Posted August 21st, 2009

3 The Wrong Way: How the Wrong Administrative Support Can Ruin Your Business

We have been fed the same ole’ blueprint for supporting our businesses for decades. But, no two businesses are alike and yet millions of small businesses are clones when it comes to their hiring practices. When you consider the jobless rate and businesses struggling to keep their doors open, one must consider breaking from the traditional mold of support and finding support that fits and isn’t forced!

Adopting support practices that put you in control instead of in the hole is key. When considering hiring support for your business there are many options. You can hire an employee, temporary worker, secretarial firm etc.  However, I will save that for another post. For now, I just want to highlight some of the pitfalls of “support for the sake of support”. Here are a few ways thoughtless hiring can leave your business bruised:

1. Damage to Customer Loyalty and Retention: If you have ever had the unfortunate experience of rude or disinterested customer service, I needn’t go further in trying to paint the picture of what can happen to your business if you have a “grumpy ole employee” interacting with your customers.

The Grumpy ole Employee Syndrome happens for a number of reasons:
a. You hired someone whose only interest is a paycheck and not your businesses success.
b. You failed to clearly show your team member how their duties tie into the bottom line.
c. You cant let go of things so your team member is left feeling unchallenged and bitter in a dead end job.

Your administrative assistant is on the front lines of your business so if he or she is not on board and excited about where the business is going, it can be detrimental to your ability to retain and attract clients/customers.

2. The All Expenses and No Profit Monster

Everything costs in business. But, you could pay dearly if you hire the wrong support professional for yours. Even if you have a stellar support professional at the helm, you are paying for wasted employee time any way you cut it!

Wasted Time At Work Costing Companies Billions: “American workers are wasting more than twice the time Human Resource managers expect.” ~Salary.com survey results

So, on top of taxes, benefits, vacation, and additional overhead associated with your employee(s). You are wasting money on watercooler chats, bathroom breaks and other non-productive activities. If you only had to pay employees for the time they were actively working, that would be a break right?

This is money that you could put towards marketing or website development, automation, etc. Think about it!

3. Entrepreneurial Burn Out
Your business needs you; your energy and vision are essential. So what good is having an administrative assistant if you are still running around, like a chicken with its head cut off, doing things you hate or aren’t good at?

This, to me, is the scariest pitfall of them all! There is no point in having an assistant if you can’t trust them with the “non-core” essentials of your business. Your assistant should be able to handle things like cold calls, customer service emails, blog posting and internet marketing activities (just to nam a few).

It is important for your to be efficient and energized in your business. After all you are the engine and without you the business doesn’t go!

Posted August 14th, 2009

The Role of the Online Business Manager

It’s an employee, its a virtual assistant—No! Its an Online Business Manager.

By now, you may have encountered the term “Virtual Assistant” and may even be familiar with that entails. But,  have you heard of the term Online Business Manager (OBM) or even are aware of their existence? Probably not. But, I would bet a million bucks that this term will become mainstream fairly soon.

With all the trimmings of web 2.0, SEO, and web analytics (just to name a few), this concept of an online business manager makes sense, right?

So, what exactly is the role of an OBM?

An OBM’s role is to drive the bus, so to speak, while you focus on mapping out the direction of your company. An OBM’s main focus is to save you time and increase your bottom line! In a nutshell, virtually anything that has to do with your presence online, an OBM is there to manage the pieces to make it all come together.

Much like a “brick and mortar” business manager, an OBM helps to facilitate the owner’s vision by pulling together and managing the many different pieces, while also trying to ensure a greater ROI.

There are a countless number of ways an OBM can help you promote, manage and grow your business online, but here are a few examples just to wet your palette a bit:

1. Create, launch and manage a membership site
2. Institute automation tools and systems to streamline work flow
3. Create content for website, e-courses, e-zines and more
4. Optimize website to generate more leads
5. Shopping cart creation and management
6. Organize and produce teleseminars, webinars and live events

The list can literally go on and on! I will be delving deeper into the dynamics of leveraging the OBM’s power in your business. But, in the meantime, I highly recommend you grab a copy of “Becoming an Online Business Manager”. This is a book by Tina Forsynth who affectionately coined the term (along with her business partner Andrea Lee). They have given birth to this OBM Movement.

Whether you want to become an OBM yourself or want to learn more about how to work with one, this is the book for you. Check it out and tell me what you think.

In addition, if you want to find an OBM for your business there is currently only one place to do so… The International Association for Online Business Managers.

Until next time….Happy Wishing!