How Leaders Use Voice Mail

f_21310495062_networking.jpgYour outgoing voice mail message tells a lot about you. In fact, it may be the first impression that you make with a new client. Here’s how to appear successful.

1) Present a Positive Image

Your outgoing voice mail message should be simple, positive, and professional. State your name and company followed by concise directions. You may want to leave a daily message because it shows that you check your messages and tells callers what to expect. For example, “Welcome to Steve Kaye’s voice mail at One Great Meeting. Today is Monday and I’m helping a client hold an effective meeting. Please leave a message and I’ll call you tomorrow.” This message lasts nine seconds.

Make sure that your outgoing message is unencumbered by music (turn off the radio), rustling papers (sit still), and background noise (close the door). These sounds make it make it difficult for callers to understand your outgoing voice mail message. Similarly, avoid gimmicks such as singing, reading poetry, or citing long lists of credentials. These appear unprofessional.

2) Practice Professional Courtesy

Some people use voice mail to screen calls. Although this may control interruptions, it becomes rude if you never respond to the messages. Those messages are very important to the people who left them. That’s why they called.

Set aside a time each day to return calls. If the messages were left by people whom you do not want to talk to, have an assistant return the calls. Or call back when the other person will be away from the phone and leave a message. The brief moment that you spend on a return message helps the caller continue business and frees you from receiving additional unwanted calls. For example it takes eight seconds to say, “Hi, Chris. This is Steve Kaye responding to your voice mail today. Please remove my name from your call list. I have no interest in cryogenic ant farms.”

3) Use a professional system.

Make sure that your voice mail system creates a good impression. Avoid systems with long strings of beep tones, mechanical voices, or poor sound quality. Regardless of the size of your business, you want your outgoing voice mail message to sound professional.

Blurbs…Think Pithy

f_01311083554_business-meeting-large.jpgSometimes a “blurb- can go a long way toward helping stir up interest in a newsletter or in a web site than an average length article. Generally, a blurb is defined as a pithy paragraph that gives out enough details to generate an, “I want to learn more- response from the reader. As a rule of thumb, most blurbs are one paragraph in length and contain no more than 100 words. Alternately, two or three smaller paragraphs can also be effective, depending on the room available.

A blurb can be particularly useful when you want to attract attention to a topic, without setting aside an entire web page for an article. A link at the end of the paragraph such as: More… can generate the needed click through to the rest of your article or directly to the product that you are selling.

Blurbs are particularly good devices when placed on the outside of a newsletter, especially on one that has been tri-folded and gets mailed out. One part of the two exposed folds of the newsletter contains the address, while the other exposed area is typically blank. Use that blank section to make your pitch in the form of a blurb that will compel the reader to open the newsletter up and continue reading it instead of pitching it in the trash.

Portable Air Conditioners Guide- How to select best Portable A/C

f_11310495064_social-networking.jpgPortable air conditioners are small, convenient and can be easily used in the spaces that are not best suited for permanent installation. Portable A/C lets you to move from one place to another. Generally these are more useful instead of room air conditioners because portable air conditioners can be easily shifted to your house as well as office.

Portable air conditioners usually come in two forms such as split and monoblock. It is an easy task to install portable air conditioners. You don’t have to destroy your costly windowsills for portable A/C. Portable air conditioners are used as spot coolers in home. You can save money by purchasing just one unit of portable air conditioner. Some portable air conditioners weigh only about 36 pounds and can be placed anywhere you want. These are very much convenient instead of window air conditioners. It consumes less energy because it is used to cool one room instead of whole house.

Due to its small size it can be easily placed in a corner. Portable air conditioners are used to cool as well as dehumidify the air. Its workings are just like window air conditioners. Several manufactures offer electronic controls in most models that helps you to set room temperature, blower speed, start and stop timer, and operation modes such as cool, dehumidify, heat. Its hand-held remote control helps you to change the settings according to your needs. Portable air conditioners also have a built-in air cleaner with charcoal filter and louvers that are used to direct the flow of the air.

Portable air conditioner is the better option for industries or organizations because it can be easily shifted from one work area to another. Even it can be used outside commercial faculty. People are currently purchasing more and more portable A/C just because of developing cooling technology and its small size.

Latest models of portable air conditioners use evaporative technology that is same as swamp cooler. These are used to cool small offices in the warehouses. In it, a water tank is used to cool and humidify air via evaporation. It can also be carried to motor home, car, truck, and boat because it works on a battery that uses 12-volt converter. Portable air conditioners provide effective and quick cooling and it is most suitable for smaller spaces.

Some portable air conditioners offer air purification filter that removes indoor pollutants like cigarette smoke. It makes your room atmosphere more comfortable in the muggy climates. It satisfies your temporary cooling requirements.

Be smart at the time of purchasing a new portable air conditioner. You should check its energy efficiency, dehumidifying function and exhaust mechanism while purchasing a new one. You’ve to select it according to room area and model capacity. Choose a portable A/C that has remote control features that lets you to adjust it as per your needs.