The March 2019 Issue of TAS Trader

Startel

Does Your TAS Have a Great Website?

Regardless of How You Market Your Answering Service, a Killer Website is Key

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

Author Peter Lyle DeHaan

There are many ways to market your answering service, limited only by your creativity and budget. Regardless of which strategy you use, you need a website. Even if you claim you’re not accepting any new clients—and I never met an answering service that meant that—you still need a website for existing clients.

And this isn’t just any website but a great one. Your website stands as your make-or-break element to close sales. Regardless of your marketing tactics, prospects expect to find a website. In most cases your website will be part of your marketing campaign. But even if it isn’t, buyers may still look for one. What they see will determine whether they say “yes” or “no.”

Impress them and they’re likely to sign up. Disappoint them and they’ll go to your competitor. And if you don’t have a website, or they can’t find it, you’ve lost their business.

What about Social Media? Some businesses, including those in the answering service industry, insist a website isn’t necessary, that they get along just fine using social media—thank you very much. However, using social media as your online home base is foolish. You don’t own it or have any control over what happens to it.

On social media, you’re at the whim of corporate overlords. At any moment, your online social media presence could go away or your audiences’ ability to see your content could face severe limitations. All social media platforms are moving to a pay-to-play scenario, some faster than others. At the most basic level, they want to charge you to reach your audience.

Instead, use social media to point people to your website, your home base, the only online real estate that you can own and control.

What about Print? In the old days, back before the internet, businesses did just fine without a website. They relied on various forms of print media to promote their business and gain new clients. This included the Yellow Pages, newspaper ads, and direct mail. When is the last time you’ve seen the Yellow Pages? When’s the last time you read a newspaper? And what do you do when you receive direct mail? You throw it away without opening it. Even for specific print niches that still work, today’s consumers expect you to have a website. To not have one means you’re not viable. You’re invisible.

What about Online Advertising? Many people love online advertising. It’s easy to track and determine your ROI. You can measure your success, or the lack thereof, fast. Though the call to action for online marketing can be to call a phone number, most involve a website. And even if the goal is to have the prospect pick up the phone, having a website adds essential credibility to your offer.

Rethink Your Website: You should view your website as your online home base. Use social media to point to it. Social media is ancillary to marketing, not central. And if you prefer print media, the results will be stronger if you have a killer website riding shotgun. The same is true for online advertising. Without a website, you might get a lot of ad clicks but few conversions.

So, scrutinize your website. Is it as good as it can be? Or does it look tired and dated. I’ve looked at a lot of TAS websites. Most could be better. And too many are embarrassing. For the sake of the industry, and the sake of your business, that needs to change.

Hopefully you’re convinced of the importance of a website, a good website. Next month I’ll share tips on how to make yours stand out.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of TAS Trader. Check out his latest book, Sticky Customer Service.


Classified Ads:

Operations Manager: 32-year-old TAS in sunny Central Florida looking for an operations manager. Experience is a must! Send resume to: jeanpearson49@gmail.com.

Seeking Acquisitions: Reputable TAS, in business since 1967 and still owned by the founding family, seeks a small TAS acquisition in the USA. Ideally, you’re billing under $50k per month. Smaller is better. We’ll treat you right, and your employees and customers. Let’s talk. Contact Doug at 888-693-7935 or douganswerphone@gmail.com.

TAS Directory: Promote your TAS online, now only $199 a year. Overhauled and redesigned, make FindAnAnsweringService.com part of your online marketing plan. Contact Peter for details

Seeking Acquisition: We’ll pay cash for your TAS! Completely confidential. A Courteous Communication has been in business for 32 years. Contact Doris at 800-785-6161 or Doris@courteouscom.com; visit www.courteouscom.com.


5 Philosophies that Lead to a Destructive Company Culture

By Magi Graziano

Most leaders say they want a constructive corporate culture, but many are uncertain of what it really takes to shape it. Consequently, these executives and managers unintentionally lead their people toward the fatal, destructive side of the culture coin. They do this by buying into five positive-sounding philosophies:

1. Winning Above All Else: Winning is a powerful motivator. The desire to win can make things happen and bring in profits. However, a once healthy desire to “beat the competition” gone unchecked often creates opportunities for unproductive behavior and perpetuating ways of thinking that result in an organization eating itself alive.

These show up with people arguing for win/lose scenarios, as well as in-fighting for power, control, rewards, promotions, and resources. A workplace culture that values winning more than anything else can be fertile ground for destructive behavior and employment brand erosion.

2. Commanding and Controlling: In power-driven organizations, hierarchy reigns and members of the management team must take charge, control subordinates, and yield to the demands of superiors. Historically, this has been the “right” way to lead, and for many decades it worked.

This model is flawed, however, and those managed by people who pursue this approach atrophy and stagnate. In workplace cultures that rewards this type of behavior, the powerful take over and the powerless surrender.

3. Opposing Others:In oppositional workplace cultures there is often a root of overcoming obstacles that afforded the organization sustainability and success over the years. But what often got us here will not get us there. Opposition is one of those elements of culture, much like winning at all costs, that turns the organization against itself. In work cultures where members are expected to be critical, oppose ideas of others, and make “safe” decisions, people drop into fear and suppress their ideas and creativity.

4. Pursuing Perfection:In other cases, leaders’ of quality-driven organizations pride themselves with a commitment to excellence. While this intention may have been initially pure, too often the unconscious underlying behavior fostered with this value is perfection. In a culture of perfection, people do not take risks, they do not try new things, and they certainly do not put themselves or their reputation on the line.

5. Keeping the Peace and Getting Along:Everyone who is anyone in business understands the need to cooperate with others in the workplace and the need for teamwork and collaboration. However, creating a work culture where everyone must get along with little to no emphasis on performance or results, most often leads to over-the-top consensus building, perceived favoritism, a loss of focus and ambition, inconsistent accountability, and a destructive fear of conflict.

Conclusion

These seemingly-good philosophies can undermine your company’s overall mission and get you off track. Shaping constructive culture is about intentionally causing the corporate culture that exemplifies your brand promise. Intentional culture is all about monitoring what you are creating and making necessary shifts along the way to ensure you are accomplishing what you set out to do by creating the intentional culture in the first place.

Magi Graziano is the CEO of KeenAlignment, a speaker, employee recruitment and engagement expert, and author of The Wealth of Talent. Magi provides her customers with actionable, practical ideas to maximize their effectiveness and ability to create high-performing teams. She empowers and enables leaders to bring transformational thinking to the day-to-day operation. For more information visit www.keenalignment.com.


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Quotes for the Month

“A house is no home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.” -Margaret Fuller

“That some achieve great success is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.” -Abraham Lincoln

“A lot of money is tainted: ‘Taint yours, and ‘taint mine.” -unknown