As an introvert myself, I know how difficult it is when the spotlight is right on you. The thought of talking spontaneously to total strangers brings sweaty beads of nervousness on the forehead, and interviews are just as much of a challenge, if not more of a challenge. The stakes of the situation are high and you’re asked to talk about yourself while marketing your skills and talents.

I understand that meeting new people and conversing costs you a lot of energy, but you cannot keep skipping those interviews just because you don’t like to open up. That said, given below are a few tips that should help you release all that tension and excel in your upcoming interview.

Prepare Your Introductory Talk

“Tell me something about yourself!”

For an introvert, we know how much this question weighs. Opening up in front of new people is not your cup of tea, but passing on just the necessary information about yourself would not be of much harm.

Prepare a small introductory speech beforehand to clear the last minute tension. Remember to incorporate all your strengths and achievements in your small yet powerful introduction.

Do Some Research

“What do you think you’ll have to do if selected?”

This question can be quite challenging for everyone. But for an introvert who does not know how to cover up the unknown with wordplay, it is even more frightening. You know the job role you’ve applied for, but it is important that you know what exactly you’ll have to do or what the company does for that matter.

Do a little homework about the organization. Know the core responsibilities of your post and amaze the interviewer with your quick replies.

Engage In Small Talks

It’s hard keeping up a conversation with a stranger. Remember though that you need this job and you need to create a connection with the interviewer. It is always better for an introvert to engage in small talks with the interviewer to create a good impression and make them like you instantly.

Asking a few general questions at the end to initiate small talks could also be of great help for you.

See Also: Interview Tips: What Not To Say During Your Next Job Interview

Focus, Focus, Focus…

“You seem lost. Are you okay?”

It is in the personality of an introvert to lose focus on unrelated things happening around them. Whether it’s the tick-tock of the wall clock or the magazine that is placed on the table, don’t let your mind wander. Pay attention to what the interviewer is saying or asking. Focus on his words and don’t let your wayward thoughts get in the way.

Remember that your interview is the most important thing right now. Keep your mind focused on this and you will definitely excel in your interview.

See Also: 5 Techniques for Increasing your Focus in 5 Minutes 

Keep Those Negative Thoughts At Bay

Don’t take your negative thoughts along with you to the interview room. This will only increase the tension within your mind and make you look less confident. Another way to release the pent-up tension is to not let your introvert nature hinder your interview performance. Stop overthinking about what could go wrong, instead focus on your positives.

Your Introversion Is Your Strength

Stop overthinking about what could go wrong and instead, focus on your positives. So what if you are an introvert? Before going to the interview, list down your strengths and have a clear understanding of how these traits can be useful for the company.

For example, introverts can be relied on for deep listening and careful thought. They’re also easier to manage as they are often autonomous and self-managing. After so much excess from extroverted personalities in the workplace, being with an introverted colleague can be a breath of fresh air.

An organization is made up of different people with different personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and beliefs. As an introvert, you have a special place in the workplace. Keep this in mind and be confident of yourself during your job interview.

Good luck!

 

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Used vehicle sales were up another 3.2 percent during the third quarter of the year, and it’s easy to understand why. The average transaction price for a new vehicle is on the rise, with that figure now surpassing $34,600.

The choice seems pretty obvious if you’re shopping for a car and you’re on a budget: buy used. The thing is, if you’re not careful, buying a pre-owned vehicle can be more trouble than it’s worth—and more expensive than you thought.

Here are 5 steps you can take to help make sure you don’t get taken in when buying a used car.

Do your research

There are literally hundreds of different car and truck models on the market which makes narrowing the field an important first step. You’ll want to think long and hard about the kind of vehicle that best meets your needs—whether it’s a small hatchback or a large pickup—and then go online to see what the experts have to say about the leaders in that segment. And by “experts,” that includes real-world owners, too. A particularly helpful source is U.S. News & World Report. That site essentially crowd-sources its car reviews by basing them on consensus opinions from other auto-related resources.

See Also: What Science Says About The Car You Drive 

Look into the vehicle’s history

Beyond doing your homework to pick a certain type of car, it’s just as vital to research the exact vehicle you’re thinking of buying. This is where a vehicle history report comes in handy. It can tell you information like accident history, the number of previous owners, open recalls and even give details about documented maintenance. Many used vehicles at major selling sites already supply these reports. But if they don’t, definitely ask for one.

Have a mechanic inspect it

Research and reports are invaluable, but they’re not infallible. There’s no replacement for having a knowledgeable, independent mechanic thoroughly inspect a possible purchase. (To be clear, that’s even the case if you’re considering a used car from a dealership, where a tech already has checked out the vehicle.) If you don’t have a mechanic you can trust, you can contact a company like Alliance Inspection Management, which will even send one of its pros out to your location. A comprehensive inspection starts at $129. That’s certainly better than having to pay for extensive repairs further on down the line.

If you don’t have a mechanic you can trust, you can contact a company like Alliance Inspection Management, which will even send one of its pros out to your location. A comprehensive inspection starts at $129. That’s certainly better than having to pay for extensive repairs further on down the line.

See Also: How to Find a Good Mechanic in the Age of Social Media

Inspect it—and drive it—yourself

Now that you’ve gotten your mechanic to sign off on the car, it’s time for the real judge—you. Feel it out and be sure that you’re going to like driving the car for a while. Are the seats comfortable enough? Is there enough headroom and legroom? Are controls within easy reach? What about the driving experience? If the ride’s too rough or the car feels too slow on a test drive, imagine years and years, and miles and miles, of the same issues.

Watch the bottom line

Although used vehicles can be a lot less expensive than new ones, they’re still a significant investment. The average transaction price for a pre-owned compact car was $11,929 at the end of September. It’s a lot of cash to come up with, and if you finance, note that the average loan payment on a used vehicle during September was $378 per month.

Moreover, there are ongoing costs to take into account, like gas, insurance, and routine maintenance, along with the likelihood of at least some repairs. A used vehicle should fit into your budget before you worry about fitting one into your garage.

For more tips, check out this CARFAX infographic about car value.

Source

 

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After sending out inspiring Christmas quotes, follow up with our new collection of motivational Happy New Year quotes. Post them on your social media and inspire all your friends and followers too!

And if one quote or saying resonates with you, own it! Start the year with the right mindset. Print out your favorite saying of the bunch or make it into your wallpaper. Put it up where you’re guaranteed to always be looking at it so you’ll never forget.

It’s a new year, friends! It’s another 364 days of exciting opportunities and chances! Happy New Year 2017!

The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals. – Melody Beattie

And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been. – Rainer Maria Rilke

There are greater things to be achieved in every New Year, and each and everyone must prepare themselves to be great, not by words of the mouth, but by a lot of sacrifices. – Michael Bassey Johnson

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – C.S. Lewis

Approach the New Year with resolve to find the opportunities hidden in each new day. – Michael Josephson

This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change. – Taylor Swift

Like what you see? See more New Year Quotes.

New is the year, new are the hopes, new is the resolution, new are the spirits, and new are my warm wishes just for you. Have a promising and fulfilling New Year!

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. – Edith Lovejoy Pierce

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. – Bill Vaughan

Happy New Year to you! Wish this year brings to the warmth of love and illuminates your path of life towards a positive direction.

 

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. – Chinese Proverb

A new year brings not only happiness, it makes us happy with a hope to fulfill our dreamz or a new beginning of our life. So, a new year is very special to everyone. – Santonu Kumar Dhar

Visit SayingImages.com for more Inspiring New Year greetings, messages and images.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

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Have you ever not eaten a new food because you were afraid that it might taste bad?

Have you ever not gone out with a new group of people even if you wanted to?

Have you ever not delivered a presentation even though you knew it would bring amazing benefits to you?

Fear stops us from experiencing and living life to the fullest. We feel fear when we feel a negative outcome may arise out of a situation. As a result, we often try and avoid the situation completely to prevent the potential harm.

This is completely normal. In fact, fear is a core human mechanism which gave us the fight-or-flight instinct which helped us survive as a race.

However, in modern times, fear is often restricting as it attempts to protect us from emotional danger. This is the fear that our emotional state or feelings may be negatively impacted by a situation. Unfortunately, this creates huge mental barriers to go out and do what you truly desire like meeting new people, making new friends, moving city or going out and speaking to an audience.

Recently, I have been taking steps to really understand and embrace fear. These are the three steps that aided me significantly:

Embrace the fear

Trying to lock the fear away will not work.

Fear is a core part of our emotional state. It is what makes us who we are. Trying to hide part of yourself from yourself is only going to lead to more internal complexities occurring.

Just like with your insecurities, you have to embrace them; opening up and accepting yourself for who you are is key to improving yourself and overcoming your fears.

See Also: 3 Simple Ways To Overcome Your Deepest Insecurities (And Become Happier In the Process)

Tackle the fear bit by bit

I have found that being overwhelmed often does more harm than good.

When you get chucked in the deep end, you often develop a negative connotation with the feeling. As a result, it may damage your progress to embracing and overcoming your fears.

Instead, I suggest you start small.

If you are scared of public speaking, do not just got out and present to 1000 people. Start by speaking to yourself in the mirror.

After that, express yourself more openly to friends and family. Let them judge and criticize you. Embrace the feeling and realize that the feeling is manageable.

You can then use this as a stepping stone to slowly get a little bit out of your comfort zone each time. Slow, steady and consistent progression is better than trying to do too much too fast and pushing yourself further away from your goal as a result.

See Also: Overcome Your Fear of Making a Presentation

Appreciate the positives

Fear develops when you fear the negative events of a situation occurring. On the other hand, excitement is when you are looking forward to the positive outcomes from a situation.

We actually elicit a very similar physical response when we feel fear or excitement. It is the net positive or negative interpretation of the outcomes that may occur which ultimately determine if we are going to be fearful or excited.

In order to make this transition from fear to excitement, try and visualize all the good things that could happen from facing the fear such as meeting amazing people, going to incredible places, or having mesmerizing experiences. Do you really want the fear of your emotional state being affected a little stop you from benefiting from all these positives?

Using the break-it-down method from step 2 will also help you appreciate these positives. When you tackle very small components of the fear, the potential negative impact will be minimized whilst still experiencing the positives. Slowly, you will develop a positive connection to the experience and will look forward to experiencing it more. You will start to value the potential benefits of the situation over the negatives, and as a result, the fear will turn into more of an exciting opportunity.

These 3 steps really helped me make significant advances in helping myself overcome my fear. If you implement these I am sure it will help you too.

 

 

 

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The biggest obstacle to our success as business owners is often not a lack of knowledge or resources, but rather our ability to manage time. As a freelancer, I’ve had the opportunity to experiment with several time management strategies over the past few years. Here are four of them that I’ve found especially useful for maximizing productivity.

Here are four of them that I’ve found especially useful for maximizing productivity.

Expand your Einstein window

Your Einstein window is the time of the day when you’re the most mentally alert and productive. If you’re not sure when that is for you, ask yourself if you’re a morning person or a night owl – this should give you a pretty good hint.

You can get more productive hours out of your day by designing your sleep schedule around this critical window.

I’m a morning person – my brain goes down with the sun. To make the most of those early morning power hours, I trained myself to go to bed two hours earlier during the week. This has allowed me to extend my Einstein window by two hours, which makes a huge difference to my overall productivity.

By training my body to follow a regular sleep schedule I’m able to fall asleep faster than I did before, and I wake up feeling more alert and energetic.

When you’re designing your own sleep schedule, make sure to allow for the time it takes you to fall asleep or you’ll be setting yourself up for burnout. The full recommended eight hours of sleep plus an extra 30 minutes to an hour may seem like a lot, but it’ll keep you at your best in the long term.

Schedule habits instead of tasks

As freelancers and business owners, our workdays are made up of many different activities: marketing, managing inventory, bookkeeping, feeding the content machine, managing contractors, working with clients, and so on.

While a bit of variety is refreshing, many of us have thrown the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to the entrepreneurial lifestyle. We associate routine with those poor sods working a 9-to-5, label it restrictive, and carry on in our fragmented schedules – which, let’s face it, are often high on task volume and low on results.

A great way to avoid this trap is to use a habit-tracking app to manage the day’s activities (I’m currently using Strides). Whereas before I kept a list of writing tasks that I wanted to complete in a day, I’ve now consolidated them into one daily habit: “Write 2 Hours.”

The beauty of thinking in terms of habits rather than tasks is that you’ll simplify your to-do list and achieve momentum – that steep curve in productivity that happens when you consistently apply yourself to a routine.

As an added benefit, you’ll waste a lot less time and energy making decisions, since the bulk of each day is already planned out for you.

A smart routine is liberating, not restricting. And once something becomes a true habit, it’s easier to do it than it is not to do it, and that’s when you start to see real follow-through.

Pull the kill switch on procrastination.

Procrastination is a major hazard for the self-employed. In reality, the act of making that unpleasant phone call you’ve been avoiding will only take up five minutes of your day. Left unresolved, it takes up too much mental real estate and prohibits you from moving ahead with confidence.

If you want to experience an immediate boost in productivity and motivation, make a list of the tasks you’ve been actively avoiding and commit to handling them before you do anything else.

If it’s a task that you absolutely hate, go ahead and outsource it. In many cases, the cost of hiring someone is minor compared to the cost of inaction.

See Also: 5 Reasons to Outsource Your Crazy Life 

Don’t spread yourself too thin.

The fewer goals you commit to at a time, the more time and energy you’ll be able to put into those goals, and the better results you’ll ultimately get.

For ambitious people, this is easier said than done. It means some of your goals will have to fall by the wayside – for now, at least. Personally, I’ve tried all kinds of clever ways to work multiple large-scale projects into my schedule. You’ve probably done the same. In the end, you probably didn’t get the results you’d hoped for.

In my own experience, the sweet spot is two, maybe three, major goals at a time. If you focus your efforts in this way, you’ll be able to devote a good chunk of time daily or weekly to each goal, retain the passion you initially felt for it, and build up the momentum that’s so important to successful execution.

See Also: 10 Productivity Musts for Freelancers 

 

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The cloud has become more and more prominent in the technology world over the last few years with a lot of software moving to a SaaS (software as a service) format and cloud data storage continually growing and become more of the norm. Seemingly everyone is using the cloud in one way or another but are they getting the full potential out of it?

Everyone can benefit from the cloud in some way but small and medium business owners, in particular, can really harness the power of the cloud to grow their SME. Here are a few benefits of using the cloud and how they can help your business.

Data Backup & Storage

Utilizing the cloud means that you are not restricted by your physical location as it is all online. You are not restricted by the need for hardware and equipment.

This freedom created by the cloud can save a business a lot of money. There isn’t the expense of building further IT infrastructure and the cost of constantly maintaining and upgrading it when technology eventually evolves.

Without all of this equipment, you also don’t need a huge space to house it all. This allows a business to cut back on building costs because there isn’t a need for an unnecessarily large office that is just too big for their team to occupy.

The cloud is also a very scalable technology. It’s easy to increase your storage space in the cloud at any time and similarly decrease it if you needed to.  Compared to physical storage, it’s a breath of fresh air. Your company is spared from buying really expensive new servers for a peak in your business when you might not need to use them in the future.

This all translates to a lot of savings which be instead spent in further developing the company to help with the overall growth of the business.

A Boost in Productivity

Field and remote workers have a lot more flexibility with the cloud as it allows you to work from anywhere on any device as long as it is connected to the internet. It presents a lot more opportunities to get work done.

This drastically reduces the amount of time that can be spent working on documents, presentations, and other paperwork. On the move and with access to the cloud, work can be done whenever there is time. According to an infographic by Sage, there is a potential 400% increase in productivity in companies that have invested in cloud technologies plus a potential one and a half hours saved per day if remote workers did work from a mobile device.

See Also: 4 Free Business Productivity Apps To Help You Grow Your Small Business

Improving Collaboration

You no longer have to wait for a time where everyone can fit in a face to face meeting. The cloud presents a lot of collaboration tools. The abundance of web-based conferencing applications means that any number of people can have a meeting at any time and come together from multiple locations.

Services like GoToMeeting and even Skype can assist you in putting you in touch with collaborators, suppliers and customers who are further away more easily. As well as increasing collaborating opportunities, carrying out meetings like this can also save a business a lot of time and money. There is no need for expensive travel and accommodation and less time is wasted on planes, trains or in the car. Again all of this spared expense can be invested in business development and the saved time can be spent doing something a lot more productive.

See Also: 5 Essential Tools And Apps To Build Your Early Startup

 

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Do you need inspiring Christmas quotes and cards to send out to your loved ones this holiday season?

Friends, throughout the year, our minds are filled with thoughts of improving our businesses,  boosting our productivity and focus, and ultimately creating success. It does get wearying and holidays are the perfect time to pause awhile, take stock, and turn our attention outward to all our blessings and all the people surrounding us.

Send out these inspiring Christmas messages to the loved ones in your life. It’s not about expensive gifts, rather, it’s the simple thought of being remembered that often counts.

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas!

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. – Roy L. Smith

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.

Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. – Janice Maeditere

The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than in things. – Thomas S. Monson

Christmas is the season of joy, of holiday greetings exchanged, of gift-giving, and of families united. – Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas is a tonic for our souls. It moves us to think of others rather than of ourselves. It directs our thoughts to giving. – B. C. Forbes

The only blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart. – Helen Keller

Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling. – Edna Ferber

The BEST of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a HAPPY FAMILY all wrapped up in each other. 

God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If he gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it. – Pope Francis

Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas. – Dale Evans

Please visit SayingImages.com for more Christmas Quotes, Messages and Greetings.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

 

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To-do list and task manager apps can be great as a second brain. They act as a repository for all of the things that we need to do but struggle to remember. These days they enable you to bring all of the things to be done everywhere you go and on whatever platform you are using, whether that be a mobile phone, tablet or PC.

However, when you dump all of your tasks, appointments, and random thoughts into a to-do list app, the resultant wall of text can be hard to digest. Some app developers recognized this and responded with innovative ways for people to handle daily tasks.

Let’s review some of the options available.

Droptask

Using Droptask is like being given free rein with jelly beans in a candy shop. Droptask has a fun and vibrant interface that is a delight to use.

Tasks are represented as circles with a collection of circles forming a project. Each circle can have additional information such as urgency or importance. The circle size can also be adjusted to indicate how much effort is needed for the task.

Droptask has native apps for Windows, IOS, and Android but it is really on the PC’s bigger screen that the unique user interface excels. Droptask can also be used across a team so tasks can be assigned to team members, comments entered for each task and files attached. The latest version of Droptask also brings a new Kanban style view. This shows all tasks a.k.a. circles arranged in vertical columns.

The Business version is at $8.25 per user per month as of writing. This removes the one-project restriction of the free version and enables a host of other features including team calendars, Google and Evernote integration and the new Kanban style workflow.

Priority Matrix

Priority Matrix is based on the Eisenhower matrix which uses four quadrants to categorize tasks by urgency and importance. From a quick glance at the relevant quadrant, you can immediately see which tasks are to be focused on. If urgency and importance are not the key categories in your tasks, fear not for they can be configured to your particular needs such as task category or status. Any of the four quadrants can be filtered and you can then see those tasks in the quadrant view, as shown below or alternatively as a list or Gantt chart.

Not only does Priority Matrix provide a framework for personal task organization, it can also be used for distributed teams. This app supports chat for team members, running records of all changes made, and file uploads.

Priority Matrix supports many of the common platforms with native apps available for Windows, Mac, Android and IOS. The Pro version comes at $12 per month and essentially brings team functionality to the table including project templates, chat, and team delegation.

See Also: 20 Best Productivity Apps and Programs for 2017

Trello

Trello is a visually appealing app that is based on the Kanban methodology. Traditionally, Kanban has been implemented on a physical notice board divided into different sections such as Pending, In Progress and Done. Tasks are then written on post-it notes and stuck to the board in the relevant section. As the task is progressed, it can be physically moved along the notice board sections from Pending to Done.

The virtual realization of Kanban works really well, especially with Trello, the leading app of this ilk. As with Droptask and Priority matrix, Trello can be used not only for personal usage but also for distributed teams or families. You can also add pictures, comments, due dates and even checklists to each task.

Trello offers both free and business class options, with the latter costing $9.99 per user per month. The business features include the ability to organize the Trello boards within collections and unlock integration with other online services such as Dropbox, Evernote, and Slack.

To Round

This is the only app of the bunch to meticulously follow Newtonian laws of motion. In To Round, bubbles represent tasks and these bubbles can be moved, bounced off one another and even respond to gravity! As you pan and tilt your phone, the bubbles topple around the screen accordingly.

Apart from this party trick, the other nice thing about To Round is that it is the virtual manifestation of Stephen Covey’s big rocks philosophy. In this philosophy, big rocks represent important tasks. Unfortunately, it is the pebbles and sand that often fill our time. To Round reflects this philosophy by enabling the size of the task bubbles to be adjusted between teeny weeny little bubbles and bubbles of biblical proportions.

So, from a glance you can immediately fixate upon the huge bubbles, representing the important tasks to be done. To Round lacks many of the features of the other apps such as team task sharing and multi-platform support but if you only seek an affable app to handle simple task lists, To Round is certainly worth a look. It is available and free for both Android and IOS devices.

See Also: 14 Great Apps for Getting Organized 

So, what’ll it be? Boards, bubbles, quadrants or circles? All have free versions so try them out now.

 

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Instead of asking where you will work, the more important thing to consider is how to make your space work for you. As your company evolves and grows, take a good look at your office space and check if it is still the optimal setup for your current circumstances.

Your working environment plays a pivotal role in your team’s productivity, creativity and innovation. Of course, budget plays a big role in the equation. As much as you may want to build the office of your dreams, startups with limited funds might not be able to turn that dream into reality immediately.

Fortunately, there are different kinds of workspaces now to cater to every budget and need.

Home office

Creating a working corner in your living room, bedroom, kitchen or garage may be appealing for several reasons: it saves money that you can use to grow your business, it saves time spent in commutes and traffic, and it saves the effort of having to start an office from scratch.

A home office offers privacy that may be a challenge in shared working spaces.

However, meeting with clients might be a challenge with this kind of setup. The lack of formal office space might hinder some customers from working with you, as your home location might not be too accessible, or they might associate the lack of formal office space to lack of credibility or professionalism.

If you have a team with you, your family or other people living with you might not welcome of playing host to ‘strangers’ every day.

See Also: 8 Ways To Set Up An Awesome Home Office 

Coworking space

Many startups find coworking space a very attractive option: friendly price, professional-looking workspace, convenient location (as most coworking spaces are located in business districts), and a good community of like-minded people.

As you work alongside other entrepreneurs, self-starters or startup companies, coworking spaces are known as excellent breeding grounds for new ideas and innovation. You can also build a strong network or even forge partnerships in this community.

But coworking might not be for everyone. If you require a bigger area for your equipment or inventory, the lack of space in this setup will be a serious problem for you.

Privacy is another challenge. It might be difficult to discuss new items and strategies with your team without the risk of compromising confidentiality.

See Also: 7 Surprising Benefits of Coworking Spaces 

Shared office

If you are not yet financially ready for a private office, consider a shared office space. You can rent just the right size of working area for your needs.

This option is definitely more affordable than a private leased office. If designed well, it can provide your company the privacy you need, while still offering the chance for you to meet other people (you fellow co-renters).

However, you have limited control on your surroundings, like how you want to color or decorate your office. You also do not get to decide who rents the other spaces, who might turn out to be a competitor or people who are plain bad neighbors.

Private leased office

It is every entrepreneur’s dream to eventually have his own private office space or building with the company’s name on the door and the whole place decorated just the way you like it. This exudes professionalism, credibility and stability to clients, employees, suppliers and all stakeholders.

Before you decide to lease your private office, make sure that you can really afford the costs and long-term commitment associated with it.

At which phase is your company now? Finding that office space that works for you requires research and thoughtful planning. It is a good idea to collect several options so you can properly weigh the pros and cons of each one. Conduct an online search and don’t be afraid to seek the help of experts. Some websites offer excellent choices to fit all kinds of budgets and needs.

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The success of any business depends in large part on its relationship with its customers. Even if you are offering the best products but overlook the importance of good customer service, then your business will not be able to achieve the desired results.

Ignoring the importance of good customer service is a grave mistake. The best way to achieve a high level of customer support is to ensure that your staff is well trained in dealing with your customers.

The customer service staff is the face of your business. The sales of the business can depend a lot on the customers’ interaction with your team. If the team fails to answer the needs of your customers, then they will most likely turn to other companies who are able to provide better services than you.

Here are some ways that will help in making sure that you provide appropriate customer services to your clients.

Improve Your Customer Team’s Skills

Hire the best people for your team. They should be capable of managing the needs of your customers. Make sure you are clear on the traits and abilities that you are looking for during the screening process.

Patience

The people you hire should have patience. Not all clients are easy to handle. It is possible for customers to be irritating sometimes. It is also possible that they are full of questions and unless their questions are answered, they will not be satisfied. The staff should have the patience and empathy to deal with all types of clients.

Adaptability

The staff has to deal with different customers every day so it is important that they have the ability to adapt. They should be able to stay calm and take care of any surprises that come your way. The clients should have the ability to sense the mood of the clients. They should be quick to learn and implement.

Effective Communication

Your customer support team should have no difficulty in communicating with your customers. Try to speak the language that is easily comprehensible to the clients. Avoid technical terms because not all the clients are experts.

Positive Attitude

While interacting with clients, it is vital that the staff maintains a positive attitude. Try patience and positivity while answering any questions to avoid having long and fruitless conversations.

You should have a good work ethic. Good management skills will help in handling any situation and staying focused on the goals. You can have an optimistic mind if you make sure you have enough knowledge to answer the queries of the clients.

See Also: How to Save Your Startup by Hiring the Right People 

Ways to Improve Customer Interactions

Once you assemble a team which has all the essential traits of a good customer service, you need to make sure that they are properly trained and have the ability and resources to improve even further.

Here are some of the things that can help in making sure that the service is thorough and effective.

Find Common Ground

People will find it easy to ask for help if they have a shared interest with the service provider. It can provide a point of understanding making it easy to solve the problem. It helps in building a trustworthy relationship with the clients.

Be Attentive

It is highly important that you pay attention to things that customers are saying. If you are not attentive, then customers will feel like they are not being paid attention to. If they feel ignored, they will seek out another service or even write bad reviews about your brand.

So, let your customers know that you are interested in not just listening to the problem but also solving it. Make sure that they feel heard.

Admit your Mistake

If you want to gain the trust of the clients, admit to your mistakes before your customers find you out. It is an excellent way of taking control of the situation. Customers will find it easier to trust you and your ability to solve any issue.

Always Follow-Up

Once you have solved the problem, you should make sure that you follow up. There are simple and easy ways of following up. You can simply send an email or use a feedback survey. It will let the clients know that you genuinely care about them. If you want to get more personal with the clients, then you should take advantage of social media where you can interact and respond to comments and queries.

Always be there for your Customers

You have to show that you are always there for your customers. Make sure you are able to meet all of the needs of your clients. You can use several online platforms to make sure that you are able to respond without any delay. You can also improve the customer experience by bringing clients together with the help of social media, conventions, webinars etc.

See Also: 5 Steps to Creating a More Productive Sales Team 

Excelling in customer support has a definite payoff.  The profit of your company will improve significantly if you pay adequate attention to offering the best service to your clients.

 

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