Yodel.io

If work from home has started to have an impact on you, don't worry, you aren't alone. Studies have shown the more and more people are experiencing signs of work from home burnout, which can impact job performance and creep into other aspects of workers' lives. We know how important it is to speak to professionals about these issues, and we encourage anyone who feels that way to do so! But, we also wanted to give you some tips that you can start incorporating into your life to avoid work from home fatigue before it causes significant issues. Check out our tips in our latest blog post, linked below!

Hearing one of our customers describe Yodel as "communication of the future" just feels SO right! Think about it, 10 years ago would you have even thought it would be possible to have a phone system that works across computers, tablets, cell phones, hardware phones, that all lives in the cloud? And when you think about most businesses today, they are all stuck in the past with phone systems that haven't been updated in YEARS! Get a jump on your competition by bringing your phone system into 2020, and gain access to features that your traditional phone system won't be able to give you until far into the future.

I wonder how many of you are reading this from your cell phone? It's incredible the ways that our phones function as our personal computers, televisions, newspapers, on top of acting as a phone that can be used on the go. There's just no comparing the convince of it to a hardware phone, which is why it can be frustrating trying to take a business call on a traditional phone. Well, luckily we more than one solution for you. That's right, MORE than one! If you start your call ...on a hardware phone but need to change locations, easily forward your call to your mobile phone! Or, use our iPhone or iPad app to handle the call from your mobile phone right from the start! And, you still get the benefits of having one centralized business phone number. You won't need to worry about your personal phone number getting mixed up with business calls, while still getting to take advantage of the benefits of a mobile phone. Have you tried any of Yodel's mobile phone capabilities? Let us know which one is your favorite!

We know how much having a virtual assistant can help, but do you? We wanted to share with you some of our top reasons we love using Yodel as a virtual assistant! To give you a hint, just think back to the last time you were in the flow at work. Whatever the task was, you were just about to write down a ground breaking thought when... *ring* *ring* *ring*... Of course you answered, because its your business number and you're always happy to help out your customers. But, turns out it was just another spam caller. You try to get back to your work, but you can't shake the annoyance of that unnecessary interruption, and are preoccupied wondering when the phone will ring again and interrupt your progress. This is just one of the things that Yodel can help you avoid. If you're looking for more reasons, check out our blog post here!

We recently mentioned the small business community, but if you're a new small business or you haven't taken advantage of this community you may have been wondering how to connect with other small businesses! If you'd like to expand your small business circle, think about finding socially distanced or virtual meetups in your area! Websites like http://Meetup.com make it really easy to find other local businesses, and even filter by different issues or criteria. It is so great to see local events held virtually and socially distant, keeping this community connected during these unprecedented times! It's also great that with virtual events, you can connect with likeminded small businesses in your industry even if they're across the country! Let us know, have you ever done a meetup? If not, what's holding you back?

This week has been declared National Small Business Week, and we wanted to take a minute to thank all of the small businesses for the hard work they do to consistently show up for their customers. It's incredible to see the work that the more than 30 million small businesses in the United States do every day. That's why it's important to highlight small business achievements, and recognition for this sector as a critical part of the economy. If you are looking to read a statement about National Small Business Week from the White House, here is the link: For all of the small businesses who are just getting started, we wanted to welcome you to this incredibly supportive and innovative community. We love hearing your #smallbusinesssuccess stories, and why YOU love to support small businesses!

Have you ever used the phone and something went wrong? Well, we certainly have experienced those situations at least once. Here are some of our best practices for effective phone communication, that you can start using today. 1. Be prepared to leave a voicemail Prepare yourself for the call. Even when the person does pick up, it is helpful when you have an outline on what you want to ask while being on the phone. This also helps when leaving a voicemail, since the reason of t...he call can be stated and voilá you look like a pro! 2. Not getting all of the information from a voicemail Use a phone system that transcribes your voicemails. Yodel can do this for you. You will get your voicemail not only sent to you as an audio file but also completely transcribed. This means, no more wasting time listening to that voicemail repeatedly to catch the call-back number or caller information. 3. Make the most of your introduction Welcometomycompanysuchandsuchisspeakinghowcanihelpyou? When taking phone calls multiple times a day, the tendency of saying your line fast is high. However, the caller hears it for the first time and may not understand what you are actually saying. Plan out your introduction, and remind yourself to breath! What are your best phone communication tips?

You might have noticed... After months of being unable to go into the office... The benefits of working remote! Well lets remind you of some of them!... - Flexible hours, which will help you create a schedule that works for you, and the people most important to you. -There is no need to take a step backwards in your career, to have more time at home. There are countless positions that can be done remotely, including management roles. This means that you won’t have to choose between your career, and your other priorities. Remote work gives you a chance to have it all. -Flexible location, which gives you the flexibility to travel or relocate as it works best for you, your loved ones, and wherever life takes you. What has your favorite perk of #wfh been? Let us know in the comments!

I'm sure you already know how important it is to have good relationships with your clients, but it can be SO hard to go beyond just "pleasant" interactions and ACTUALLY get to know your clients on a personal level... ESPECIALLY when clients are more virtual than ever. Think about it, when your clients live around the world, or even just down the street but with busy schedules, how can you go the extra mile to connect when you're doing it through a screen? Well, that's why we've written our latest blog post! To share some of our tips that can help you start to connect with your virtual clients ASAP. Trust us, it will make SUCH a difference!

We love reading articles from Slack! This is a great one about how managers can support their teams best during remote working, and is full of best practices that can be implemented instantly! It's always helpful to hear from other teams working remotely, that way we can all collaborate together and create successful remote team environments! On of our favorite times of the year is when we have our annual in-person meetup, which is full of team bonding, collaboration, and is... just plain fun! As a team that always works remotely, this is a great way for us to stay connected! Whether it's just for now, or something that your team does full time, there are plenty of ways to take advantage of remote work. Let us know in the comments, how does your team handle remote work? And, what's your favorite part of working remote!

This is probably a familiar situtation for many of you: you have a missed phone call and the caller left a voicemail with tons of information. You have to write it all down: numbers, addresses, product information and so on. It’s a burden and not efficient AT ALL! That's why we love offering voicemail transcription, so you can focus on listening to more than just tons of information. You can now focus on the caller's tone, and pick up on subtle voice cues that can help you ad...dress them the right way! And, you can have all of the information on hand when you do give the caller a call back, knowing that you didn't make any errors when you were taking your own notes!

Why do people like me easily get stressed out about phone calls? According to a list of numerous publications (just Google search ‘Why do millennials not like to call?’), the younger generations identify phone calls as being presumptuous, disruptive and intrusive as they want to get pre-informed about who is calling and why they are calling. Is it just millennials, and younger generations, who think this way? How do you feel about phone calls?

Whether you have a loose system or a very defined workflow, there is no doubt that when you get knocked off course you lose major productivity and momentum and I bet you have no idea how much time it’s costing you... We are constantly being bombarded with rings, dings, beeps, and pop-ups that make us constantly reactive. Not only that but we now have new software, hardware, and technologies that promise us they will change our lives and create a virtual utopia of a work e...nvironment (SO not true)! The sad truth is most of them won’t work well for yourself, your business, your employees, and will actually end up doing more damage than good and could even create some pretty bad habits for you and your team. Bottom line: More technology = Splitting your attention making it harder than ever to focus! Enter Yodel, the business phone system for Slack. We built Yodel because having to answer a hardware phone is a big distraction considering most of us spend most of our time on our computers and we know this interruption is a major friction point for many teams. This is a tech solution that doesn't ADD to the confusion, instead STREAMLINES your processes!

In a brick and mortar store, a customer is able to see when a customer service representative is busy and when they aren’t. Those visual cues lets them know if they want to wait to talk to someone, come back later, or find something to occupy them until they can be reached. For an eCommerce business though, your customers won’t get the benefits of the visual cues. That’s why it’s important to communicate to them exactly whats going on, in a way that lets them know that you will take care of them. Read our latest blog post for some insights on how to take your eCommerce communication to the next level, and show your callers how much you value them.