According to a recent study conducted by Rypple, a human resources research firm, employees spend part of their workdays wasting time in four ways: trying to contact leads or fellow employees, seeking needed information about the company or next steps, repeating communications, and trying to organize meetings.
Following is one answer that technology offers to combat one of the most common obstacles to employee productivity for small business owners.
Trying to Contact Leads
Imagine as an employee if you had a giant list of people that you needed to contact each workday.
You knew that your entire livelihood depended on getting in touch with those people. You also knew that if you failed, your paycheck would reflect that failure.
Now imagine that every time you try to reach one of those people, you end up nowhere. You leave messages, but no one calls you back. You’re not even sure if you’re calling the right number or emailing the right address. You have no way of knowing if the other person is even getting your messages.
You would feel frustrated, right?
You would feel like you’re spinning your wheels at work and getting nowhere.
Eventually, you might feel that you’re not contributing to the company where you work, and that you’re not valuable. Your morale would suffer.
Turn the Tables in Your Favor
That’s what your employees can end up feeling when you offer them no way to manage communication with leads or colleagues.
If you are serious about wanting to help your employees be more productive, check out the article, “Want to Help End Users Increase Employee Productivity? Unified Communications is the Solution!”
There, you will find a comprehensive solution to the problem of employee non-productivity.
Lead Management Software
Technology now gives us lead management software.
Lead management software is a centralized, web-based hub where all communication about a project can take place. The communication is stored, tracked and can be monitored by anyone on the team who is given access.
With this technology in place, your employees don’t ever need to worry about keeping track of phone numbers and email addresses.
Everything can be updated and stored online, and number and email entry is automatic. Never again will your employees need to wonder if their email has been read, because many of these software packages can trace the action of the recipient once the email has been sent.
It can tell your team when or if the email was opened, and if any of the links were clicked on. It also offers a way for your clients to communicate back to your company via the centralized hub, so all members of the team can view the communication and be kept in the loop.
This is just one example of how technology can make a dramatic difference in the daily work lives of your employees.
For every productivity problem, there is a technology that can help.
When you offer your employees the tools to solve their own problems, you inherently empower them to become better and more productive members of your small business team.
About the Author: Kate Supino writes extensively about best business practices.