With summer around the corner, planning for extended weekends and vacations are happening. Thoughts of relaxing by the beach with no emails or phone calls to answer are ever so tantalizing. To have absolutely no worries or responsibilities is a reward and vacation in on itself. It has been a long winter and you know, if anyone deserves it, you do.
If you are self-employed as an independent consultant or small business owner, the vacation planning does not stop with the travel agent. You have to also start planning for being out of the office. And quite frankly, planning to be away from the office can be a more nerve-wracking activity. Obviously, being away translates to no new sales opportunities and zero customer service activities. Who will man the ship while you are gone?
Depending on your type of business, new sales leads comes in through email, web, or phone calls. Thankfully, it is very easy to set an auto-responder for any emails that you personally receive. The auto-reply can simply let people know that you are away, when you will return, and in some cases, who to contact when you are away. Perfect.
How do you plan for inbound phone enquiries? Do you change your voicemail message and let prospective clients know the same information? Do you just let the phone ring? Or perhaps you just turn your cellphone off? This is the most common problem that can make any independent consultant and/or business owner anxious about going away.
The fact of the matter is, this is a non-issue for any business that has a telephone system. A system that provides personal voicemail for all their employees and executives. A system where anyone can easily set a temporary voicemail message to let any callers know that they will be away, when they will return, and who to contact if there is an emergency.
Slingshot provides a startup hosted phone platform that allows you to market a business phone number, not your cell phone, on the website. And more importantly, a solution that will offer a personalized voicemail for you to set while you are out of the office.
Do yourself a favor this summer and go on a real vacation from work, leave the emails and phone calls at the office. Sign up today to set your out of office voicemail today.