Jeff_Cochran
New member
- Location
- Memphis TN
BOO TO THA YAAAAA!!!!!! I'm so excited to have all that stress off my shoulders. Today is her first day so we will see if this works as well as we planned.
Just hired an office manager
- Thread starter Jeff_Cochran
- Start date
Jeff_Cochran
New member
- Location
- Memphis TN
This is the best move i have EVER made. Better customer service = more referrals
[ QUOTE ]
Being in business sucks!
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It sure does have its highs and lows. It has been getting old doing these 80+ Hrs a week. And that is even with my wife answering the phone and scheduling estimates.
I am fortunate to have this taken care of. Only down side is my wife says she feels like she lives at this company with the phone ringing at our home.
I would like to have another office member in the office here to do other things. Only so much time in the day. What is the going price range for an office secretary/manager? I'll get by this year, but may bring on the extra help next year.
Being in business sucks!
[/ QUOTE ]
It sure does have its highs and lows. It has been getting old doing these 80+ Hrs a week. And that is even with my wife answering the phone and scheduling estimates.
I am fortunate to have this taken care of. Only down side is my wife says she feels like she lives at this company with the phone ringing at our home.
I would like to have another office member in the office here to do other things. Only so much time in the day. What is the going price range for an office secretary/manager? I'll get by this year, but may bring on the extra help next year.
treehumper
Carpal tunnel level member
- Location
- Ridgefield, NJ
Tell your wife to set up the office in a separate room where she can close the door at the end of the day.
Office admins are probably the best investment a small biz can make in hiring next to a sales person.
Office admins are probably the best investment a small biz can make in hiring next to a sales person.
- Location
- under grace
Best thing i have ever done...My "phone answering Girl" after 6 years has become our tree operations manager!! schedules estimate,Schedules all crew work,does billing , when we do things like expo ,she sets the whole thing up,books hotels ,conferance prints up agendas,hand me a folder w everything in it and basically says " off you go"..and so so much more..
a balanced approach..no one on their death bed ever says...I wish i would have worked more!!"
a balanced approach..no one on their death bed ever says...I wish i would have worked more!!"
- Location
- AZ
I need one of these soo bad. My head exploded today...
- Location
- under grace
yeah rocks and trees.... thats a real mess when that happens.....stuff everywhere....lol ...hate that..
- Location
- AZ
Tell me about it. My wife was pissed
- Location
- under grace
mine hates the clean up too....especially the grey matter.....course there is not much of that left!!
allmark
Participating member
How do you go about finding the right person? I had someone answering calls and setting up appointments this spring. It worked into doing some paperwork too but it fell apart later in the year.
- Location
- Longmont, CO
I had an assistant for a little whilelast year. It was good.
I held back on hiring another assistant this year, since I hired an extra groundsman.
We just got slammed with a wet snow here. It busted nearly every tree limb in the area. I handled 136 calls in the past two days. Ask me if I could use help in the office.
Jeff. I'm glad you've got an assistant.
I held back on hiring another assistant this year, since I hired an extra groundsman.
We just got slammed with a wet snow here. It busted nearly every tree limb in the area. I handled 136 calls in the past two days. Ask me if I could use help in the office.
Jeff. I'm glad you've got an assistant.
Jeff_Cochran
New member
- Location
- Memphis TN
go with a professional temp service
treehumper
Carpal tunnel level member
- Location
- Ridgefield, NJ
[ QUOTE ]
How do you go about finding the right person? I had someone answering calls and setting up appointments this spring. It worked into doing some paperwork too but it fell apart later in the year.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hiring 101, draft a job description. From that you derive the necessary technical skills, i.e., software proficiency, bookkeeping, phone system and, the soft skills as well. Those would be the interpersonal, communication, customer service, self-motivation, problem solving, etc....
One other thing that is really important is to define the work environment and the working style of the person or persons they will be interacting with. There has to be a good fit with those people in order for the person to work out.
With this information you can now create a job posting to circulate to others in order to find potential candidates.
How do you go about finding the right person? I had someone answering calls and setting up appointments this spring. It worked into doing some paperwork too but it fell apart later in the year.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hiring 101, draft a job description. From that you derive the necessary technical skills, i.e., software proficiency, bookkeeping, phone system and, the soft skills as well. Those would be the interpersonal, communication, customer service, self-motivation, problem solving, etc....
One other thing that is really important is to define the work environment and the working style of the person or persons they will be interacting with. There has to be a good fit with those people in order for the person to work out.
With this information you can now create a job posting to circulate to others in order to find potential candidates.
- Location
- under grace
yeah what he said!! humper is always good at framing the discussion...
treehumper
Carpal tunnel level member
- Location
- Ridgefield, NJ
Thanks Tait! Oh and then the all important interview. Pick up some books on interviewing, preferably PBI (performance based interviewing). This approach is based on the premise that past performance predicts future behavior. Questions asked elicit responses where the interviewee describes how they handled a situation in the past and the outcomes of it. This can be verified more readily and gives a clear impression of the skill or skills you are seeking.
E.G., "Tell me about a time when you dealt with an irate customer on the phone." ;"Describe a day at your previous job where you felt it all went well."; the follow on question would be, "Now describe for me a day where you felt it was just the opposite." Of course, there will be subsequent questions to these to delve further into their answers; Why? What do you learn?, etc....
It all sounds much more professional then what may be currently done but the results are far better. Always though try to put the person at ease first so they'll open up to you.
E.G., "Tell me about a time when you dealt with an irate customer on the phone." ;"Describe a day at your previous job where you felt it all went well."; the follow on question would be, "Now describe for me a day where you felt it was just the opposite." Of course, there will be subsequent questions to these to delve further into their answers; Why? What do you learn?, etc....
It all sounds much more professional then what may be currently done but the results are far better. Always though try to put the person at ease first so they'll open up to you.
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