officefront What will happen in 2010............. We have arrived in the new year and the new decade. It hardly seems a moment since we were celebrating the arrival of the new millennium. With the century turning we expected all our old woes to disappear and the NEW world to start. Not much changed. People were at war, greed continued, hunger was as much there as before...if not more so. Now we have arrived in the new decade, what will change ? Well, we have President Obama, the man who may yet be the biggest loser in history, not because he is bad at what he does nor because he didn't try but because the world expected of one man the solution and repair of all that is bad. The poor chap has no chance, even if he does some good. The banks have been brought to heel, well, actually they have not. they have had a corporate version of a menstrual cycle. They will still continue to do exactly what they did before, only the starting level has been re-adjusted. Everything will be as before with a few knee-jerk adjustments which will only hurt the likes of the small business. Borrowing money is harder for the small business at a time when it is most needed. There are many businesses with a decent future that need a little help until things settle down. The banks, like all bullies, target these with punitive charges and demands because they are a soft touch. What is a soft touch, you may wonder. It is an owner run business, employing a small number of loyal and long term staff, both having put soul and energy into developing the business. The owner will not want to reduce staff through loyalty to them and to maintain service levels so that client retention is assured for the good times, which should eventually return. The banks don't like to look more than a couple of months ahead, the so-called relationship managers are not really bankers, they are bureaucrats with little or no power and even less understanding of what a small business entails. Anyone of more mature years will know that the branch manager was someone who was in that post for many years, having developed local knowledge, having met the clients and had developed an understanding of the problems experienced by the client. He/she also had discretionary lending powers for viable amounts. There is now an advertisement by one of the banks who have "invented" this concept and are now expecting to reintroduce to the high street into the other new innovation...the high street branch. Perhaps this "new" system will catch on and small businesses can continue to thrive and increase the wealth of our nation in many ways. We at officefront believe that 2010 is going to be a year of survival of the fittest. Outsourcing of services will be an essential part of this as costs can be reduced dramatically whilst service level and appearance of success can be heightened.
officefront Even during a recession, appearances do matter..........
We have entered a period of doom and depression and are hearing worse conditions are around the corner. This is depressing and demoralising, to say the least. In years gone by, when feeling down, we would be cheered by making ourselves look good. All species like to look good and therefore attractive. Animals prune themselves, good manes, bright feathers, mud baths.....and so on.Humans do pretty well the same, even if in a slightly different way; Females, young & old will probably use make up, a new hair style or a new frock. Then, a look in the mirror and suddenly the feel good factor cuts in. Males........ usually a new car does it, but on a more modest scale, polishing the old one may have to do.
So, what am I trying to say with this ? Simply, if we feel better about ourselves because we think we look better, we behave differently and people react to us positively which aids us to perform even better.
So, what I am really trying to say is that appearance matters.
During the current economic decline, looking good is becoming quite difficult. We are having to make savings, perhaps even down-size our companies. Make better use of our staff, focus on areas of revenue generation. Generally look at everything with a microscope. The business needs to be looked at and the question asked.........is this department or person worth the cost, especially in difficult times?
On the other hand, we don't want to be seen to be down-sizing, as this can be construed as the first sign of trouble, for small & large companies. Even when things are going well, no-one wants to risk doing businesses with someone who may be on the "way out", so in difficult times this becomes even more acute.
How can savings be made and appearances kept ? There are a number of ways of doing this, however I wish to cover just the front end communications for the moment. I am sure that there are many experts who can come up with ideas for different areas within particular companies, hopefully keeping them imaginative.
An area where managers of very small businesses, as well as larger ones, can make excellent, quick savings is in their telephone answering.
For the small business it is very important to porttray an image of size and professional establishment. Now that costs are so important, larger companies will be looking at new suppliers whom they may not have considered before. So an efficient receptionist answering the phone will give a better feel to the first point of contact. Normally this would have meant employing someone at a great cost. Not anymore, the Virtual Office or Switchboard has changed that.
For larger companies with dedicated switchboard operators or systems where each staff member acts as a receptionist for his/her colleague can benefit by having the telephone answering subcontracted to Telephone Answering services
These are switchboards with teams of 3 or 4 working in an office environment and not Call Centres.
Telephone Answering / Virtual Office services have been growing at a rapid rate as technology improves and an industry has grown into being during the boom years. The savings can be enormous with no loss of quality over employing an own switchboard or telephonist. The pressure on HR is removed and each staff member has their work output maximised and focused in the right direction. FDs love the bottom line saving.
The saving ? For a mid sized company, Between £20k and £30k (Salary, NI, HR & Recruitment cost, Holidays/Holiday cover, Sickness, Office space). The same job can be carried out at a fraction of the cost by a team of 3 receptionists whilst retaining the look of "business as usual".
Once again appearance matters.
Those who will answer the call looking like a professional business will be invited to the table, the others will fail before they even have a chance to show what they have to offer. Why ? Because they dont look good.
So appearance matters, on the way up........ whilst up there and...............even when having to downsize.
officefront joins forces with Jordans Ltd, one of the UK's oldest business services companies
To entrust corporate services such as company formation, corporate administration and corporate legal services to an external specialist, you need to know that they can deliver more effectively than you, not just instead of you.You’ll need peace of mind that they will deliver services that are 100% accurate, 100% of the time.
For over 140 years Jordans Corporate Services have been delivering just that.
Their friendly, flexible approach will help you to save time and reduce hassle. More importantly, they use up-to-the-minute information and knowledge to safeguard your reputation, leaving you free to make business decisions that affect your bottom line.
They call this approach Reliably Informed. Perhaps this is why 98% of their clients would recommend them.
With the combined services offered by officefront and Jordans our clients can now enjoy a single supplier from incorporation to operating their new company.
officefront becomes dealer for Telephone lines and CPS (Low Cost Calls)
We are pleased to announce that officefront has become a dealer for telephone lines and CPS (Carrier Pre-Select). CPS means cheap telephone calls.The advantage of utilising lines provided through officefront is, that whilst retaining BT’s infrastructure, the client enjoys cheaper line rentals and telephone calls.
The transfer process is simple, just complete one form and the rest is seamless.
officefront only uses premier carriers, each chosen for their particular rates to certain destinations.
Contact your officefront account manager for details and a price comparison check.
Business Startup Exhibition - Excel April 2008
London's Excel exhibition centre was the venue for the spring Business Startup exhibition with an expected attendance of about 30000 and we are sure that this was easily attained.The show had several excellent companies offering a full range of services to aid the potential start-ups to launch their businesses.
The officefront stand was very well located near the entrance and nearly 700 people stopped to talk about their needs and how we can assist them to portray the look of a company rather than a start-up or individual trader.
A number of these registrants were already established but perceived the advantage a service like ours can give them to enhance their image and efficiency. Nearly 200 registered with us and many more have indicated that they are interested as soon as they are ready to move forward.
We wish these new businesses every success and thank them for giving us an opportunity to be part of their future.
General Update
Over the last 12 months we saw a lot of activity among our clients with good growth, which we hope was enhanced by the services provided by us.We have made many changes to ensure that we are keeping services at an optimal level by introducing new hardware, software and more trained staff.
We hope that you will see the benefits of this investment into your and our futures.
It is our intention to continue to strive to offer the best service possible and expect that 2008 will be an excellent year.
If there are any additional services that you feel we could offer which would be beneficial to you, please let us know as we are always interested and happy to try to provide for our clients’ requirements.