Off the Clock, Not off the Payroll

Capture Your Voice Notes in Insightly

Better yet, by using this Insightly feature, your voice notes are logically organized from the moment you create them. This can help you reduce your administrative burden and save time in the long run.

You can create voice notes for a variety of Insightly records, including: contacts, organizations, leads, opportunities, and projects. Here’s how to set one up.

1. Launch the Insightly mobile app on your smartphone

2. Once logged in, find the record you’re looking for (in this example, we’ll add it to a contact record).

3. On the contact’s record, tap the “related” tab.

4. Tap on the “+” symbol.

5. Select “note with recording.”

6. Record your message.

7. You’ll be prompted to add a name to the recording file. Update that field and tap “done.”

Once you’ve saved the recording, you’ll see the audio file is now attached to the contact record. And, the next time you’re at your desk, the audio file will also appear in your “recent activity” feed, serving as a reminder to do something with it.

Of course, you can always refer back to the recording at a later date. To do this, just locate the contact record, click the audio file, and enjoy the sweet sound of your own voice!

Create Blog Content With Your Voice

Content marketing can yield a steady flow of inbound traffic to your website. And, unlike CPC ads that expire the moment you’ve hit your budget, a well-written blog post or landing page lives forever (as long as you keep it out there).

Unfortunately, with your hectic schedule, sitting down to write a blog post is nearly impossible. You want to create compelling copy that will attract new business, but you’re just too busy. What should you do? Building off of the aforementioned Insightly feature, perhaps it’s time you put audio notes to work for your marketing initiatives.

Start by creating a simple project called “Content Marketing” or “Blog Ideas.” Add your content manager and administrative assistant as linked users on the project. This way, they can gain real-time access to your idea flow and then transcribe, edit, and publish new articles.

You’re then ready to make your first dictation. To capture your brilliant content ideas, simply launch the Insightly app on your smartphone, find the project, create a new note, and start recording. (As pointed out here, you have up to 60 minutes of recording space per audio note!) Instantly, your team can download the file and can begin their work.

Who knows – before your next meeting is complete, your team might be ready to hit “publish.”

Business Owners: Assign a Dollar Value to “Off-the-Clock” Work Time

If you’re self-employed, think about all the “off-the-clock” time you spend working in your business. By “off-the-clock,” I mean those activities that don’t directly add value and/or are done outside of “normal” work hours.

Do any of these sound familiar?

• Running payroll
• Signing checks
• Making deposits at your bank (or via your mobile device)
• Submitting estimated quarterly tax payments
• Continuing education
• Doing year-end accounting
• Closing the books each month
• Troubleshooting IT annoyances
• Evaluating software vendors
• Reordering office supplies
• Filing your taxes

Granted, these are all important tasks. But, are they so important that you should actually be the one doing them? To answer this question, try a simple experiment:

1. Track how much time you spend on a given activity. For example, let’s assume you file your own taxes each year (yikes!).
2. Then, estimate your hourly rate. This is easy if you’re a consultant who bills hourly. If you’re not a consultant, consider dividing your annual net income by how many hours you typically work each year.
3. Multiply the results from step one and step two. Shocking, right?
4. Compare the results from step three to the cost of outsourcing this task. If the costs are even close, you’re probably better off delegating it to someone else.
5. Once delegated, strategically allocate your newly-found time!

Collaborate to Reduce Sales Paperwork

The best sales reps possess a unique set of valuable skills. Salesmanship, empathy, and keen business intuition are important attributes for sales success.

Despite all of these strengths, no one is perfect. And, if you haven’t figured it out yet, most salespeople have minimal patience for what they deem to be unnecessary work. Paperwork and data entry are perfect examples.

In fact, our friends over at the Spiro blog recently pointed out: “Salespeople want to prospect and sell, not update spreadsheets and type out reports…many organizations have been unwilling to adapt to technological changes, and still waste their salespeople’s time that would be much better spent closing deals.”

Simply put, salespeople want to be out there selling – not doing paperwork. However, as with any employee, sales reps must have some type of documented accountability. What can businesses do to find a balance?

Tips for sales reps:

• Update your CRM records immediately after each sales call, rather than waiting until you get back to the office. A mobile CRM can help you do this.
• Start using voice notes, especially for lengthy updates or situations.
• Be open with your manager about how much time you spend on administrative work.

Tips for sales managers:

• Ask your reps about the paperwork that consumes the most amount of time.
• Make additional human resources available, such as sales assistants, who can perform some of the data entry.
• Regularly review reporting requirements and decide if they’re adding enough value.