How can one number work in five places? Christian Brothers Automotive has five locations in the Austin metro area. The owners got together at bought radio advertising. The radio spots where done by Dave Ramsey, the debt free motivational speaker. Rather than having to advertise five numbers for all of the locations, they wanted to provide one number for prospects to call. We helped them sure the number: 512-FIX-AUTO. The caller has the option to press a digit to reach the nearest location. This system is designed to route calls during business hours. After hours the system takes a message then delivers it via email. 

The owners have the ability to log on to the web admin and view reports on how many calls were received over a specific amount of time.

This is a great way for multiple location companies to maximize their marketing. Callers only have to remember one number. They can use the number in print ads to save space.

Earlier today I stopped for gas in downtown Dallas. I was near the American Airlines Center. Since the gas was over priced, I thought I’d spend $10.00 and get some more gas the next day at nearly .40 cents a gallon cheaper.

Too my surprise, $10.00 only bought me a little over two gallons off gas! There worst part is I had to stop for again a couple hours for more gas. I remember when you could get two gallons of gas for $2!
I wish I could quadruple my rates and still have customers!

Yesterday I received a call from a client via my RemotePBX. He asked a couple of questions that I answered successfully. At the end of the call, I said “When I get back to the office, I will send you some more information”. He surprisingly said “You are not at the office!” BUSTED - Virtual Office Rule No. 7 - Never say when I get to a computer or the office. Although the rules have changed regarding home bound workers, clients do not necessarily want to know you are at Jason’s Deli and not stuck in the office!

The benefits of working virtually are great. I had lost my appreciation because I have done it for so long. I closed my last real office in 2002. The only reason I had a office was because that was what everyone else was doing. The freedom of working from anywhere you have a Internet connection is great. I will be adding more stories I have heard from other Virtual workers

I am a fan and supporter of NPR (National Public Radio). One of the shows I like to listen to is called “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me”. It is a comedy new quiz of the past week in the headlines. The show has very little to do with VOIP or telecom services. But wait! One of the prizes for answering the questions correctly is……. Carl Castle’s voice on your home ANSWERING MACHINE!

People seem to be genuinely happy about winning that prize. Every time I hear it, I laugh out loud and think “Do people really still have answering machines at home?” If so, where can you buy them? How much are they? For the record, I gave my last answering machine to my brother in law back in 1994 (He still has it!). Every since then, it has been CallNotes, voicemail and virtual pbx services.

I think the Answering Machine should take it’s place right next to the typewriter in the old school office. If you are running your business using an answering, please call us! We can save you. In fact if someone calls me at X.104 and still uses an Answering Machine, I will donate 3 months of service and help you find a new home for the old relic!

Check out this episode of “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” from NPR

People ask me “What is a Remote PBX?” How does it differ from a Hosted PBX or Virtual PBX? The short answer is: There is no difference!

A PBX (Private Branch Exchange) offers a unified front door so callers can reach all of your employees by dialing one main phone number, which is particularly useful if your business uses more than one telephone line.

Your local telephone company will be happy to sell or lease pricey PBX equipment to set up this type of service. However, you can now get many of the same telephone call-handling capabilities at a fraction of the cost by using a Web-based virtual PBX service.

A month-to-month Remote PBX gives you the flexibility of being able to enhance or cancel the service at any time. There’s no capital investment or commitment to a long-term leasing contract.

You do not need some big fancy office to have a Remote PBX. In fact, you do not even need a phone line.

Let me say both phones are nice….and addictive! I have had the iPhone for about 6 months now. Since I am a Mac fanatic, I really enjoy using it. It is fun to use and everyone digs it. Surfing the web, listening to my iPod and showing off my pictures make the iPhone super cool. With all that being said, boy do I miss my Blackberry.

Hands down, the Blackberry is the phone of choice for me as a business person! The push email, cut and paste and one handed operation helps it earn the name “Crackberry”. My email arrives instantly and I can tell where it came from by looking at the icon. On my iPhone, I have to dig three steps deep into one of five folders (I check five email addresses from my phone). I am about to make the switch back! Not because I don’t like my iPhone - I love it. I am switching solely for the email functionality. There it is - I said it! I am going to lose a lot of cool points but I will make up for that by not getting my email 30 minutes later!

What kind of question is that? Of course gas is expensive. I ran across a blog tonight that compared the price of gas to other products we purchase on a daily basis. Gas may end up being a bargain!

1 gallon of gas = $3.99

Quart of Milk 16 oz for $1.59 = $3.99 per gallon

Gatorade 20 oz for $1.59 = $10.17 per gallon

Snapple 16 oz for $1.29 = $10.32 per gallon

Water 9 oz for $1.49 = $21.19 per gallon

Starbucks 8 ounce coconut almond mocha for $4.43(what I used to drink) = $70.88 per gallon

Good thing our cars don’t run on starbucks, eh?

As I was writing this entry, another blog caught my attention. A report by Kelly Blue Book says 28 percent of new car shoppers have stopped going to Starbuck’s entirely,21 percent indicate they are going less often due to skyrocketing gas prices.

When Answer360 first went into business in 1997, there was a stigma attached to working from home. If you worked from home, you could not be taken seriously! Our customer would try to hide that fact that they did not have an office. “Let’s just meet at the coffee shop” or “I will be in your area, I’ll just stop by” were some of the excuses given for not allowing anyone to come to their office. I remember one client wanted to see our office really bad. I explained to him that we had an office but it was not pretty. At the time we were renting a room from one of our clients. He could not believe we could run a high end Hosted PBX service out of a spare room. Thankfully times have changed! Home based businesses are no longer viewed as inferior.

In fact, home based businesses are a $427 billion dollar industry. The average home based business brings in $63,000 a year. According to IDC, a top national research firm, there are between 34 million and 36 million home office households.

Now is a better time than ever to work from home. Turn the spare bedroom or even the den into a home office. It makes sense to cut cost and walk to the walk to work

Being from Austin I have grown used to not wearing suits and ties to business meetings. It is the capital of “Business Casual”. Today, however I was fitted for a suit. I have a special party to attend this weekend. The gentleman that helped me kept talking about making a good first impression. He went on to explain how when a person makes seven important decisions about you.

However, I believe the First Impression take place before a person ever sees you! The First Impression is when a caller or prospect calls your office. Does your 4 year kid answer the phone? Are you using a cell phone? Do you have an tape based answer machine?

Well if you had a Virtual PBX, your callers will not know that you are in your pajamas. The callers will assume you have a large office because you have a name directory, departments and a professional recorded greeting. Now that is a First Impression! Once you meet the person later on it will not matter what you have on! The callers expectations have been set so high, that you can probably raise rates.

Over on Ohlen Road, there is one of 19 or so UPS Stores in Austin Texas. What makes this location unique is they provide services in English and Spanish. Jake and Esme are the owners of this location. Esme is very very bi-lingual. Since Esme speaks spanish, Hispanic customers from all over town come by to use services they could get close to home. The UPS Store is a great resource for small business people. The biggest benefit that comes to mind is that you get a street mailing address from there. Unlike a PO Box, they can receive packages on your behalf. You can also buy stamps, cards, paper goods, pens, pencils and envelopes. The UPS Store also offers self service copies, color copies, passport pictures, and notary service. Austin’s Hispanic population is listed at 34% and growing. Provide services for this segment of the market is beneficial. You can visit them online at The UPS Store website