PSA Software for the Service Industry

If you are in any kind of industry that offers services that are project oriented, such as a graphic design or marketing, PSA software can be key on many fronts. The ability to track a project from start to finish in one place that is accessible to everyone makes coordinating any kind of project that much easier.

On the other hand, contractual service businesses such as janitorial services or security firms can also find that PSA software is a perfect tool for streamlining processes and keeping track of costs. The growing use of remote workers along with the ability to flex schedules with a PSA system makes these the perfect tool for organizing your workforce for maximum profitability.

While they may have different needs, these two kinds of service industries both require teams that can be scattered in location and deadlines that need to be met. Let’s take a look at how these two different types of service industries can use PSA software to make their companies a leaner and more profitable machine.

Controlling Costs on the Run

There is no such thing as the perfectly run project. But giving managers and coordinators the ability to see project costs in real time as they happen can keep these costs from ballooning out of control. When money gets tight, solutions can be identified. Controllers can use PSA Software as a tool for drilling down to the granular level on any project costing. 

For contractual services having all the information at your fingertips can keep communications open with clients and help control costs from the start. You can run the business from any location, with any mobile device without the need or cost of your own servers. Assign who is needed the most on the fly, without extra cost or hardware.

Keeping it Simple

For either type of service industries, PSA software delivers to managers a tool to plan, manage and schedule within one platform. This gives them that big picture view that traditional planning software is incapable of creating. With this perspective on the project or contract, managers can allocate key talents as they are required, all while keeping an eye on the overall budgets and client needs. Having all the information at their fingertips makes their job simpler and gives them the results they need to succeed.

Grow Your Productivity

For project coordinators, having the capability to move skilled talent for maximum impact delivers a more profitable end project. PSA software gives team-oriented business flexibility so everyone works to their strengths. Best of all, this flexibility also drives a healthier bottom-line with less down time and more productive hours.

Spend less time putting out fires and managing unexpected hiccups in the schedule. PSA software allows you to concentrate on delivering on time and on budget. Want to know more? Check out the features we offer at EzPSA to give your next project this edge.

Project or contractual success isn’t a matter of luck; it is a matter of communication, organization and efficient use of products and skills. When you combine these into one tool, PSA Software, you mange success along with everything else.

IT Small Business Development – Newsletter Ideas

Even in IT companies, small business development can be a challenge. Here at EzPSA we have found that even with social media having changed the landscape, email marketing, particularly newsletters, remain the best method. There are some great delivery tools for newsletters, and if you want to look at the top three named by Entrepreneur Magazine, be sure the check out their article here.

However, delivery methods aside, the question remains: where to find great newsletter ideas to keep it fresh? For many the ultimate goal of any newsletter is to not only get past the spam filter and be read but to actually have someone act on what you write. In the end the hope is for that sale. This can be intimidating. But it doesn’t have to be.

Start with Great Content

Have someone in your company that has a way with words? They might be a great candidate to create a newsletter. The important thing is to keep a couple of goals in mind as you gather the important information you want to share. The best newsletter ideas all start with great content. Here are a few tips on newsletter ideas for creating top content for your IT business newsletter.

Present sharable information – Do you know a few tricks of the trade? Share with your readers one good piece of information each newsletter they can use in their business. This is content that gets shared around, so make a list and assign them to each issue. One easy way is to create a series within the newsletter for your tips. And don’t be afraid to ask your readers to share their tips. Everyone loves to see their name in print as an expert!

Write for your readers – Remember that great newsletter you read? It probably said what you needed to hear. Maybe you agreed with it when you read it. If you run an IT service, what do your customers talk about and need to know more about? If you develop software, what exciting things are happening in your industry? This newsletter isn’t to tout how wonderful your company is, that’s called advertising, and nobody wants it in their newsletter. If you have a new product that can help them, that’s great. Let them know. But this shouldn’t be the focus of it.  For a newsletter, it’s all about the readers.

Share great stories – People want to know about their industry. You add credibility and include your readers with a feature on the IT industry around the net. Share some great stories of how IT is improving the world, connecting people, making their lives better. It doesn’t have to be directly related to your company, just a great story that your clients would love to know about. A short note with a link is all you need.

Remind them of old gems – In time your newsletter, blog or emails will have a backlog of great stories or news items that people loved. You may have some tips that are still getting comments a year after they were written. Bring them out and talk about them. Look at old blog posts or customer comments from your site. These are all great stories to share with your customers. And don’t forget to mention what is happening on your social media accounts in your newsletter. 

The Best Newsletter Ideas Give Them Value

Your newsletter should have information that people value. It should be interesting to read and be the sort of thing they will forward to others. To do that, it has to be something people say “Hey- I never thought of this! Jim should see this!” It can even be about a topic that everyone seems to be talking about these days and by commenting on it you make what you have to say on the newsletter relevant to your customers.

Remember, even if your ultimate goal is to attract new clients, when it comes to IT small business development, newsletters are never about actually selling. These newsletter ideas are just one of many tools to build up a conversation between you and your potential or current clients. It builds respect and most of all trust, a thing in short supply on the net. 

Looking for more great ways to help your IT business grow? Come by our site and find out how our PSA software designed with the IT industry in mind can help. 

Using PSA to Grow Your IT Business

Does your professional IT business know how to use professional service automation (PSA) software to grow and succeed? As a service business, your IT company is in the business of providing expert help. Your people and their given expertise is the product you sell. When your experts are asked to solve a problem they need the best tools at hand and the knowledge of how to use them.

Tools that will help them to stay on top of all the changes your client’s business is going through. Tools that will allow them to offer the best solutions from initial contact right through to the time when all your client needs is on-going support.

Doing this means you will give your clients better service, and service is what you want to offer them in spades. Here are a few more examples of how using the right PSA software can help your IT business grow both smarter and stronger.

Efficient Project Management 

One of the biggest headaches for any IT business is managing the projects which in turn manage your client’s expectations. When you use PSA software to schedule support, track locations, and keep an up to date record of available resources, your customers feel cared for. When you use it to track expenses and simplify billing, your costs are under control and your project bids are more in line with reality.

Having all of these abilities in one system makes them even easier to control, as you can see here. Suddenly your business is the go-to place for not only your clients, but their business associates. They feel secure in recommending you because they know they can rely on you to provide the IT support they need, on time and at a price that makes sense.

Tracking Problems Quickly

Probably one of the biggest reasons many smaller IT companies use a PSA is to help with customer support. Face it, when your clients have a problem they want you to track it down, fix it and get back to them with the problem solved. And they want it done yesterday. Your PSA delivers an automatic system that tracks all of this, from creating the ticket to emailing the client that the problem has been solved.

The key is to use every aspect of the system to its fullest abilities. Automation should make your business smarter, but never replace the important human touch that every service based business needs to have. But creating support for those humans by giving them the tools to react faster is something any service business needs to not only survive but grow.

Giving Your Clients Access to More

One of the real advantages for many clients with PSA software solutions like the EzPSA is that clients can access the information they need when they need it. Not only does this increase the communication between you and your client, but it also means that your staff is not spending all their time writing up reports that in most instances your clients never read.

With access to client portals that give them the feedback they want in real time, they can not only get what they want at any time day or night, but can understand the information when they read it.  Having access to this information on an as-needs basis will make you a better vendor and them a better client. When they see in black and white the solutions you have provided by accessing their portals to check on their needs, you won’t have to explain your value to them. It will be there right before their eyes.

Are You A Leader or a Follower?

We know that only 10% of the resellers market actually uses PSA software for their IT based businesses. And yet, we also know that those 10% are among the most successful companies. You have to wonder why that is, but I think the answer is obvious. Even in a tech-based business like the IT services industry, there are leaders and there are followers. The leaders are the ones that look at all the options, see what actually works instead of using what everyone else is using out of habit, and moves forward.

We have become used to thinking of our business as person-centric because it is a service business. We forget that the very software and hardware we work with every day can make our own business more streamlined and profitable. If you could cut your costs and minimize your overhead without endangering the service you offer, you would do it, wouldn’t you? It isn’t about throwing every kind of software at the problem; it is about choosing the one that solves your problems intelligently. That’s what leaders do.

Growing your Business with EzPSA

These are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ways that you can use your CRM software to help you to grow your IT business. In the coming months EzPSA is going to look at many different aspects of the IT business. We will discuss everything from marketing tips to simple tutorials on the different aspects of your PSA software.

As we do, we invite you to come by the site and find out more about our many features and why we think EzPSA is the best designed PSA software for the IT business.  Stay tuned as we explore how you as a service business, whether it be in IT or another industry, can use PSA software to make your business more competitive.

Taking Care of Business – Learning to Lead an IT Business

Do you remember that old rock song Taking Care of Business? This really should be the anthem for your

technology or IT business if you have decided to move on from being a freelancer to running a service technology company. But just as it is important to keep the technology running smoothly by staying up to date on the latest tools for your clients, it is important to keep yourself in good shape as well. Your clients depend on you and you can’t service them if your energy is low because you put yourself last when it comes to your health.

Taking Time to Make Time

In a recent interview in Inc. Magazine with Carrie Kerpen, CEO of social media site Likeable Media, she talked about how hard it was for her to move from COO to CEO. It wasn’t just the responsibilities that she was facing; as partner and co-founder that wasn’t the problem. She knew that as the front person for the company she would need to be in her best shape physically to handle the stress.

For many women in the technology world, and there are getting to be more of us every day, this can be difficult. We are used to putting others first. This includes our kids, our family and often our fellow workers or our employees. But if you are moving from a self-contained business where you are the technology to running a service business of any kind, you will find yourself stretched very quickly. This is when it is important that you take the time to plan for the stresses this business hands us.

Your Health is Your Company’s Health

It is important to realise that you are responsible for more than just you now. With a company, even if it is only one or two employees, making your health your priority should be on the top of the list. We have all worked for bosses who vented their stress on their employees. It doesn't give you good workers or good results. It can also add to the stress for everyone.

Taking care of your own health, eating right and using a gym, sports team or other physical stress outlet can not only make your job easier, it can make your company more successful. Burning the midnight oil and thinking non-stop about client problems won’t make you a better CEO, it will just make the business feel like a burden instead of an accomplishment.

Organization is Part of the Solution

Besides the kinds of things that Carrie talks about in her interview, such as getting on a good nutrition plan and using exercise to work off stress, you also need to have tools that help you stay organized. Writing down your goals, knowing what you are working towards, these can all be part of creating a successful business. This includes a blog or diary to express your emotions so they don’t end up all over your client. Technology has been great at giving us some other tools for staying focused on the business at hand.

If you know how your techs are handling the work and where the work is coming from in the pipeline, your job will be less stressful. That is where having the right PSA software to keep track of the workflow will be a great boon for you and your company.  There are so many tricks of the trade that will help you to keep the administration work down, build the relationships with your clients and manage your costs.

At one time this was done in various software programs by different departments. Remember those long boring meetings where each department reported what they were working on and how they were succeeding? When you have all that information in one tool, online and available through the cloud to everyone, it makes for one less headache.

Taking the Next Step

With tax season done and a new fiscal year on many business owners’ minds, now is a good time for new beginnings. Are you thinking of starting up your own tech service business? Have you had one for a while and are looking for ways to refresh your enthusiasm for it? Everyone needs a little reminder now and again why we are in business and what makes it work for us.

What are your biggest challenges to start or grow your business? You know you will need to be charged up and ready to take them on. Getting into shape, physically and mentally is a good next step for any business.  What’s your story for getting into shape for your business?

Why A Customer Service Desk Matters

A well run customer service desk can affect how anyone interacting with your business perceives it instantly.

You probably don’t even need me to paint the picture, because we have all had this experience at one time or another. You have a problem, you contact the company, and the person on the other end of the line can’t find your file, doesn't understand your problem or can’t find a solution that works for you.

Now compare this to a customer service person that answers quickly, in a few seconds pulls up your file, notes what the problem is or even sees notes in your file that indicate someone is working on it now. Even if the problem doesn't get solved over the phone, you hang up feeling like they will get to the bottom of it quickly. An organized customer service desk can be the difference between these two calls.

The Cloud as Service Desk

Of course, the great advantage today is that the cloud allows us to have personal service desks that handle individual requests through email. No matter how small your business, having this portal will give your company an air of professionalism. With cloud software allowing all members of a team to log in and record updates via tablets or smartphones, clients will always feel in the loop for any projects or requirements.
The other advantage is that with a software run cloud-based customer service desk your clients can email requests, log in to see how that request is being handled and never feel ignored. It is all too easy for human error to leave out a message or forget a request. With this type of customer service desk your personnel can focus on giving great customer service while the software handles the daily tasks of moving the request forward to the right party.

A Professional Customer Service Desk

In the end, taking the time to set up a professional customer service desk that can handle incoming calls along with software for channeling those requests will be worth every minute spent getting it in motion. When customers know their problems will be handled quickly their faith in your business grows. For many, the customer service desk is the dividing line between OK service and great service. It is that reaction that will grow your own business with satisfied customers that are happy to recommend you.

Uniqueness Counts – Standing Out From Competitors

Being unique is often all that separates companies from each other. In order to stand out from your competitor it is a good idea to offer something unique or different to your customers. It does not have to be something big. In many cases you can offer something small that can have a major impact on the way a customer sees your business.

The first step in finding out what you can do to make your business unique from your competitors is to research. There are several things that need to be considered. The first thing is the services that are provided. Ask yourself what you can do to make your services unique from the services of your competitors. Is there something you can offer that will help you to stand out from other companies offering similar products and services?

One of the biggest things that you can do to set yourself apart from your competitors is how you handle customer service. The Internet has made it possible for companies to offer a wider range of options when it comes to handling the problem. Companies do not have to rely on just phone service. They can handle it through e-mails, service desks and help desks or even the instant message chat options.

When the customer does not have a problem, the numerous contact options may not be important. However, they can become extremely important when the client or customer has questions or issues that need to be answered or resolved. Making sure that those questions or issues are resolved quickly can make a considerable difference when looking to stand out from your competition.

The next thing to consider is pricing and deals. Research your competition. Find out what they're offering and the price they're offering. In many cases offering something unique and different that will attract customers can be as simple as altering your product and service packages. This can also be one of the more difficult ways to stand out from your competitors. This is because there can be a fine balance between offering a great deal in making the profit you need to keep your business running successfully. 

One way around that is to offer something for free. For example, if you offer a subscription-based service consider offering a deal where potential customers and clients can save money by purchasing annual subscriptions or offer something for free if they purchase subscriptions of a certain size. You can do the same with the variety of products and services. People often love to receive free items. The important thing is to make sure that these free items are unique and different from items offered by competitors.

These are just some ideas on how to make your company stand out from other companies offering similar products and services. It is important to remember that researching your competitors and researching your market are the two biggest factors in creating something unique.

Internet Marketing Tips – Keeping Up a Stream Of Potential Clients

Internet marketing is the main form of marketing for most companies, especially if they offer online services.  There are a few basics that can get you started and make sure that your online presence is set up to enjoy the benefits being online has to offer. These tips will help to make it possible for your business to see an increase in traffic and have a website designed to provide your company with what it needs to succeed.

The first step is evaluation. What are you trying to do with your website? Pick a single thing, set a goal to improve it and improve one thing at a time. Improving tons of things may be what you need, but you do not need to do it all at once. Improving everything at once often leads to serious problems. One thing at a time can also keep people coming back to your site to see improvements. 

Make sure that the content you are providing your customers is useful and unique. If you are putting content out there that is the same as everyone else you are not making sure your business stands out. Your content should also match your business goals and should be relevant to what you are presenting to your customers. This is true for content being sent to your client such as through email marketing.

Get your website out there. If people cannot find your business you will not be receiving the traffic you want. Internet marketing does not have to cost an arm and a leg. There are plenty of free directories that you can submit your website to. If you meet their criteria you have the opportunity to take advantage of the traffic the directory brings in.

Check out competitors, especially ones that are doing better than you are in the business. Take a look at how they have things set up, sign up for their newsletters and see what they are doing that you are not. It can be a great way to find out what works and what does not without having to go through the trial and error of it yourself. 

Take the time to blog. Blogging does not take up anything but time. It gives you the opportunity to talk about subjects close to your services and your products and gives customers a chance to get to know you. It also can be a great place to gain new traffic. 

Video marketing, whether you are using the internet or TV, is big. Videos can be posted at dozens of video upload sites; they can be used to reviews products and explain services. They can be considerably more effective than simple written media. These good quality videos can be shot from everything from a digital still camera to cell phones. Editing software can be found for little or even no money making it possible for anyone to be able to post videos and make the most of their internet marketing potential.