Let The Tech Work for You

What is the point of having your own business if you end up with less free time than when employed? Of course, some self-employed accept the longer hours or poorer pay as part of the consequences for not having to answer to 'the man.'



With my business I was well paid before. I wanted more time to be with those I wanted to be with not at work morning, noon and night.



To demonstrate some of the tools available I will describe the process of a recent contact. We will call the contact Jo. It could have been Excalibur or Frederick but Jo is easier and quicker to type.



Jo saw an ad and thought, 'Mmmm, I'll get in touch with those guys.' We put a few ads in local newspapers. The ad is written on-line and the office staff then ring for payment details. This saves time as the ad can be written at anytime, anywhere and e-mailed. I often rise very early, can attend to most things on the computer ( no suit, no tie, big cup of tea). I would imagine the newspapers will soon have direct payment on their websites.

The second place for our ads is on the internet. Similar procedure as before but can pay by credit card on the website. The google ads you see next to this blog might contain an ad for our business. If you click on the ad it costs the advertiser ( cost varies from a few cents upwards ). Those few cents are then split between Google and the writer of the blog. You need to have thousands of regular readers before you can retire though.



Back to Jo. He then went on-line and found our website. Hopefully, he was impressed and decided to complete the on-line contact form.



When the contact form was submitted it triggered an automatic reply. This would let him know the submission was successful and somebody would be in touch within a few days.



So far we could be anywhere in the world and this would all be going on. For the telephone contact we can still be anywhere. We use Skype. A program on the computer that lets you use the internet as a telephone line.



With the growing popularity of mobile broadband our type of business could be run from anywhere in Australia. Whilst overseas we use the locally available wireless. Recently whilst in Mexico my wife could speak to a few clients as if they were in the same city without using international telephone systems. We will be in Japan soon and can carry on as if we were back home.



The automatic e-mails can be timed and edited to suit your own preferences. We like to send an e-mail that contains a FAQ section. This often means the telephone calls don't have to be very long.

The automated program ensures we do not have to spend a lot of time chasing up clients. The UWS system tracks the client from the first contact.

Once Jo made the initial expression of interest his details appeared on our client track in a new enquiry section. Once contact was made he was placed on the initial contact file. As he moved through the process from potential to actual customer we could track details. Each potential customer will have a mini-file, this details contacts made and has a free text section to record any notes significant to the client.

The beauty of a system like this is apparent with multiple clients. All may be at different stages. By checking the UWS we can see how many e-mails have been sent, how many messages have been left and how often they have responded. If we have sent a few messages and no answer has been returned we let the client go.

These systems cost a few dollars a month. However, they work. It means I can spend less time with admin. and more time doing the things I want to do.

Anybody who has a lot experiences in on-line business will be well aware of these types of systems but for us newbies they are a real blessing. For those just starting off especially I hope this has been some help.
Rob