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Shock! Stun! Amaze!  The web increases your business productivity
Don’t be fooled by Social Networking’s bad press, the web can be your business’ best ally in productivity

There’s nothing quite as tough to shrug as bad press.

A casual glance at the Human Resources media demonstrates how some journos hard up for a good story (not to mention a good follow up) latch onto a controversial topic like a dog on a postie’s leg.

Yes the Social Networking habits of staff is a real problem (and one of my top productivity killers below) but that doesn’t stop the web being the greatest productivity tool since the telephone.

Productivity is really one of the web’s best kept secrets as it gets overshadowed by sexier Social Networking, Search Engine Marketing and Online Selling.

Well planned and executed though, it can save your business a massive amount of time spent doing things ‘the old way’.

So in the name of balanced opinion, here’s my rundown of the top productivity gains the web can provide your business.

1 – Customer self service
This blog has dedicated considerable space to the notion of closing the sale with your website.  Don’t be fooled by the ‘personal service’ myth perpetuated by nervous salespeople (if there is such a thing).  Decades of overly persuasive personal selling techniques mean that now customers will do anything they can not to talk to a salesperson. 

That means the website that can provide as much information about your business as possible, and takes the transaction as far as possible will get the sale.

The passive sales this approach generates allows you to get on with more productive activities.

2 – Sorting the good Social Networking from the evil
Don’t be conned by self absorbed Gen Ys.  They actually don’t have a God-given right to engage in personal Social Networking during office hours.

The only people who should be Social Networking are Marketers and Customer Service teams.  And this Social Networking is not personal but for your business.  In other words they are representing your business with their tweeting, blogging and chatting.

Marketers should be using it to generate valuable ‘viral’ while Customer Service staff should be using it to attend customers.  That can include monitoring bad ‘chatter’ and intervening with constructive solutions.

3 – Email is usually better than phone
Apart from email costing a fraction of the price of a phone call (at just the data transfer charge), email is usually faster and more accountable.

The reality is that when we get on the phone, human nature dictates that we tend to both engage in niceties and get off the point.  What’s more, if there is any agreement made via phone you usually have to record it in some way anyway – leading to duplication.

Email gets to the point and creates a trail of record – very useful if there is any doubt about a transaction.

Where email doesn’t work is where there needs to be interactive discussion as distinct from a simple exchange of facts.  Where there is uncertainty, a quick phone conversation will beat a chain of emails every time.

The other exception is where the staff member does not have good ‘fingerspeed’.  In which case a course (either in person or using software) in touchtyping can go a long way.

4 . Webconferencing and webinars will save you a bundle
One of the few good things to come out of a downturn is the forced breaking of bad and often expensive habits.

For example, without advocating that we all turn into desk-based zombies, there is not much these days that necessitates an in-person meeting.

Better still, the cost of web-based group communication and collaboration has plummeted in recent years, putting it well within the grasp of smaller business.

So before you book that airfare or accommodation, think carefully about how much of the meeting can realistically be achieved remotely.  And how much that will save your business.

5 – Make your website bulge with information
Its not rocket science.  Every single communication that you manually carry out in person or by phone or email expends valuable labour time.  Putting the same information on your website by way of product information, FAQs or fact sheets allows customers and stakeholders to help themselves to the information and saving you a bomb.

A side benefit of this approach is that additional content equals extra opportunities for your website to present juicy search engine bait.

And well prepared email newsletters can pre-empt some of this information requirement by way of tips and other useful information about your product / service.

6 – Bundle your services
One of the inherent problems of services is that the price of the ‘job’ often isn’t known till providers have a chance to evaluate all the variables it entails.  And collecting this information can often take a time consuming and therefore risky series of communications between provider and client.

But by coming up with set parameters for your services and then bundling them into a package (potentially with a few variations), you can make it easy for clients to make a fast purchase decision.

This approach translates well to the web where customers can again ‘help themselves’ to the package of their choosing and even purchase it on the spot.

7 – Allow customers to fully book online
This time saving and sales closing capability was discussed here in some detail a few weeks back, but bears repeating.

So next time you’re tempted to curse the web for yet another distraction to your staff, consider all the productivity gains a well planned web presence can instead provide your business.