3 WAYS A BAD RECEPTIONIST CAN RUIN YOUR COMPANY THEMOST IMPORTANT JOB
If you have a receptionist in charge of answering phones and greeting people who walk through the door, you need to know they’re making an excellent first impression. This applies to every company, from dental offices to law firms. A great receptionist can make your life easy, but a bad receptionist can lead your company to ruin. Here are three important red flags to watch out for.
1. They push clients away.
client’s file goes missing in a messy filing cabinet? A receptionist with poor organizational skills can increase stress around the office and anger clients.
As your gatekeeper, part of your receptionist’s job is to filter the lines of communication and make sure no one’s time is wasted. However, a receptionist should never treat clients like intruders interrupting their workflow. You want people to feel welcome at your company. Otherwise, they won’t want to keep doing business with you. This attitude should also extend to the rest of your employees. If your receptionist treats their coworkers like pests, there’s a chance they will treat clients the same way.
3. They’re not tech-savvy.
As your company’s jack-of-all-trades, your receptionist should be able to learn whatever software the company uses, from word processors and Excel to industry-specific programs. Your receptionist should also be able to easily learn new skills to facilitate system improvements and new technology. The last thing you want is company-wide changes to come to a halt because your receptionist insists on doing things their way.
2. They’re disorganized.
Your receptionist is responsible for relaying information to the rest of your company. What happens if a client calls while you’re in a meeting and you never call them back because you weren’t informed? What if a
When you are hiring a receptionist, take the time to find a candidate who will make life easier for everyone at your company. You won’t regret it.
GET THEMOSTOUTOF PRODUCTIVITYAPPS BY CHANGING YOUR HABITS
If you’re like most people, you’re always looking for new ways to boost your productivity. You’ve downloaded time-management and productivity apps onto your smartphone. You jump from emails to projects to appointments like clockwork. Or, at least, you intend to. You started out with every intention of becoming a productivity master, but in reality, all of those apps and intentions may not have come together like you imagined. In this effort to become exceptionally productive, you’re not alone. There are thousands of apps on the market aimed at improving productivity and organizing our lives. While some apps make for wonderful assistants when used with consistent effort, are they truly useful? App developers would like you to think so. However, a 2015 BBC report suggests that these apps are useless — that is, unless you change your current habits. What app developers don’t tell you is that making that kind of change — particularly to the way you do things on a daily basis — is a hard thing to do. Downloading a nifty app is one thing. Developing the habits and self- discipline to use the technology the way it’s designed to be used is an entirely different beast. How can you make the change toward improved time management and streamlined productivity?
Your first step is to identify where you fall short. What areas of your day do you need to improve? Emails? Meetings? Distractions? Look at where you’re losing productivity and how time is being wasted. That way, you can appropriately respond and start developing new habits. If you’re bad about remembering appointments, a number of apps can help you “remember,” but only a proactive response on your part will determine whether or not the app is a success. So, are all these productivity apps really useful? If you try to use a productivity app without the appropriate behaviors to supplement it, then probably not. Using apps like Evernote, Dropbox, Workflow, Outlook, or even a basic calendar takes effort. You already need to have certain habits in place in order to get the most out of any productivity app. Otherwise, you’re just collecting icons to clutter up your smartphone.
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