If your business is not taking full advantage of text marketing — SMS and MMS marketing — then you are missing out. This is a massive opportunity to drive customer engagement, acquisition, and sales. Consider these eye-opening statistics: 69% of customers want the ability to contact a business through text messaging.  Customers are 4.5x more likely to reply to text messages than emails.12.9% of customers are more likely to support businesses that offer text-back capabilities.   And just in case you think that “texting is obsolete” — think again. 50% of people sent more texts during the pandemic. Additionally, due to COVID-19 34%...

The latest dispatch from the pandemic front brings some good news, and some bad news.   The good news is that despite yet another surge of cases and hospitalizations —  this time driven by the Delta variant — there is no official plan to enter into another lockdown. But the bad news is that the White House recently stated that “in all probability” there will be guidelines and restrictions issued in the weeks and months ahead. Unfortunately, we all know from experience that “in all probability” is political-speak for “it’s going to happen.”  This begs a vital question for business owners and leaders...

Saying that effective workplace communication is important is like saying water is wet, fire is hot, or that people with small children will repeatedly, and painfully, step on Legos many, many times. These are all blatantly self-evident (especially the Lego one).  However, just because everyone knows that effective workplace communication is important, does NOT mean that it’s happening everywhere. Consider these statistics:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kHkr5HrG-A 28% of employees cite ineffective communication as the number one reason why they cannot deliver work on time. 86% of employees and executives believe that ineffective communication is the core reason for workplace failures. Ineffective communication costs large enterprises an average of...

When French West Vaughan in Raleigh, NC - the nation’s 15th largest independently-held public relations and integrated marketing agency -  needed to replace their 20-year old phone system they started doing some research. They had an outdated Nortel system that FWV’s Executive Assistant Sharon Kemp says just needed to go. Not only was it getting increasingly difficult to get replacement parts, but the cost was also outrageous. But what sold FWV on Carolina Digital Phone wasn’t just the hundreds of included features that make our phone systems extremely flexible or the money they saved moving their phones to the cloud. It...

One of the biggest advantages of an all-in-one small business VoIP phone system vs. a landline phone system is features, features, and yet more features. You know the saying “it’s like being a kid in a candy store?” Well, employees who use a small business VoIP phone system for the very first time have the same experience. Within minutes, they go from “what does this feature do?” to “how on earth did we ever survive without this feature?” Here are five small business VoIP phone features that create plenty of enthusiasm and excitement — in other words: THEY ROCK! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYcFltwY0KE Small Business VoIP...

When it comes to updating software and hardware for either personal or business applications, not everyone makes it a priority to be the first on the block. After all, the rule of “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” serves most of us in our day-to-day lives. It only becomes a priority to replace our car, television, computer, and such when they are no longer functional for our needs or flat out stop working. One of those milestones is approaching for Cisco Unified Communication users. Cisco announced on November 30, 2020, the End-of-Life (EoL) timeline for their Version 11.5 Software of...

While some larger organizations can afford to waste money (at least for a little while), most small businesses do not have much margin for error. This is why a small business phone system is vital! If they fail to keep a close eye on the bottom line, then they eventually will fold. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Approximately 20 percent of small businesses fail within 12 months of launching. A further 10 percent disappear within 24 months. Another 20 percent are gone within 36 months. Yet another 20 percent bid farewell within 60 months. By the end of a decade, a staggering 70...

It is widely understood — frankly, it is axiomatic by this point — that good customer service is important. However, the enormous impact and influence of customer service on today’s business landscape is truly eye-opening. Consider the following: 52% of customers have made an additional purchase from a company after a positive customer service experience. (Source: Dimensional Research) 86% of consumers are willing to spend up to 25% extra for better customer service. (Source: Squaretalk) 61% of customers have switched brands due to poor customer service. And nearly 50% have done so within the last year. (Source: Microsoft)   The moral to this statistical story...