Sachin Kamdar is CEO of Parse.ly, a data and analytics platform for web publishers. He has graciously agreed to contribute to our blog with some great insights into how he continues to grow his startup. Feel free to check out his blog at sachinkamdar.com Thanks Sachin!
Originally posted on Feb 8, 2012
One of the hardest things, arguably, to do at a startup is to sell. And selling isn’t limited to just trying to convince someone to pay you money for your product; it’s a pretty big umbrella. The concept of selling includes convincing talented folks to join your company, bringing on investors that believe in your company, partnering with other companies to get an edge up in the market, and, yes, getting people to pay you for your product. And even when you just limit it to the latter you still are encompassing a lot of variables. Is it B2C? B2B? Freemium? Rev Share?
So before we get into the details of hacks that I’ve found or heard of, let’s limit the scope of what I’ll be discussing here. Over the past three years my company, Parse.ly, grew into a data and analytics platform for the web’s best publishers. Though we work with some smaller publishers, the majority of our client base includes the biggest producers of content on the web. For the most part this means that we’re dealing with B2B direct sales focused on large companies and large contracts. That said, a lot of the hacks that are discussed in this series of posts can be applied to other areas of sales or startups in general. The point of the series is to showcase tools and strategies that startups with small (or nonexistent) sales teams can leverage to sell into the biggest companies (or investors) out there.
There are three parts to this series that focus on the intersection of important areas of the sales process and opportunity to “hack.” The three are: Catching People at the Right Time, PR, Marketing and Events,Staying Persistent.
Let’s get started…
As with most things luck plays an important role in finding, massaging and closing deals at the enterprise level. One of the most important processes of selling is getting responses from the prospective customer. Getting a response, can often times, be difficult because purchasing software from a vendor probably isn’t the highest thing on the decision maker’s priority list. That said, if you happen to find that person at the right time, then there’s a good chance you’re going to get a reply back – either by phone, e-mail or in-person. How, though, do you know the right time to contact that person? There are a few hacks you can use to figure out exactly this ranging from direct input from the customer to implicit signals:
I realize that some people might find these services sneaky or even creepy, but they without a doubt give you a one up when you’re on the sales hunt. Having as much information and context as possible can only help you as you move the lead through the funnel. Let me know of any hacks you use for Catching People at the Right Time in the comments and happy sailing!
Zaplee announces the addition of a new toll-free service, which enables 800 numbers to be connected directly to popular instant messaging services Skype and GoogleVoice.
Chicago, Ill. – Zaplee announces the addition of a new service that allows users to get a toll-free number and point it to a Skype username or any phone number, including a Google voice number. This is a relatively new capability because in previous years, toll-free numbers could only point to a landline phone number. Zaplee’s owner Mihir Kothari says their new service allows small companies to look more professional and to have personal 800 numbers while continuing to save money by using VOIP phone services.
“We noticed that a lot of our regular users would turn off their company greetings and have only one number or Skype username in the system,” Kothari says. “It seemed unusual to our regular use case. So we surveyed a small sample of these users, and what we found was that many users simply wanted a toll free number to ring their Skype, GoogleVoice or mobile number without the hassle of setting up a complete phone system.”
These users were either small offices or sales people within large organizations that wanted to differentiate their contact information. This gave the Zaplee team the idea of creating an extremely simple product to meet that need for Skype users and mobile or GoogleVoice users.
In order to get a toll-free number to use with Skype or a regular number, users give Zaplee the destination Skype username, Google Voice number, or even their mobile number, fill out their billing information, and create an account. The process takes less than a minute, and the number activates instantly. According to Kothari, Zaplee already has multiple toll free numbers for both Skype and GoogleVoice users. Even some Google App resellers have signed on to integrate the Toll Free numbers with their offerings.
“This is rapidly becoming a very popular service,” Kothari says. “It’s simple, effective, and provides great value for small businesses that don’t have the time or budgets for a complicated phone system.
About Zaplee
Since 2007 Zaplee has been enabling small to medium-sized businesses to implement their call centers without the need for expensive software, services and infrastructure. To date, the software company has more than 400 satisfied customers in 30 different countries.
Contact:
Mihir Kothari
mkothari@zaplee.com
www.zaplee.com
How Mobivity used Zaplee’s cloud call center to unlock valuable insights from their customers and combine four companies into one without missing a call.
Chicago, Ill. – Cloud call center Zaplee reports that a case study with its client Mobivity shows how four smaller businesses were able to combine and avoid the purchase of an expensive PBX system after their merger.
“All four companies were using Skype before the merger,” says Levi McClendon, Senior Vice President of Business Development. “After the merger we had to get 40 employees on one phone system, so I did some research. We were looking at $700 to $1,000 per month for a T1 connection with a traditional PBX system, but we went with Zaplee because it’s so much cheaper—just $350 per month.”
Mobivity also avoided the purchase of expensive PBX equipment, which can cost thousands of dollars. According to McClendon, the company enjoys the additional functionality of Skype that’s not possible without integration with Zaplee. He says they especially appreciate how easy Zaplee was to set up.
“We like the ability to customize different departments and the on hold music,” McClendon says. “Interface is super easy to use, like adding people and adding departments. We’re able to change it on the fly. Routing calls to different places through Skype was the biggest benefit.”
Recently Mobivity added several toll free numbers to their Zaplee services. Operations manager Jake Peters says they decided to provision the numbers in order to do some split testing on a variety of different advertising and lead generating efforts to determine where they were getting the biggest bang for their buck.
“On our main website we have one toll free number that feeds into our main switchboard,” Peters says. “This is the same across all pages accessible from our main site. We have also put different toll free numbers on a few different landing pages that people are specifically referred to so we can test if people are more likely to call from the number on a pricing page or from a contact us page.”
According to Peters, they have also begun utilizing “referral cards” which have one of their toll free numbers that bypasses the main switch board and goes directly into their sales team.
“We’ve found that on a referral there is some drop-off when people are expected to navigate an extension menu in order to reach sales rather than being able to directly reach the sales department,” Peters says.
In addition, Mobivity has one toll free number set up specifically for their enterprise clients. It dials directly into their enterprise support team, which is available even during off hours.
“Our overall experience with Zaplee has been great,” Peters says. “The team has been very attentive to our needs and have put in the extra effort when I’ve requested functions that aren’t necessarily ‘out of the box.’ The dashboard is clean and the reports that I can export are very thorough. I’d recommend Zaplee to any small business in need of an affordable powerful, lightweight PBX system.”
About Zaplee
Since 2007 Zaplee has been enabling small to medium-sized businesses to implement their call centers without the need for expensive software, services and infrastructure. To date, the software company has more than 300 satisfied customers on 30 different countries.
Contact:
Mihir Kothari
mkothari@zaplee.com
www.zaplee.com
Zaplee reports that a case study conducted with its client Bobby Jones Electronics reveals that Zaplee’s services are about a quarter of the cost of traditional phone system expenses. A representative from Bobby Jones Electronics also says Zaplee’s system has enabled them to not just stay in business, but also expand.
Chicago, Ill. – Cloud call center Zaplee reports that a case study with its client Bobby Jones Electronics shows that fees for a PBX phone system can be kept to about $500 per month—if companies switch to a cloud-based system like Zaplee’s virtual call center integrated with Skype.
“We were running crazy figures of upwards of $1200 or $1600 per month,” says Fred Bebart, a representative for Bobby Jones Electronics. “With Zaplee’s pairing with Skype, we now pay about $400 to $500 per month.”
Bebart says when they decided to go virtual, they started looking at various companies that said they could help them do it, but there were a lot of hidden costs and extra fees. They didn’t want to worry about the number of outbound calls and minutes they used. They also wanted a larger than life corporate feeling without the huge building.
“We saw the writing on the wall, with the prices of everything going up and the manufacturers we work with requiring us to do the same work for lower prices,” Bebart says. “Then we did the numbers and realized that only 10 percent of our revenue had anything to do with bringing products into our facilities. And on top of that, we had to deal with employees, W2s, taxes, leases, insurance, etc. So we knew we had to do something to save the company, and thanks to Zaplee, we were able to cut costs and redevelop into a virtual company.”
According to Bebart, since the company has been redeveloped into a virtual business, they have been able to invest more money into customer acquisition rather than spending it on operational costs. As a result, the company has experienced double digit growth. In addition, Bebart was so happy with their phone system that they transferred their toll free number to Zaplee so that it could be integrated with their virtual call center.
About Zaplee
Since 2007 Zaplee has been enabling small to medium-sized businesses to implement their call centers without the need for expensive software, services and infrastructure. To date, the software company has more than 450 satisfied customers on 30 different countries.
Contact:
Mihir Kothari
mkothari@zaplee.com
www.zaplee.com
Zaplee reports that its cloud call center system has helped take ConceptShare, a software company that creates virtual, collaborative workspaces for businesses, to the next level of growth. ConceptShare’s Chief Technical Officer says Zaplee’s fees are 50 percent less than fees for regular phone service, and they save money on hardware and software as well.
Chicago, Ill. – A recent case study with cloud-based ConceptShare shows Zaplee’s integration with Skype to create a cloud call center system reveals 50 percent savings when compared to traditional multi-office PBX systems. ConceptShare CTO Chris D’Aoust says thanks to Zaplee, the savings are piling up each month.
“We save on long distance costs and have free unlimited calling between employees, no matter where they are located,” D’Aoust says. “We don’t have to worry about managing hardware either. Hardware with a traditional PBX system would have been roughly $200 per month, and the service rental was going to be roughly $250 per month compared to $175 per month for Zaplee.”
In addition to the savings for switching to Zaplee, D’Aoust also appreciates that when he was setting up the system, he could set up a voicemail for each user instantly rather than waiting for each of them to it up. Also instead of being tied to a desk or office, Zaplee goes with their employees on their mobile phone.
“We love that it’s through Skype because there are times when we can’t get to a call,” D’Aoust says. “Before we had cordless phones, so if there was a problem with the software in the middle of the night and the call dropped, we lost it. But Skype always keeps track of calls in the history so we don’t deal with the phones going out and not knowing who is on the phone.”
D’Aoust says they were especially impressed when Zaplee had their developers work on additional features so that the service would suit their needs.
“When we came across Zaplee in the beginning, we did some preliminary testing and still needed a couple of things on it,” D’Aoust says. “Their developers brought their system up to meet our needs in one to two weeks.”
About Zaplee
Since 2007 Zaplee has been enabling small to medium-sized businesses to implement their call centers without the need for expensive software, services and infrastructure. To date, the software company has more than 300 satisfied customers on 30 different countries.
Contact:
Mihir Kothari
mpkothari@zaplee.com
www.zaplee.com
The last blog discussed some of the professions that work well in a virtual office setting, with the help of Zaplee’s cloud call services. Here are some more jobs that thrive in a virtual office setting.
4. Translator
If you are fluent in a foreign language, working as a translator could be a great virtual career for you. Businesses love a translator in a virtual office because it widens the employment pool for them. You should love working as a translator in a virtual office because it has the potential to provide a great income; translators working in technical and scientific areas can earn more than $100,000 per year.
5. Web Developer
A large segment of the work-at-home population is composed of web developers and web designers. This works because a web designer has pretty much everything he needs right on his computer, at his fingertips. The amount of interaction with co-workers and even clients is pretty limited.
6. Technical Support
Many call centers use work-from-home employees to field tech support calls from customers. This probably isn’t a great choice for someone who has kids at home, though, since you need to be able to take calls whenever they come in and handle them without interruption.
7. Customer Service Representative
When you call in to place an order from a catalog, your call often goes to work-at-home employees. Zaplee’s cloud call services are perfect for this situation, because that main toll free number that you call can be routed to any number of at-home employees for handling.
8. Teacher
You may be surprised to see a teacher on a virtual careers list, but the move toward online learning is growing. Not only can you teach online college courses, but there are an increasing number of cyber schools for elementary through high school students. Teaching cyber-school is a great virtual office opportunity.
9. Registered Nurse
The field of tele-health is booming. Registered nurses can work from home doing telephone triage and giving advice to patients. This is a great choice for older employees who don’t want to work on their feet all day or retirees who want to keep earning an income.
10. Artists
If you thought it was just a hobby, think again. Work from home at your own pace creating your art, and post it on Etsy for sale. This is a great way to launch a business because there is next to no start-up cost involved. You can try out the business and measure your success without paying for a storefront or other overhead.
There was a time when work-from-home jobs were a scam, but more and more legitimate companies are going the way of the virtual office. This is great news because a virtual office has lots of benefits. It eliminates transportation time, opens the employer to a wider pool of potential employees that are not restricted by geography, and gives the employee a lot of flexibility. But some professions are better suited to a virtual office than others. Clearly, a job that requires a lot of interaction with co-workers won’t work out very well in a virtual office. A profession that necessitates access to a lot of resources, like shared paper files, will not do well in a virtual office, either. Check out these jobs that can benefit from a virtual office.
1. Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is kind of a vague term. Basically, this is a person who acts as an online temp, doing whatever jobs a company might need short term help with. You can start your own virtual assistant business and advertise whatever skills you have to help other businesses. Zaplee’s cloud call services are a great benefit to a job like this, because you and your employees need to be available to potential clients all the time. Zaplee makes sure that you never miss out on a job.
2. Medical Transcriptionist
A medical transcriptionist was one of the first work-at-home jobs, and it’s still one of the most popular. This profession requires a keen ear so that you can pick up on dictation and transcribe it accurately. Some training and/or experience are almost always required, but it has the potential to eventually earn more than $20 per hour.
3. Freelance Writer
The job of a freelance writer is particularly well-suited to a parent who is working from home because it is deadline oriented rather than hourly. For a parent working at home who has kids running around the house, it can be difficult to get even one hour of uninterrupted work time. But a freelance writer’s job doesn’t pay hourly; it pays per assignment. This means that as long as your work is turned in by its deadline, it doesn’t matter if you work for 20 minutes at 2 am and 30 minutes at 6 am. This is a particularly flexible profession within the realm of virtual careers.
These are just a few of the jobs that are well suited to a virtual office. Stay tuned for part two to learn more about virtual careers.
Anyone who works from a home office – like many of Zaplee’s cloud call service customers – knows that the biggest challenge in running a virtual office is staying organized and on task. With all the distractions of home, like dirty dishes in the sink, piles of laundry staring at you, kids and spouses vying for your attention, it can be all too easy to get off task. Fortunately, there are lots of apps for your phone or iPad that can help you to stay organized. Here are 3 useful apps for staying organized when you work from home.
1. CalenGoo
CalenGoo is a great app that syncs with your Google Calendar. This app manages your calendar and allows you to set reminders for appointments and other important events, which it oh-so-smoothly syncs with your other devices. So when you’re running around, trying to manage home and office, you won’t miss any critical appointments. And well, if you do, you can’t blame it on your calendar. CalenGoo will run you $6.99.
2. Time Tracker HD
When you work from home, time can get away from you. It’s easy to get lost in a project and not realize how much time you’re spending on it. Time Tracker HD is a great way to monitor how much time you’re spending on individual projects, and you can also use it to keep an eye on how your time is divided in the work/life balance. This app will help you to be in control of your time rather than getting sucked in to the black hole of work and losing all track of your day. Time Tracker sells for $6.99.
3. Mint.com Personal Finance
It can be quite a challenge to stay on top of both getting your work done and maintaining the actual business end of things. Mint.com’s personal finance app is a great tool for keeping track of your money and how you spend it. This service comes from Intuit, and their app and website are as secure and trustworthy as your own bank. Just enter all of your info onto their secure server, and Mint.com will analyze your spending for you. You can use it set up budgets and much more. Best of all, the app is free.
Check out these 3 useful apps for staying organized. They are an easy, inexpensive way to keep your virtual office or small business organized and on task.
It doesn’t matter how good your product is or how hard you work if you don’t have good customer service. This is particularly true when you are running a small business, like many of Zaplee’s cloud call center customers. No matter how many new customers you bring in, you won’t get repeat customers without great customer service. So here are 5 tips for good customer service to keep your small business on its A game.
Step #1: Always, always, always answer your phone.
If a customer calls and gets nothing but an endless ring, they will hang up and call someone else. No one wants to wait around and keep trying their call again; they’ll just move on to the next business. Of course, if you are running a small business, you may be running a one-man show, and you can’t always be there to answer the phone. Zaplee’s cloud call service makes sure that the phone always gets answered, even when you can’t be there to pick it up yourself.
Step #2: Be a good listener.
Too many businesses have a standard script in place, and they recite the same lines, no matter what the customer has to say. So pay attention to your customers and respond appropriately and personally to their concerns.
Step #3: Go above and beyond the call of duty.
Be helpful to everyone, even if there is no immediate profit in sight for you. If a customer contacts you and you don’t have what they are looking for, tell them who can help them. People remember these acts of kindness, and they will come back to you when they do need your services later on. It always pays off to be kind in the long run.
Step #4: Address complaints.
You can’t always please everyone, but you can certainly try. Listen attentively to the customer’s concerns, be sympathetic, and do whatever you can to correct the situation. This can make all the difference in whether that customer becomes a repeat customer or moves on to another business the next time around.
Step #5: Give your customers more than they are expecting.
Any time you can throw in something extra, whether it’s in the form of additional product or superior service, you are giving your customers something they aren’t getting anywhere else. Going that extra mile will bring customers back to you in the future.
Many of you out there who take advantage of Zaplee’s cloud call services work from home in a virtual office. This means that you know as well as anybody how difficult it can be to stay on task. There are the constant interruptions of home life butting in on your work day.
The best way to combat this issue is to organize your home office space so that you have the look and feel of a real office, separate from the rest of your home. Try these tips for success:
1. If at all possible, it’s best to have a separate room that you can dedicate solely to your home office.
This room should have a door with a lock so that the rest of your family knows that when you are in the office, you are at work and they cannot interrupt you while you are working.
2. If a separate room isn’t available, you can create an office nook in any room. A desk or counter top area is the perfect starting point.
Add a few shelves above for storage. A small filing cabinet can double as a printer stand. If space is very limited, use a small basket or storage bin to hold your work supplies. You can slide it right under your desk when it’s not in use, and it won’t take up any work space.
3. An armoire is another great choice for a workspace.
It keeps all of your work contained, and when you’re done working for the day, you can close the doors and the work day disappears. Lining the inside of the armoire doors with cork board is a great way to keep important notes and reminders visible.
4. If you don’t have room for a big piece of furniture like a desk or armoire, try mounting tracking to the walls of your work space.
You can hang shelves from the top section of the tracking and hang a sturdy work surface on the lower section of the tracking. This is an easy, organized, inexpensive way to give you the workspace that you need.
5. A folding screen is a great way to separate your workspace from the rest of your room and give you a little bit of privacy.
This one piece will prevent you from getting distracted by what’s going on in the rest of the house and help you hide from prying eyes when you’re trying to work.
How do you organize your home office space? Share your strategies in the comments below!
One of the challenges of telecommuting is being stuck sitting at a desk, in front of a computer screen all day long. Experts recommend that you get up and take a break at least once an hour because too much time parked in front of your computer can lead to neck, back, and shoulder pain.
So let Zaplee’s internet-based phone services pick up your calls for a few minutes while you get up and stretch. Try these office yoga tips to stay comfortable through the daily grind:
1. The first and most important thing to do is to make sure that all of your furniture and equipment is placed at the proper height and location. Your feet should be resting comfortably on the floor when you sit at your desk, and your computer monitor should be positioned so that you aren’t straining your neck to see it. Spend a little time making adjustments so that everything you need is placed comfortably.
2. Now, stop and try these office yoga tips at least once an hour. Start with arm raises. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart.
Take a deep breath in and raise your arms above your head, lifting all the way through your body. Exhale and sweep your arms back down to your sides. Repeat this action several times.
3. Next, try tadasana, also known as the mountain pose. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart.
Inhale and roll your shoulders up and back, keeping your head back. Exhale and repeat this motion several times. This easy exercise is great for maintaining good posture.
4. The standing crescent will open up your chest and rib cage. Begin by standing with your feet spread evenly with your hips.
Tighten your leg and abdominal muscles. Inhale and stretch your right arm up and over your head, reaching toward your left side. You should feel the stretch all the way from your abs through your rib cage. Switch sides and repeat, stretching your left arm toward your right side.
5. Neck tension is a very common problem for anyone who spends much time at a computer.
Eagle arms will relieve that tension and keep you comfortable at your desk. Start by standing with your feet hip width apart. Raise your arms out to your sides with your palms up. Cross your arms in front of you, like you’re giving yourself a hug. Release, then cross your arms in front of you with the backs of your hands against each other.
Follow these easy steps, and you’ll find that you feel much more relaxed and comfortable at the end of your work day.
As you probably know by now, users of Zaplee‘s internet-based business phone systems often work from home in virtual offices. Our series on Tips for Working from Home has been a hit, with great feedback from Part 1 and Part 2. Here’s the third installment of our series – hope you find it helpful!
1. Set appointments with yourself.
We know, it sounds lame, but it works! Fill your calendar with appointments with yourself to keep you on task and on track. Block off times to work on various aspects of your business, whether it’s accounting, email, social media, reading trade publications. You’ll find that you stick to your tasks must better when you’re accountable to a digital calendar!
2. Secure your data and files
Working from home has its advantages, but a big IT set-up and firewalls usually aren’t some of them. Your data and files are much more susceptible to security breaches when you’re working from home, and don’t have a sound security infrastructure in place, like you would at an office. Research and invest in some of these tools for small businesses, and remember to back up your work! Most places of businesses have cloud storage where you can back up your important files, and it’s important to replicate that activity at home as well.
3. Stay Connected
It’s easy to disconnect yourself from the outside world when working from home. Avoid that. Disconnecting yourself stifles creativity and keeps you from constantly generating new ideas and ways to do things. Keep your work and your mind fresh.
4. Pair up with an accountability partner
Sometimes the good ol’ buddy system is the best way to be. Find someone else who also works from home, or one of your coworkers, and communicate your goals to them. Then, schedule weekly meet-ups with that person for status updates to make sure you’re achieving targets, and that the excuses you make to yourself are actually valid.
5. Dedicate certain days to certain tasks.
This is similar to setting appointments with yourself, but it might behoove you, depending on your job, to dedicate certain days to specific tasks. This is especially effective if you have tasks that require focus for long periods of time, like design, or writing. Try it out; if it doesn’t work for you, you can always go back to the way you used to work.
Do you have tips that have always worked for you? Share them in the comments below!
We know that many of our Zaplee customers telecommute, or work from virtual offices – chances are, if you are on a small business budget and have employees answering your phones from anywhere in the world with a cloud-based PBX, you might not want to spend on the overhead needed to maintain office space (not yet, at least!).
Today, we’re launching our new Tips for Working From Home series. Whether you’ve been doing it for years, or are just getting started, these tips should at least give you a quick reminder on ways to optimize your productivity. We know you’re busy (and want to reduce your web clutter <– this is a tip from our next post), so we’ll keep it short and simple each time! This first post is geared more towards beginners, but there are a few helpful reminders for pros in here too!
1. Understand your employers expectations (even if that’s you!), and make sure you are meeting them
There are two schools of thought on the telecommuter. There’s the vision of telecommuters from the non-telecommuter’s viewpoint: one of a person in pajamas, watching TV and doing chores all day. No boss breathing down your neck = no problem. Then there’s the reality: more often than not, the telecommuter feels the need to overcompensate and likely puts in more hours then he otherwise would, and remains extra-accessible, just to make sure his coworkers know he’s not goofing off. It’s important to strike a happy medium. Whether you’re self-employed, or working for someone else, remember to set expectations. What hours will you be working? How often and through what channels will you be accessible? What will your reporting mechanisms be? Determine all of these things, communicate them, and be sure to adjust as needed. As with any job, work to be as accountable as possible, and strive to exceed expectations, but remember that just because you work from home, if you happen to be home at 10 PM, that doesn’t mean you need to be working at that hour.
2. Track your work and optimize your behavior weekly
Write down what you accomplish each day (or each hour), or even get so detailed as to write down everything you did at half hour intervals. Compare how much time you spend doing actual work, and how much time you are taking breaks. Remember, ALL people in offices take breaks, and people rarely work 8 straight hours, so cut yourself from slack, but do make sure you are accomplishing your goals daily. Then, figure out strategies to make yourself more focused and productive. Is it to set appointments with yourself to make sure you are remaining on task? Do it. There’s nothing wrong with sending yourself calendar invites. 
3. Set up a comfortable space.
A lot of people will argue that telecommuters need a full on desk station, be loaded with office supplies, and require a neat environment. You know what? Some people DON’T work better that way. Figure out how you need to work and do it. Are you the type that requires a desk and a closed door? Most office cubicles don’t provide that, but if that’s how you work best, create that environment at home. Do you not really care, and find background noise stimulating? Do that.
4. Leave.
That’s right: Mix up your surroundings to keep you from getting stuck. Go work from a local coffee shop, another telecommuting friend’s home, or switch up the rooms where you live. Working from home means you don’t interact with as many people, and often creativity can be stifled as a result. Change up your surroundings to encourage you to think differently, and keep your mind sharp. Boredom leads to poor productivity, and moving around will keep you from getting bored.
5. Set Regular Hours.
I know that #1 and #3 suggest doing what works best for you, but the regular hours thing is one that almost anyone who works from home can attest to. First of all, your coworkers are probably working set, regular hours, so it will be easier to coordinate with them. Also, there’s something psychological about putting in your work hours and trying to maximize productivity then. It’s easy to say, “well, I’ll take a long break now, but I work late, so I’ll take care of it then,” but constant interruptions of your work flow means that every time you start working again, you waste time “getting back into the groove.” Also, it’s good to have set hours away from work. Studies have shown that overworking yourself or staying too connect to work all the time leads to burn outs and poor work performance. It’s better for everyone for you to do your best for 7 hours a day, than to do a mediocre job 15 hours a day.
Got more tips? We’d love to include them in our next post! Let us know in the comments below!
“SIP” is used during the Zaplee registration process, and to help you make an informed choice on how to set up your Cloud-based PBX system, we thought we’d give you a brief overview of what SIP is.
SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol. It’s a protocol that was created to set up multimedia sessions (video and voice calls) between multiple parties over the internet (basically a transportation system set up to help two different pieces of equipment transport information). Not only does it set up voice calls, but also video chats and meetings, and instant messaging. Developers and web managers love it because it’s a simple, text-based protocol, but also very powerful.
You can get an SIP softphone (which is a piece of software that makes your computer, tablet, or smart phone act like a phone), and use it with an application like Zaplee to make and receive calls. Yes, technically, you could just use your cell phone to make and receive calls, but this way, you won’t be using up cell minutes or dealing with other extraneous charges.
You can also get SIP hardware devices that look and act like PSTN (public switched telephone network) or desk phones, but actually use the SIP technology. Each device, whether it’s a softphone or hardware, needs to have an SIP address to work, which you can purchase from a 3rd party vendor. If you don’t have an SIP address, however, don’t worry! Zaplee takes care of it for you.
SIP trunking is the process of using an SIP address, the internet and another application (like Zaplee) to make and receive calls. The best part about it is that it’s much cheaper than a standard PSTN phone, or the charges associated with using a cellular network.
Hope that explains this not-so-complicated-but-sounds-complicated subject.
Have questions? Please let us know in the comments below!
