I read, and I can see why
- fully customisable although it takes a bit of effort to change every aspect
- can respond to a chat via your desktop or mobile device
- offers a 30 day free trial – with no credit card details to get started which I like
- $21 per operator per month (nice to choose the number required but pricey if you have a few people)
- SSL chat with data stored in a data centre in the USA (not in the cloud)
- has a section where you can add ads to promote specials, etc
- pre-prepared responses, links and images (most only have text)
- two-way file transfers
- hide chat or use a contact form when you’re offline
- can run multiple chats
- real-time visitor tracking & stats
- print or email transcripts of chats – stored on the system for 3 months (or less upon request)
- extra $50 a month to remove ‘powered by’ link on chat windows – very disappointing
- can view visitor’s Facebook profile but otherwise doesn’t integrate with social media unfortunately
- I received a welcome email the next day with a contact name – nice touch
- easy enough to use although I sometimes forgot to swap between the operator and admin panels so couldn’t find what I wanted
- can also chose a tab function so visitors can search answers or chat
- free WordPress plugin
Banckle
- 14 day trial (1 operator, 25 chats)
- free WP plugin
- Works across browsers & platforms (including mobile)
- detailed stats reports (easy to export)
- multiple chats
- unlimited operators and the ability to chat with other operators (eg ask them a question to help a customer)
- offline contact form
- searchable archive of chats
- track & record visitor data
- transfer chats between operators
- customisable
- pre/post survey
- $9 = 1 operator online at a time, no customisation, their name; $29 = 4 operators, no customisation; $69 = 8 operators, customisation. Note an annual payment discount applies.
- Many help videos
- Can save/print/email offline transcript easily (as can member) – but Banckle staff can’t access them
- SSL and works over https
- they apply good security measures– not stored in cloud but can choose to use Dropbox
- sharing links work
- simple to operate
- my client couldn’t access the backend through their strict firewalls unfortunately
Website Alive
- $30 USD per month or $98 for additional features (supervisor access, recording stats, adding photos of operators)
- customisation
- chat with transcripts (searchable and download as csv files, or email at end of chat)
- email form if offline
- visitor tracking & analysis
- pre/post chat survey
- multiple chat lines
- spell check
- auto-greetings
- 2 operators allowed
- mobile chat (including transfer current chat to mobile or back!)
- transfer chats to other staff, internal chat room
- integrate with Facebook & Twitter (ie they can start chats from there!)
- can embed onto all pages for permanent viewing, text link for emails
- Free 10 day trial, 60 day money back
- Nothing to download – access from anywhere, easy set up
- No document sharing
- Participate in Truste Privacy Seal program
- “All chats are saved in our system for future reference
Comm 100
- WP plugin
- 15 day trial
- $21 per operator per month – no mobile access, 3 months transcript storage, no email transcripts
- $29 per operator per month – mobile access, email transcripts, indefinite transcript storage, chat queue
- Discounts for multiple operators & annual payments
- Per & post surveys
- customisable
- multiple chats
- spell check
- pre-prepared responses & URLs
- offline message form
- transfer chats, internal chats, supervise chats
- visitor stats & web path,
- visitor can be emailed transcript
- search transcripts
- minimal stats (missed chats, operator metrics – more in $49 plan)
Zopim
- From review – good layout, basic customisation, very easy to use, great info on visitors, resembles Facebook chat
- Free 14 day trial, 5 day money back refund
- Free – 1 operator, 14 day archive, 1 chat only
- $14 ($11.20 if pay annually) per month per operator unlimited chats, 2 triggers
- $25 ($20 if pay annually) per month per operator – unlimited calls, unlimited triggers
- Offline contact form or hide it
- track visitors
- transcripts for visitors & archive
- encryption on SSL sites
- customise widget colours
- pre-prepared responses
- manager can supervise chats
- plugins for WP
- transfer chats to mobile device
- internal chats
- dashboard for stats
- permanent window
- FAQ indicates some teething issues with IOS; they are looking into SM integration; friendly service via chat!
Conversion Support
- this was actually at the top of my list until I tried it
- Free 30 day trial
- Free WP plugin to include chat on a blog (last updated Nov 2012)
- Mobile access
- customisable
- visitor tracking, stats & reports – but I couldn’t find any stats within the admin area
- no contracts, no software to download (just code to site)
- pre chat survey
- offline contact form (or hide)
- incoming seen by all online
- pre prepared responses
- multiple chats
- integrate with FB or google talk
- records transcripts
- Free – 1 operator, 100 chats
- $10 per month - 5 operators, 3,000 chats,
- $20 per month – 10 operators, 6,000 chats
- simple to install
- button on the site sits below the footer despite changing settings to put it elsewhere
- Can’t change time settings to local (eg transcripts will show 5.30pm when it is 11.30am for me) which will make tracking chats more difficult
- chat works through my client’s strict firewalls but dashboard access shows an error message
- Transcripts emailed instantly & easy to access in backend. Can’t delete them so they are there forever
- Links appear as text not a hyperlink – push feature described on the site but the relevant buttons not visible in the admin area
- Cloud based storage
- Service very poor – chat operator can’t answer how-to questions and they never emailed me back
Online chat glossary
operator – the person who answers the chats for the business. If you have a system with multiple operators, you can usually personalise it and use their names; if you only have one operator function but multiple staff, they will have to share a name.
pre-prepared response – often called a canned response. SImply a commonly used answer or question that is added to the system to save time and typing during a chat. For example, I could have ‘Yes I write guest blog posts’ or ‘My monthly newsletter is free to subscribe to’ as canned responses.
pre-chat survey - the ability to ask some questions before allowing someone to chat with you. Common questions are name and email address but you can add things like ‘what do you want to ask about?’ or give them a choice of departments to chat to.
permanent window - the chat window will stay open and visible even if 
the visitor changes pages within your site. This is most relevant if the chat window is not a pop up window (ie is embedded into the page)
How do you decide?
If you are looking at doing something like adding a new feature to your website, how do you go about the process?
I love the simplicity of just grabbing one option and running with it, but I would never feel I had the best deal unless I had looked at other options as well. I like to shop around a bit – even if that just helps me learn more about the features to look out for – then create a short list and decide.
Do you need to look at options yourself or are some good reviews enough for you?
What does April Fool communicate?
Did you see Virgin’s glass floored planes announcement on Monday?
In short, they joined the April Fools Day spirit and announced a plane that would allow you to watch the passing ground as you flew. Spectacular views maybe, scary probably!
A number of other companies also ran some jokes on the day, and it got me thinking about the message behind such jokes.
What does it say?
Running a public joke like that can obviously be taken a number of ways, but I think most people appreciate it as long as it remains appropriate.
Making a joke shows the company can be fun and don’t take themselves too seriously. It may make it seem more approachable and flexible, too.
It could send a message of being too frivolous or flippant, but I think that comes back to keeping the joke appropriate – to the business brand as well as generally appropriate for the public.
Is it a good business tool?
I think it can be good for a number of reasons:
- making people smile and feel good generates warmth towards your brand
- getting into the spirit of a particular day or event shows community involvement and can also build good feelings towards the business
- if it’s well done, people will share the story so the business gets lots of publicity. How many Facebook and Twitter mentions did you see of company April Fools jokes this week?
- it can be fun for the staff and thus build morale and staff retention
Of course, these benefits need to be weighed against the cost of running such a joke. It may not cost a lot of money to Photoshop an image or put a message on a website, but there is a cost in time to plan a joke so it works and goes live at the right time.
Speaking of timing, remember that April Fools jokes should only be run before midday on 1 April. That can get tricky with a global audience such as on social media.
So what do you think – do you enjoy such jokes?
How does it impact on your view of the business behind the joke?
Selling with Valentines Day
Love & money can go together
I know – Christmas has just gone, Australia Day hasn’t even arrived yet and I’m suggesting you think about Valentines Day!
For many businesses, Valentines Day is a huge sales period and they probably plan and prepare for it months in advance.
But have you thought about it for your business?
Maybe you think it is only for those selling flowers, chocolates and cards, having no relevance to other businesses. While there is some truth to that, you can get more out of Valentines Day if you want to.
Adding a Valentine flavour to your business
Yes, Valentines Day is commercial and it would be great if we showed our love and care for others every day, but it is celebrated every February whether you like it or not. And if you run a business, you can keep it topical through using some Valentines romance.
There are a number of suggestions in my Valentines Day and business article, but here are a few more:
Paper flowers last longer and, if hand made, are very personal
- post a Valentine message in your blog. It can be a simple “Happy Valentines Day” or maybe you can find a creative message to show you appreciate your blog readers or customers
- use pink envelopes or paper on the day or the surrounding week or month
- pop a chocolate or treat in every package you send out in February – of course, if it’s hot try something less likely to melt! Maybe a paper flower in each order is a better idea!
- give an eBook or tip sheet with romantic ideas relating to your business
- put some pink candles in your shop or display
- run a competition with some romantic prizes
- add a poem about mum or dad when you send out things for young children
- send a rose to your key clients – an unexpected gift builds a lot of goodwill
- Groups and clubs can send paid or active members a Valentines card. It needn’t include messages of love, but it may just be the only card your client gets so it will be appreciated
- Web masters – think of adding some subtle graphics on your site – just a quick image and the words Happy Valentines Day is enough to convey your wishes without going too far or reducing your professional image
- Offer reduced fees for couples booking in at the same time in February. This could apply to a masseur, accountant, hairdresser, dentist, mechanic, coach, gyms, fitness trainers, life insurance sales people and many more.
Do you need to hire an expert?
Recently, I saw an article called ‘do you need to hire a SEO expert’.
My immediate response was yes and no – depending on what you mean by ‘need’, you may or may not need a SEO expert.
Do you need an SEO expert because you have to be qualified or an ‘expert’ to do it (to at least an acceptable level)? No, not really.
However, an expert may do it faster and have knowledge to work more efficiently and get better results, but it is possible to do it yourself. Of course, if you don’t know anything about SEO and have to study it first, an expert’s value is greater.
Do you need an SEO person to help you get SEO done alongside everything else you do? Then quite possibly, yes you do. It depends on how busy you are and how much importance you place on SEO obviously, but SEO is one thing you can consider outsourcing.
Of course, if you are just after time saving, you may be able to use someone to work on your SEO (such as finding places to guest blog or comment and checking your site for deadlinks and duplicate meta data) rather than finding someone qualified to give you advice and expertise.
Does the same apply to hiring a professional writer?
Again, it is a maybe type of answer.
Do you need a professional writer to help you get everything done in a working day? Yes, you quite possibly do need help.
Do you need a professional writer because you can’t do it yourself? That depends on what you’re after. Most people in business can probably write webcopy and blog posts themselves so a writer is perhaps not necessary to get the content onto the page.
However, some people can’t write well so would get much better results via a professional – and probably find it is done with less time and stress, too.
Some people can write reasonably well, but will still benefit from someone who has a better understanding of business writing and can be objective about the content.
So if you can write with good spelling and grammar, understand about writing for a business audience and have plenty of time, no you don’t need a professional writer to help you!
Translation and transcription styles
As a writer and communications manager, style guides are important.
It was only when I read a book by a freelance translator and transcriber, Kris Emery, that I thought about style guides for other professionals dealing with words.
Getting written documents
If your business need documents translated or meetings transcribed, you are paying someone to give you a written document that will be used in some way.
So obviously you want that document to be prepared in a way that is easy for you to use.
That could include details such as :
- being in your prefered font size so it’s easy for you to read and manage
- spelling certain words in a particular way - it could be ebook vs eBook or it could be how you want your business or product name represented (think of AvSuper, McDonalds and WordPress for instance)
- putting meeting records into columns to separate names from conversations
- location of your logo – you could add it yourself, but why not get the document ready for use?
- having page numbers or preparation dates in a certain place on each page
- things to exclude from a transcription (eg remove um, ah and y’know but leave uhuh)
- page margins or text justification that suits your needs, such as fitting onto a letterhead or space for notes around the text
Preparing a style guide
You have a number of options really…
- rely on the person just to translate/transcribe and change the style yourself
- assume the person will give you a nice format without guidance and just fix the rest – or get lucky and find someone who will ask the questions to give what you want (and probably write a style guide themselves to use when they next work with you – expect to pay for it if you want access to that style guide yourself)
- provide a template and hope the person doesn’t adjust it or any coding behind it
- provide a style guide (or at least a style sheet if your requirements are few) for them to work from
A document-specific style guide will by nature be about details, lots of little details that add up to a polished and useful end result.
It can be pulled together in two hours or so if you have an existing document to work from; faster if you have a style template to work from. That’s not much time compared to adjusting a document every time someone translates or transcribes for you.
What are the first three things you would add to your style guide?
Are they things you consider the most important or just the hardest to do so you prefer someone else gets them right?
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