Keeping customers and winning new ones via word of mouth is the key to maintaining top line revenue - you can never cut costs enough to survive if you can't maintain the top
line. However, customers are now much less tolerant of any service glitch.

Delivering flawless service is critical to maintaining reasonable margins and taking advantage of the most cost-effective marketing mechanism... word of mouth.

Businesses of any size can take advantage of this tremendous opportunity to hear how other companies operate and utilize their call centres to create memorable customer experiences and spur on positive word of mouth.

Next week, I'll be speaking at Canada's most highly anticipated call centre event alongside 35+ award winning speakers, all of whom are prepared to share their call centre solutions.

Voices.com Involvement with Call Centre Canada Week

For my part, I'll be discussing how the team at Voices.com uses Salesforce for our customer relationship management and how we've integrated Salesforce with LivePerson's LiveChat technology.

Here's exactly what I'll be covering at Call Centre Week Canada:

๏ Creating a customized, flexible package that grows in alignment with corporate growth
๏ Generating sales through live chat
๏ Integrating CRM with live chat
๏ Optimizing live chat by employing skills-based routing
๏ Achieving 100% user adoption of CRM

Impressive Results with Salesforce

Several years ago, we selected Salesforce for our customer relationship management initiative. I'll be sharing how we realized a 62% increase in sales, as well as a 215% increase in leads in the first three months of our customer relationship management implementation.

Live Chat Makes Customer Service More Personal

If you've been a customer of Voices.com and had a question, you've likely tried our live chat service. In a nutshell, it's an instant messaging service where you can ask us questions and we'll answer you -- right there on the spot. Plus, you can have the answer sent to you by email, so you've got a copy as a back-up.

Partnering Live Chat with CRM

With hundreds of chats occurring each week, and often two or three happening at once, our customer service staff needed an easier way to quick pull up account records in Salesforce, and right within the LivePerson Live Chat console.

After some research and connecting with the group at LivePerson, we have been able to successfully integrate the two applications.

If you're interested in this topic, Blake Landau from IQPC and I recorded a podcast recently where we talk about this in quite a bit of detail.

Join Me at Call Centre Week Canada

IQPC's Call Centre Week Canada conference on August 17-20 in Toronto, Canada.

Looking forward to seeing you there,

David

Today, marks the launch of the redesigned AppExchange, a online application store for business users where they can extend the functionality of Salesforce.

As many of your know, I'm a strong advocate of Salesforce for both small and big business. In fact, we started with the Professional Edition focused on the Customer Relationship Management elements and have since upgraded to the Enterprise version and have taken advantage of the full suite of tools.

Many of those tools have been found in the AppExchange, including Salesforce for Google Apps, Salesforce for Google Adwords and Salesforce Mobile.

Here is what's new.

1. New App Lists

In addition to seeing the most popular apps and latest listings, you can now view our top native solutions and staff recommended apps.

2. Multi-Dimensional Search

Search for apps by industry, edition, price, and function- all at the same time.

3. A Product Comparison Matrix

Add up to three apps to your 'Saved Apps' section, click 'compare' and see how apps stack up against each other in a side-by-side matrix.

4. Improved User Reviews

You can now rate apps on multiple dimensions like ease of use, support and value. Additionally, partners and customers can comment on user reviews that are out of date or inaccurate.

The site is a huge improvement over the old version and the AppExchange product team is looking for feedback. So, if you're a Salesforce user, head on over to the AppExchange and drop them a quick note with your comments.

Last week I had published the annual Report on the Voice Over Industry that was well received. Thanks to all the people who blogged about it.

At voxmarketising, Peter O'Connell has some praise as well as shared some dislikes that I'd like to discuss here.

Let's run though some of the comments shall we?

A Simple Slideshow

I enjoyed presenting the information in a graphical manner, as opposed to the lengthy text versions done in years past.

With a decision to provide the information as a PowerPoint presentation, rather than a white paper, I was subject to keeping information to a minimum and often omitting sources. Upon further reflection, a simple "Sources" slide at the back of the presentation would be helpful.

Have More Recommendations

Also with respect to limited space, I wasn't able to add "Recommendations" or suggested next steps on how to capitalize on current trends such as the popularity of iPhone applications, videogames or audiobooks. Perhaps a series of future blog posts would be a more suitable venue?

Comparing Voices.com to voice123

Four years ago when I started writing annual reports, they were for internal purposes only, which explains the competitive research elements. This is the most simple and straightforward reason why I've included a Time on Site chart comparing Voices.com to voice123. The fact is, Voices.com has more to offer and as a result, the site engages visitors at a higher level.

Voice Acting Hub Growth

The report stated that the Facebook Group has grown over 1200% since it started just a few short months ago. Frankly, the Voice Acting Hub is the only group with statistics that I had access to. If someone else cares to share their stats, please do so in the comments. It would be interesting to comparing numbers. [Full disclosure: Voices.com is a sponsor of the group, and members of our staff are the group admins]

TouchGraph, Interesting But Not Well Explained

Touch Graph is a fascinating little application that lets you visually map niches on the Internet. This slide could have easily been expanded into two or three slides offering further explanation and tips on how to run your own reports. Agreed, a link would have been helpful, and I'll add this in next year's report.

Charge for a More Detailed Report

Speaking of next year's report, it will still be free. Why charge when the purpose was to inspire voice talent to explore new opportunities?

Again, the point is to get people thinking about different areas within the business that they could be addressing and inspire the production of new demos, new marketing campaigns and more recognition for our industry.

We'll be working with partners intimately involved with certain areas of the industry with the purpose of presenting their statistics in addition to our own for the next report to give a better rounded perspective and offering of information to the public and those most interested.

Add Your Feedback

If you have read through the Report on the Voice Over Industry 2009 and have other comments, please add them below.

David

It's the time of year when we make resolutions are made. I'm not much of a resolution-maker myself, but I'm going to suggest that small business owners make one. Namely, it's a suggestion that you resolve to fix up your web site and pay attention to things you might have ignored for too long. I know you're busy and your time is valuable, so chances are good that you've missed a few minor issues that are making your web site look old and outdated.

Think about this way: Your car needs a tune-up every 15,000 miles or so to keep it running at its best. Your teeth need a checkup at least once or twice a year. Well, a regular checkup will also keep your web site running in peak condition.

1. Review your company information

If you have a staff listing or directory, is it up-to-date with correct names, titles, and other contact information? If you have a "Contact Us" or "About Us" page or something similar that discusses company history, make sure it's updated, especially references such as "We've been in business for eight years."

2. Review your contact information

Are the phone and fax numbers, mailing and email addresses listed on your site all current? You're obviously losing customers if the phone number has changed.

3. Review your email routing

If you list support@yourdomain.com as the main contact address on your site, is it being routed to the correct person? If your shopping cart sends order information to sales@yourdomain.com, is that going where it needs to go? Make sure your email routing reflects any organizational changes you've had.

4. Review and test your contact forms

If you have contact forms on your site, review them to make sure they work, they're easy to use, and to see if they need to be updated. You might want to start asking people how they found your site or something else that your contact form doesn't ask now. Also, be sure to try to "break" the form. Submit it without the required information and see how understandable the resulting error message is.

5. Review your automated outgoing messages

Do you send an automated confirmation message or receipt after someone orders a product or uses your contact form? If so, review that outgoing automated message to make sure it says what you want it to say, and that it has the right contact information.

6. Update your copyright and/or privacy policy statements

If you have a copyright notice on your site, make sure it's not outdated. If you have a privacy policy, review it to make sure it accurately describes your current policy toward handling your customers' personal information.

7. Test all outgoing links on your web site

Outdated or broken links make your site look stale. It's also a source of frustration for your customers who click on links that don't work. Check all links on your site to make they're accurate and up-to-date. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) offers an online link checker that makes this easy to do.

8. Review the hidden sections of your web site

If you have any password-protected areas, do the passwords need to be changed? If you had staff changes during the year, this might be a good idea. It might be a good idea even if you didn't!

9. Review your domain record

Make sure your domain registrar has current contact information for you. If they don't, you might miss renewal notices and other important announcements about your domain. You might also want to read How to Protect Your Domain, which has some additional things to look for on your domain record.

10. Do an overall review of your web site

This is something you should really be thinking about on a regular basis, but web sites often get ignored in the daily grind of running a small business. Ask yourself: How fresh is the content on my site? Do any pages need to be updated? How does my site look? Is it time for a more professional or modern design? Does my site offer the kind of features or tools that let my customers get what they want when they visit?

Some of these suggestions will only take minutes to complete, while others will be more time-consuming. But no matter how busy you are, checking your web site at least once a year is a resolution worth making ... and keeping.

First of all, Happy New Year!

And, with the new year comes some annual maintenance that every webmaster should be conscious of. Here's a quick tip from my list of annual website maintenance.

Build Trust

Having your website reflect current and accurate information helps build trust. Yes, even the year beside your copyright notice makes a subtle, perhaps sub-conscious, impact on your visitors.

Be Relevant

Your website visitors expect you to be on top of the latest developments in the business and technology world.

Show You Care

For those websites that can make the change quickly, it shows your visitors that you care. Take a moment now to update your website's copyright year... or email your webmaster if they take care of this for you.

Search Engines Update Their Copyright Year

Let's take a look at how the search engines have done, shall we?

Google

Yahoo!

MSN

Have You Updated Your Copyright Notice Yet?

As many of you know, I'm an honors graduate of OIART, the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology - one of the top audio production schools in the industry.

One of the many reasons I chose to attend OIART was the high job placement rate of their graduates which results in excellent connections within the industry. Graduates are invited back to OIART as guest lecturers, and this year I was happy to speak and share my experiences as an entrepreneur.

Industry Revolution

For those unfamiliar with Voices.com, I open all lectures with the story of how Stephanie and I founded what was then Interactive Voices.

The idea was simple: What if we could build an online community that brought together freelance voice talent from around the world and provided them with job opportunities?

The challenge was significantly more difficult in that we needed to revolutionize an industry and inspire people to change their hiring habits - from the old way to the new online approach for finding voice over talent.

Building an Online Business, One Page at a Time

In those early days, we wrote all the HTML for each web page on Interactive Voices. Profiles were created, edited and updated by Stephanie or myself and voiceover demos were sent via email, then uploaded to our web server.

Even MP3 files for voice over auditions were sent by email, then we'd upload them to our server for the clients to receive. We even built a simple user-interface for the clients to listen and evaluate the voice talent that had replied to their job posting.

In short, it was far from elegant and we quickly realized that our process wouldn't scale to thousands of job opportunities as we had envisioned.

Building a Team

The first people we hired to help manage the growth was an outstanding Web Developer and System Administrator, Wesley, and a compassionate Customer Care Manager, Carol. Since then, we've rounded out our team.

Re-Branding & Making the Transition

One of most-significant changes over the past few years was the acquisition of the domain name, Voices.com and the re-branding of our company. Seeing as our customers were already familiar with us as "interactivevoices.com", moving to "voices.com" was easy for people to make the leap. Simple names work online.

The Growth of Voices.com

Since completing the move to Voices.com, the website and the community has flourished. At the same time, the industry has exploded, too. The voice-over industry is now a $10 Billion industry and with more uses of voice in audio, video and multimedia, I'm confident this growth will continue.

OIART Student's Predict a Mobile Technology Revolution

Near the end of the presentation, we discussed how social media, blogs and podcasts are changing the media landscape. I also posed the question, what's next? To my surprise that prompted a 10-15 minute discussion on how technology is becoming increasingly personalized and mobile.

I found this particularly interesting as this was the same day that Steve Jobs was giving his keynote presentation introducing the iPhone 3G.

Business Resources

To wrap up the session, we blasted through an outline of a business plan (PDF) as well as a number of websites and software tools for operating a business.

Are You an OIART Graduate?

Drop a line and let us know what you've been up to lately by leaving a comment below.

Image © OIART.org

In personal and professional development it's my belief that everyone has a seed of success within them. It's also true that few ever realize their success potential.

Why is that?

Here are four reasons why people who are poised for success may not reach their potential, and how you can apply some simple truths to experience your own break through.

1. CHOICES

Many people make choices that limit them. As the saying goes "There is a choice you have to make, in everything you do. So keep in mind, that in the end, the choice you make, makes you."

But aren't there talented people? Yes, and it's their talent and right choices make a talented person.

As Socrates said "To move the world, we must first move ourselves."

2. TIME

Many people have no idea the process of reaching their potential would take so long. All things are difficult before they become easy.

It's it true that projects usually:

- Are more difficult than we anticipate
- Take longer than we anticipate
- Cost more than we anticipate

As you've probably discovered, shortcuts don't pay off in the long run, so prudent planning and a realistic estimate of time required to complete a project, develop a new skill or reach a goal is an excellent step in the right direction.

3. PRICE

Many people fail to pay the price that their potential demands.

Often times, our challenges in life are not in understanding how to reach our potential, but rather they are in doing what it takes to get there.

Charles Schwab said, "When a man has put a limit on what he will do, he has put a limit on what he can do."

4. PROBLEMS

Many people fail to think creatively when problems arise.

There's a difference between problem spotting and problem solving. Anyone can spot a problem, be it an issue in a relationship, a technical issue or a health issue. The counsel of experts is relied upon as they know how to provide a solution to a difficult problem.

The next time you mention a problem, why not follow that up by suggesting 3 possible solutions, with one of them including you?

WRAP-UP

Break through and reach new heights in your personal and professional development by making good choices, realistically assessing the time needed to reach your goals, paying the price when it's asked of you and meeting problems with solutions.

If you found this article helpful or it added some insight in your busy day, add your comment below.

David

Friday, I attended the Maximum Impact Advance Simulcast that provides the business professional with a wealth of information designed to help people grow their influence. I joined 50,000 leaders, across North America, renowned authors, businessmen and leadership experts for an event that won’t be forgotten.

The founder, John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker and author who has sold over 13 million books. His organizations have trained more than 2 milion leaders worldwide. Every year, he speaks with Fortune 500 Companies, international government leaders and organizations as diverse as the United States Military Academy at West Point and the National Football League.

In his session, "Leadership Gold", Dr. Maxwell explained a simple truth: The best leaders are listeners.

3 Delusions

We all suffer from three delusions:

1. We are a good driver
2. We have a sense of humor
3. We're good listeners

The Truth

Dr. Maxwell explains a simple truth: The best leaders are listeners.

Apply This Truth in Business

In business, listening is the single greatest way to keep problems from escalating into major issues.

As a leader, it's imperative to listen to all your stakeholders. Listen to your employees, customers, vendors, partners and investors.

Formula for Success

Dr. Maxwell's formula for success is stated plainly as: Listen, Learn and then Lead.

Recommended Reading

Of John C. Maxwell's books, my personal favorite is The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, which I picked up on iTunes as an audiobook.

This morning, the Official Salesforce Blog announced that they have expanded their partnership with Google and together have delivered an industry-changing new product called Salesforce for Google Apps.

Techmeme and the New York Times has some great coverage on this developing story.

As heavy Salesforce and Google Apps users, we're pleased with this development and can see how we'll be using this dynamic duo for greater productivity and ultimately our ability to deliver a better service.

Salesforce for Google Apps

It's easy to see how we could run our business in some exciting new ways:

1. Salesforce and Gmail

Salesforce and Gmail - Send Gmail to contacts from inside Salesforce or log emails in Salesforce from Gmail.

Now that's something that Salesforce really needed; the ability to both send an receive messages. Transitioning from Outlook and Apple Mail to Gmail makes sense, considering a lot of us work remotely, in the evenings and on weekends. I've been waiting for a big enough reason to switch to Gmail and it looks like my reason has arrived.

2. Salesforce and Google Talk

Salesforce and Google Talk - Chat with colleagues right from within Salesforce.

Currently we use Skype as our internal instant messaging tool, however tight integration with Salesforce means one less application we need running on our machines.

3. Salesforce and Google Docs

Salesforce and Google Docs - Create and attach Google Docs to records inside Salesforce for real time collaboration.

From business plans, proposals and product development outlines, Google Docs has all but replaced Microsoft Word in our office. And, if we can use Google Docs for the storage, we'll likely see some cost savings by avoiding purchasing more Salesforce storage.

4. Salesforce and Google Calendar

Salesforce and Google Calendar - Synchronize your Salesforce meetings, campaigns, and events with Google Calendar.

Not that we do a terrible amount of scheduling, I can foresee this being a helpful tool. When, we do have events to attend, the entire week is usually pretty busy, so a single integrated view will ensure we're all in the right place and the right time.

5. Salesforce and Google Start Page

Salesforce and Google Start Page - Access your most important business information, including Salesforce dashboards, and search the Web from a single page.

This is smart. As the CEO, having a single view that shows key performance indicators as well as a snapshot of your inbox allows me prioritize my day or drill down on reports should anything jump out at me. Better information means better decisions.

Do You Run Salesforce?

If you're in a business that's running Salesforce, how do you see using these new tools to help you grow you company?

Add your comments below...

Monday evenings, I typically grab an hour to listen to my favorite podcast, This Week in Tech (TWiT) hosted by Leo Laporte, with frequent guests John C. Dvorak, Patrick Norton and others who analyze the weekly news in from the world of technology.

Seeing as Audible is their major sponsor, I knew the time would come when they discussed recording audiobooks, the time required and how much narrators get paid.

Well, I've got some answers for you.

Audiobook Market

Pat Fraley reports on Vox Daily that:

According to my friend and president of Blackstone Audio, Craig Black, this figure will balloon to 24,000 over the next four years. Why? Because of the success of downloadable audiobooks on the Internet.

Industry news source Voice Over Times reports:

Earlier this year, Amazon announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Audible, the audiobook website for a transaction value of approximately $300 million.

In short, the audiobook industry is red hot!

Audiobook Narrators

Audiobook publishers need all sorts of talents and sounds. If you have struggled because you sound like you’re 16, or 60, guess what? There are audiobook projects out there that need your sound. It is just a matter of finding the door where the welcome mat is ready and waiting.

Do You Need an Agent?

In the Billion $ Read, Pat Fraley explains that there is no need to go through an agent. Audiobook publishers deal directly with the voice talent. That's you Leo.

Time Required

As an estimate, it requires 4-5 times as long to produce a finished minute of a recorded voice over as it does to simply read the script.

Here's an example:

- 1 hour to read a short story.
- 2 hours for editing (removing breaths, pops, clicks,
- 1 hour for mixing (equalization, compression, limiting)
- 1 hour for mastering (saving the file to disk, converting to other formats, burning a hard copy for archive)
Total = 5 hours

Freelance Voice Over Rates

While the narration of audiobooks are often priced on a per word basis, somewhere between $0.10 and $0.25, rates for other types of voice over recordings can be found by viewing this voice over rate sheet [PDF].

Don't Let Just Anyone do the Movie Trailer

Should the book you record ever get made into a movie, don't let just anybody, including Calacanis, voice the movie trailer.

The "In a World..." imitation that Jason Calacanis tried to do is of Don LaFontaine. Don invented the movie trailer voice and even wrote the copy. There are many people who strive to be the "Voice of God", the select who nail it, but oftentimes many fall short.

TWiT Fans, Would You Buy an Audiobook by Leo Laporte?

Leave your comments below.

"The customer is king" is one of the older cliches of modern business. While its never exactly false, the phrase usually pays lip service to the idea of customer experience rather than listening to feedback that results in change.

How does an online business make the most of customer feedback? One avenue to explore is the development of downloadable content, specifically audio, video and text resources that truly add value and give customers the experience they've asked for.

In today's business landscape, a customers are smart and have high expectations.

In the most basic form of customer experience, people have come to expect a seamless experience, regardless of which channel (live chat, telephone, email, online help) they choose to communicate with your organization. One-to-one communications with real, passionate people that work at a given company are the norm.

Blogs, podcasts and searchable FAQs are mandatory when providing knowledge about how to place an order or resolve a technical issue.

True that not everyone will be interested in subscribing to a daily blog post offering inspiring commentary, or education on-demand by means of free podcast, but there are those that will. And, it's those that do engage in the high-touch experience will be thankful that the resources were available.

For a small business, having the creative and technical know-how to create multimedia collateral is the first step. That's called production.

Next, a means of distributing the audio, video, text documents will be required in order to fulfill.

In practice, we've organized our resources in three categories which provide our customers with the opportunity to give us feedback.

AUDIO

All the podcasts are listed on a single page, with the most recent episode displayed with the podcast artwork, title and brief description of the show. By drilling deeper and clicking through to the individual episode, a customer can opt to subscribe to the podcast with iTunes.

Each episode includes show notes detailing what is being discusses during the podcast, as well as tags for quick reference and most importantly, a comment box giving the listener the chance to add their comments by typing in a few words.

VIDEO

The video area serves up tutorials and commercials. The tutorials walk you through how to use Voices.com, and on a more basic level, how to get started within the industry.

While the videos aren't much more than a narrated PowerPoint presentation, these embedded YouTube videos have been watched more than 50,000 in the past year alone.

TEXT

Aside from education and entertainment, most customers are looking for information in hopes of solving a specific problem. Enter the frequently asked questions. For this section of our "Help" page, we didn't just list the top 25 frequently asked questions, but rather developed an exhaustive knowledge base that we use both internally, and publish solutions, definitions, step-by-step guides on more than 500 topics within the field of voice-overs.

Customers can search by keyword and immediately see a list of matching solutions as well as a relevancy-match rating which suggests if the article has historically been helpful.

We commonly attach PDF documents such a voice-over rate sheets [pdf], user guides and other tip sheets to let users continue their experience offline.

As part of the feedback loop, customers can read if they found a specific solution helpful (a simple "Yes" or "No" works well) giving us some insight into what works, and which solutions need to be further researched or outright deleted.

WRAP-UP

Every business can add more value and meaning to their relationship with their customers. Creating, hosting and distributing online resources is a good place to start.

Remember to build-in a way to ask for and capture comments and other feedback from your customers. This information is extremely valuable as it will help you refine your materials and continue to be seen as one of the few online businesses that listens to their customers.

I never stopped believing in the power of podcasting. Not only does audio does work in ways that video can't, but it's far more memorable. Just think, you can probably remember a favorite song from high school, a jingle from a decade ago or even a one-liner from a commercial that seemed to just stick.

In 2000, Fortune magazine said "Voice" was going to be one of the major trends of this decade. While most companies were building telecom applications, we built a marketplace for voice talent.

With the advent of podcasting and the mass adoption of the iPod, the voice industry has seen a surge in growth.

.: 13% of the US population have listened to a podcast (up from 11% in 2006)

.: Today, Techcrunch is reporting that eMarketer estimates that there was a 285% increase in size of the US podcast audience in 2007, a growth to 18.5 million.

In fact, I authored "24 Sources of Podcast Statistics, Podcasting Market Research and Broadcasting Industry Analysis", an extensive report that gives you a snapshot of the market including podcast usage, the podcasting audience, podcast demographics and the advertising market.

Just look at the Amazon / Audible deal and you'll see that there is indeed a massive industry that simply doesn't get the limelight it deserves.

This week, I had the good fortune of accepting a 1to1 Impact Award on behalf of our entire team in Phoenix Arizona at the Frost & Sullivan Sales and Marketing Conference.

Read on and gain some insight into how we operate Voices.com by putting you, our valued customer, at the center of all our business activities.

When Stephanie and I started Voices.com, we knew we needed a unique approach to doing business online.

Doing business online differs from traditional bricks-and-mortar businesses in the sense that we rarely get to meet our customers, so it would take longer to develop relationships.

Knowing this, we set out with a handful of principles that would guide the company in the years to come by creating a truly customer-centric business.

Focus on customer needs, wants, desires and emotions.

People use Voices.com because they have a need. You likely want to either complete a project or you have a desire to grow in your career -- both of which are attached to emotions.

Deliver a unique online experience.

The experience starts with the website, which we've been told is intuitive and appealing to look at. We've added blogs, podcasts, videos and a help section that includes a knowledge base of over 500 frequently asked questions.

Be accessible and responsive.

We understand that everyone has questions from time to time, so we've added a toll-free number which is located at the top of every page. If you are having trouble, it's easy to give us a call and we'll help you navigate the website. We're also available via Live Chat, an instant messaging tool that lets you communicate with us in real-time by simply typing in a message and waiting just seconds before you receive a reply.

I say this to provide some context.

You see, winning a silver medal at the 1to1 Impact Awards validates our approach of always focusing on you, our most valued customer.

The results have been phenomenal as we've developed relationships with highly skilled voice talents from around the world as well as knowledgeable people in global organizations who are making an impact.

Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to serve you.

A special thanks to Laura McBride (Salesforce.com), Anne Haack (Salesforce.com), Mentha Benek (Outcast PR), Jessica Moran (1to1Media), Ginger Conlon (1to1Media) and Dr. Martha Rogers, founding partner of the prestigious Peppers & Rogers Group.

If you're business is growing, there comes a point in time when you'll need to consider acquiring a small business telephone system. Get 5 great tips for what you should be evaluating in a new phone system.

Phone System Basics

Most business telephone systems have two parts, the phone server, a piece of hardware that receives inbound calls and routes the calls to the appropriate extension, and the telephones themselves which allow your staff to accept calls, transfer calls and conduct conference calls.

While names like Nortel and Avaya come to mind, there are more cost-effective solutions that do the job just as well, such as the TalkSwitch phone systems. Regardless of the brand, consider the 5 most important criteria when evaluating a business telephone system.

1. Usability:

First and foremost, you want a phone system that is easy to operate. The telephones themselves should have a familiar feel with the ability to complete everyday functions such as placing a call on-hold, muting a call, and increasing and/or decreasing the volume level. You'll also want to ensure that the phones themselves have both a handset as well as a jack for a headset.

2. Rich Feature Set:

Most businesses will require a main menu, call routing, and voicemail. Each member on staff will be equipped with their own extension and voicemail box. Your IT guy or gal should be able to set-up a new phone line or make any adjustments to the system settings by logging into the telephone system software. The software should be mature, and again, easy to use. Read reviews from other business owners or IT people about how the software performs and which features are included.

3. Storage:

Regular business hours are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. That means that the office is closed for 16 hours per day. If you receive calls from multiple time zones, it's likely a lot of calls will end up going to voicemail. With this knowledge, invest in extra storage for voicemail.

4. Customization:

Give your callers a strong first impression with a customized telephone system greeting. The auto-attendant is the technical name for the voice you hear during the main menu. You should hire a professional to record the auto-attendant and deliver an MP3 or WAV file to you that you'll then upload into the telephone system. While you’re at it, have the voice talent record a general voicemail message, office is closed message, holiday hours message and most importantly on-hold messages.

5. Upgradable / Expandable:

A basic phone system will include two phone lines. Before long, you'll want to expand to four lines. If your business continues to grow, you'll want the flexibility to easily add another four lines.

Be sure that the phone system you select has the ability to expand the number of phone lines. I'd also include the ability to plug in a CD player in your "expandable" requirements. The TalkSwitch lets you either upload on-hold messages or simply play the on-hold messages from a CD player that's plugged in. Having your on-hold messages on CD lets you easily update your messages, play current promotions or share timely news relating to your business. For more research on the power of on-hold marketing, read this document.

Summary

By jotting down your requirements, you'll be armed with a list of specific needs. Your requirements list will also help you avoid getting bogged down in technical specifications and detailed feature lists keeping you focused when you're doing research on which phone system to go with.

If you've found a good phone system for small businesses, add your comments below.

From our research, here are the main reasons we’ve discovered why so many business are incorporating voice-overs as a part of their marketing strategy.

Top 5 Reasons Companies Choose Voice Talent to Represent Their Businesses

1. Increased reach into the global community
2. Improved sales and conversion rates with the use of audio
3. Consistent communication with prospective clients or existing customers
4. Positioned and recognized as a market leader
5. Achieved higher levels of customer satisfaction

If you've ever hired a professional voice talent to provide audio recordings for your business, share your experience below.

Why did you decide to work with a pro? Let us know!

Popular web-based music services and some traditional radio stations that offer Internet audio streams are set to shut off their online programming until midnight tonight to protest the outrageous rates recently set by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, D.C.

The Plan

Organizers are calling it Day of Silence and are hoping it will focus attention on a royalty-fee increase that many Internet-based broadcasters say could drive them out of business. The new rates are will go into effect July 15, unless the US Congress makes some radical changes to the legislation.

Forcing an Industry into Bankruptcy

The BBC reports that the new legislation "could cost webcasters around $1Billion in additional administration fees, protesters claim".

The increases could represent a 300% rise in current payments and the plan is to eventually charge royalties every time an online listener hears a song.

The Players

The new rates were set by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, D.C.

In the BBC report, Kim Roberts Hedgpeth of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) said the new payments rewarded the "creativity, talent and hard work" of musicians.

Participants in the event include such online-only music services as Pandora, Live365 and Real Networks' Rhapsody, as well as radio stations such as WAMU in Washington and KCRW, based in Santa Monica, Calif. One notable service sitting out the protest, according to organizers, is AOL Radio.

Many of you know that I graduated from the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology, the "Harvard of Audio Engineering".

Recently, I had the good fortune of sharing of being invited back to share about the life of an entrepreneur, how OIART played a part in the development of my career and naturally what is happening at Voices.com these days.

OIART is a technology focused education for those people with the sole desire and passion to gain the skills and knowledge to succeed in the field of audio recording.

Over the past several years, I've had the opportunity to share about how I've applied what I learned at OIART, the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology.

OIART doesn't just provide audio engineering education -- they immerse students in the art and science of music production and sound recording technologies, nurturing their passion for audio while truly preparing them to meet the demands of the audio production industry.

For this session, we talked about entrepreneurship, the Internet and how businesses from around the world are hiring professional voice over talents at Voices.com. We also discussed how voice talent get paid and I welcomed the chance to introduce our new SurePay Escrow service.

The presentation was well received and recorded as a podcast that will be available for download in the coming weeks.

If you're interested in audio recording or learning more about how to become an audio recording engineer, check out OIART.

David

Image © OIART.org

In a report issued by Merrill Lynch, lead broadcast analyst Jessica Reif Cohen said a CBS/Google deal would likely be "wide-ranging" and would include both advertising and content elements.

"Although no deal was announced, we believe that the companies continue to negotiate terms of an agreement," wrote Cohen, referring to CBS chief Leslie Moonves keynote Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The sticking points could revolve around control of advertising sales and the size of a revenue guarantee that Google would pay to CBS for being able to monetize its television content through YouTube and other Google sites.

With respect to the advertising sales arrangement, Merrill Lynch speculated that it would primarily be focused on CBS' radio inventory and would not likely include any network or local TV station time.

As I've covered earlier, Google has recently stepped up efforts to expand its presence in offline media, especially radio and print media.

It's estimated that a Google deal to sell 10% of CBS Radio's advertising inventory would generate approximately $200 million in revenues and that the upside for CBS would be two-fold:

First, attracting new small business advertisers to its platforms alla Google's experience with search, and second, creating a more efficient sales model that reduces the friction/cost of selling advertising.

Naturally, Madison Avenue is protesting the development stating that a potential Google deal is initiating the commoditization of advertising time and related pricing pressure.

Does Madison Avenue have a case? Leave your thoughts below.
~~

Technorati tags: google | google audio ads | audio ads | audio adsense

The Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab (RAEL) is possibly the most exciting initiative undertaken by the Radio industry in recent years. Conceived and launched in 2001, RAEL’s goal is to further the industry’s understanding of how Radio advertising works and to measure its effectiveness, thereby increasing advertiser/agency confidence in Radio as an advertising medium.

The most unique aspect of RAEL is the Research Committee. It is composed of Radio, agency, and advertising executives, assuring that the new research projects have valuable implications for Radio’s best customers. An impressive list of national advertisers and agencies has participated in determining the direction of RAEL’s research projects, and the actual design of the new studies.

RAEL is a major industry commitment to a long-term and objective research program. But before doing any new research, RAEL conducted a review of everything that had been published in the past. Therefore, one of RAEL’s first activities was to assemble all relevant past published research on Radio effectiveness from the last 20 years.

Their efforts uncovered a wide array of interesting and useful studies, and RAEL decided to share what they’d learned in the “RAEL Research Compendium.” A published series of on-going White Papers summarizes findings from the Compendium.

In addition, RAEL has been fortunate to have access to occasional pieces of proprietary research on Radio effectiveness conducted privately by specific advertisers. Those advertisers have been willing to share many of the details of those studies with RAEL and have agreed to limited publication of those results.

RAEL has also published “The Guide to Radio Advertising Testing Services” that lists companies with experience in testing Radio creative.

Learn more about The Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab

~~

Research and development is part of every technology business, however not all organizations document the progress in a manner that will protect them in the future. Today I'll pose a number of questions that will generate thought on your own Intellectual Property Strategy.

Intellectual Property Related Questions

What role will IP have in your company?
Will your company generate IP?
Will you company in-license IP?
Will you company license IP to others?
Will your company commercialize IP?
Will you seek Venture Capital financing for your company?

Intellectual Property is All About Value

Generate New IP > Development IP through technical, regulatory and business milestones > Commercialize or License-Out
Define Business Plan
Ensure that the IP goals and business goals are aligned
Create an IP strategy for the business
What would you like to have exclusivity on?
What IP is required to practice your business?
What IP will be created by the business?
What IP would maximize the value of the business?
Maintain a focus on using IP to create value for the business IP may be the most valuable (intangible) asset in a company.

Research & Development

R&D Program should be aligned with the business plan
The R&D Program should be to take a product from concept to commercial application and generate revenue
Ex: Product development in biotech company
Ex: Product development in an engineering company
R&D Program should have milestones

What IP is required to practice your business?
Compositions, uses, methods of manufacture (technically superior, easier to use)
Overcome blocking patents

What IP will be created by your business?
Maximize the scope of your claims
Ex: Use for a family of products

What IP would maximize the value of your business and take it to the next level?
Extend patent life on existing products (PTE)
Extent market exclusivity
New uses for the existing product, new combinations
Improved methods of manufacturing
Improved second generation products

I trust that the items covered above will help you define your own Intellectual Property Strategy.

Footnote: Speaker: Colin Macaulay during the Intellectual Property sessions at the Ivey School of Business

To continue the discussion on entrepreneurship, we'll explore the topic of "intellectual property" and the various forms it takes on. Learn all about patents and why you should apply for a patent for your business.

Forms of Intellectual Property

Patent - Protects how something works; things, workings and methods
Industrial Design ( Design Patent ) - Protects how something looks
Trademark - Protects how something is known in commerce
Copyright - Protects how something is creatively expressed. Literally means the right to copy

Features of a Patent

- Converts an intangible idea into property
- Can be bought, sold or used as collateral
- National jurisdiction
- Time limited monopoly of 20 years from the filing date
- Monopoly excludes others from practicing within that territory

How to Read a Patent
Here is a brief outline of the parts of a patent
- Title, abstract: high level overview
- Background: set out problems in the art and the state of the art
- Summary of Invention: parallels the main claims
- Detailed descriptions and drawings
- Claims - The claims define explicitly the scope of the patent being held
- Ownership - Assignee or applicant field lists corporate owner. If none present, then inventor is owned

The Reasons Why to Get a Patent
Protect invention from others
- Early state, protection from “friends” ( e.g. industrial partners, collaborators, suppliers, customers)
- Later stage, protection from “competitors”
- Attracting funding
credibility and security for financiers
- Marketing cachet (“patent pending”)
on products and promotional material
- Building value in the company
especially as patent family grows around key technologies
Source of licensing revenue
particularly for research companies and institutions

What are your first steps?
- Idea collection
- Many ideas are patentable, however not all ideas are worthwhile
- Need to communicate in standardized way
- Need to decide which to pursue
- Careful forethought

What makes an idea patentable?
In Canada, must be an “...art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter...”
Thinking of a “better way”
Must be new, useful and non-obvious
- New: features not disclosed in a single document ( anywhere, anytime )
- Non-obvious: features not disclosure in a combination of documents
- Changes of size, substitute of materials, automation of a known process are typically not patentable

Certain categories of non-patentable subject matter
- computer programs
- algorithms or calculations
- methods of doing business
- algorithms or calculations

Software patents
“software” not patentable per se
Instead: method of doing something using a computer
Focus usually on end-user: care when drafting
Internet methods: international jurisdiction
- Where is software hosted?
- Where is the end user located?
- Where is transaction completed?

Ultimately when deciding whether or not you should file a patent, first ask yourself, "what are the business goals and is it worth pursuing"?

For more information on patents, visit:
www.uspto.gov
ep.espacenet.com
www.cipo.gc.ca

On that note, we'll leave it for today, and pick-up the rest of the discussion tomorrow.

Over the past few weeks, I've been participating in a course at the Richard Ivey School of Business on the subject of entrepreneurship. The first session discussed the importance of having a business plan. Here are some of the highlights.

What is a business plan?

* A critical document that clearly describes your idea
* A document that others will judge your business upon
* A living document that will change over time
* A tool to increase your chance of success

Why do you need a business plan?

* Test feasibility of your idea or business concept
* Helps you measure short term / long term profitability
* Prepares your business for the future – plots a course, aligns goals, account for resources, implementation plan including benchmarks, milestones and with dates your working towards
* Communicates your vision to key enablers ( e.g. management team, establish credibility among investors, bankers and advisors )

When should you start a business plan?

Start researching the idea immediately. Engage in two types of research.
1 . Primary research ( networking, customers, surveys and focus groups etc…)
2. Secondary research ( Internet, associations, magazines etc…)

The Business Plan

Executive Summary
Keep it short, punchy, succinct, leave the reader wanting more

Company Profile
History, Key management team, subject knowledge, operational knowledge, business acumen and skills

Product Overview
What pain does it solve for the customers? Current solutions ( the traditional model ), secondary products

Market Opportunity
How big is the market? Who is the target market? Can you segment the market? Who are the key customers you’d like to go after?

Sales and Marketing
Revenue model, sales cycle, web sales cycle, sales channels

Operations
Equipment, skills, human resources, identify holes in personnel and how you’re going to fill it.

Financials
Income Statement, Statement of Cash Flows, Balance Sheet, Funding Needs

Appendix
Biographies of the management team

To wrap-up, you can find plenty of samples of Business Plans on the Internet, however remember they are just that, templates. There is no standard business plan, so be sure to customize the contents of the plan to accurately communicate your vision for your business.

I've read blog posts by other entrepreneurs and industry critics raising a question. Does the world need another blog? I'd like to refine that question. Does the world need another web 2.0 blog? My short answer is "yes", and here's why.

The Biz, is a different kind of blog. This isn't a commentary on the happenings of the web, nor will I include product reviews or endorse other services.

So what will The Biz be about?

In short, my vision for The Biz will be a blog written by an entrepreneur for entrepreneurs. We'll discuss the various aspects involved with building a web 2.0 company.

In the Business Management category, I'll address business issues relating to strategy, business models and day-to-day operations, while at the same time keeping everything in perspective. Even when it seems as though the sky is falling, I often say, "Listen, it's not as bad as it seems", and it usually never is.

Development is an area that's close to my heart, as it pertains to the development of the web-service itself. Some people may call this product development, but I've learned to approach the development from the notion that we are building a service, and hopefully one that our customers can't live without.

With a product in place, we'll focus our attention on Sales & Marketing, and the most common approaches to generating revenue from web-services, as well as exploring a few unconventional practices too.

Once customers start signing up for your new web-service, you'll need to allocate some time and resources to managing those customers, as well as fielding Service & Support issues. This includes how to create FAQ's, how to address technical support issues, how best to receive feedback, and then what to do about the numerous suggestions that are bound to start rolling in.

After getting your company off the ground, you'll need to consider the prospects of either hiring qualified professionals to round out your team, or seek out partners to help your business grow. All of these posts will fall under the area of Human Resources.

Just like any business plan, this blog will cover the basics on Finance, an often skipped over section that at first glance may not seem interesting, but rest assured, I'll do my best to make creating, analyzing and presenting financial data as enjoyable as possible.

To round out the blog, the over-arching theme is Web 2.0. What is Web 2.0? Well, that will be the discussion of tomorrow's post.

If you have specific questions, post your comments below.

All the best,

David

Technorati Tags: web20, web 2.0, web_2.0, ceo, blog

Here's the behind the scenes story of why our team decided to change our name from InteractiveVoices to Voices.com and how it could help you with your re-branding strategies.

Several months ago, we came across the opportunity to acquire the domain name and website Voices.com. Our initial feeling was that re-branding our ( and your ) website to Voices.com would be the best move, despite the technical challenges that lay in front of us.

However before we made the switch, we decided to consult with various professionals within our personal networks. David spoke with software developers, branding consultants and venture capitalists, while I connected with bloggers and people from the media. We also spoke with you, our members, to ensure that you'd be happy with the move.

The conclusion? We decided to take the plunge and change the name.

Here are some of the reasons why re-branding as Voices.com was and is the best business decision for our team, as well as all of you.

1. It's short.

2. It's memorable.

3. It's easy to spell.

4. Word of mouth will accelerate. It's simple to say "Listen to me on Voices.com" or "My demos are at Voices.com".

5. The word "voices" was already part of the previous name "interactivevoices", so the new name was more of a refinement of the familiar as opposed to the shock of abrupt change.

6. Our top search engine rankings would stay intact. With the change complete, we're confident that Google, Yahoo! and MSN have successfully indexed the new site and will continue to do so.

7. Your website would have a very cool URL - yourname.voices.com

8. The name encompasses the entire industry, not just a portion of it. Many have mistakenly viewed interactivevoices.com as a source for telephony projects such as voicemail, on-hold recording and IVR, which is the abbreviation for "interactive voice response". Voices.com is home to professionals who record for all applications. In essence, we cast a larger net for you.

9. A modest update to our company logo, brighter colors and easier navigation could all be accomplished at once.

10. An opportunity to deliver a new, but familiar layout and move to a CSS-based design. This means that Voices.com works well not only on Mac and PC, but also on Palm, BlackBerry and all mobile phones. Text size can also be increased or decreased to improve the usability.

The better, shorter, more memorable name will help us to tell our story to clients, producers, casting directors and talent agents resulting in more voice-over work for you.

That's the story in a nutshell.

Are you happy with the new name Voices.com?

All the best,

David

Technorati Tags: web 2.0, branding, launch