How to Stop Hating Conference Calls

At 22, I worked as an analyst for a consulting firm. My division specialized in consumer research for secret new products developed by companies like P&G and Coca-Cola. The work was interesting, but I didn't have much in common with my clients - upper thirty-something brand managers and research directors.

It was difficult to build rapport when I met new clients in person, and almost impossible to establish common ground if our introduction happened via conference call.

I remember opening client conference calls with cliche references to the weather and vague small talk.

Sometimes I'd get lucky and the client would bring up sports, or traveling, or college, and we'd strike up a legitimate conversation, but mostly I grasped for straws until the client mercifully ended the small talk by inquiring about our services.

This was a few years before Facebook and LinkedIn were popular. Things are different now.

Use social media to build rapport

Social media has made building rapport much easier for anyone willing to do a little prep work before a call.

When I'm doing outreach for our app and need to establish rapport with someone new, I browse Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to see if we share any common interests.

Companies like UberConference take this a step farther by integrating social profile information right into their free conference calling app.

Now I start conference calls by asking about someone’s recent travels or chat about a mutual friend or business associate.

It’s amazing how much more smoothly these calls go when you can identify over something more personal than the weather.

Record the conference call

Another difficulty I had with conference calls was note taking – especially during project kickoff meetings. It’s hard to take good notes and contribute meaningfully to the conversation.

I can't tell you how many times we talked about how awesome it would be to record project kickoff meetings and transcribe them later.

I can tell you exactly how many times we actually went out, bought a voice recorder, recorded a conference call, and transcribed it later. ZERO.

Here is another area where new technology helps.

With services like Google Hangouts on Air you can hold a live client conference call with video (that's public, mind you) and have it recorded and posted to YouTube. If you need more privacy (as we did), UberConference records private conference calls for you and lets you download them as an MP3s later.

You can also use Skype and record calls via one of many add-on apps available.

It’s amazing how much more fluid conference calls go when you don’t have to take notes in real time. There’s more interaction, more good discussion, and fewer instances of things getting lost in translation.

With clear eyes and free hands, you can’t lose.

"Well that right there sounds awfully familiar."

Earn credibility by taking control. 

You absolutely nailed the report. You got all the clients business questions answered and delivered on deadline. You even came up with some excellent advice that will make your client some money.

Now all you have to do is show up and stand behind your findings and recommendations in person and go through the ringer of hypothetical questions while placating the one contrarian who has to disagree with the data.

But wait. What if the client can’t get all the key players together in one room, or maybe they work remotely (like Github, who didn’t have an office for their first 2 years), or maybe they’ll be on the road and need results ASAP?

Guess what’s coming? A conference call.

You think you know what’s going to happen - conference call insanity. But it’s not.

You’re going to be the MacGyver of conference calling and use the tools around you to solve all your problems just like he did.

1. If someone has a poor phone connection, mute ‘em. 
2. If someone shows up late and unannounced, take note and then take pity by sending them a taped recording so they can review missed content.
3. If your client asks you to cut your hour long presentation to 30 minutes, strike a compromise by having them leave all non-urgent questions in a chat window and answer them in a follow up email.
4. If you have bad news to deliver and you’re worried about how your clients will take it, do it over a video conference so you can see each other’s facial expressions when they talk. 

Most people are so bad at organizing and executing conference calls that by taking control and utilizing free technology to have an efficient call, you’ll be able to differentiate yourself and come across as knowledgeable and resourceful just by holding a good conference call.

Even before the call starts, you’ll have earned quite a bit of credibility and rapport.

That means less stressful conference calls, stronger client relationships, and more business.

All the best,
Ryan
Mojo Helpdesk

MacGyver. My hero.

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How IT Consultants Use a Hosted Helpdesk to Manage Client Requests

Mark Gallagher, founder of MoonRivers Media, and Mojo Helpdesk user since Jan 2012. (Photo Credit: Zoe Isaac)

Mark and Melissa Gallagher are co-owners of Moon Rivers Media, an IT solutions company based in New Hampshire. 

Married in 2003 when MoonRivers Media was in its early stages they worked tirelessly to build a client base and launch the business in 2004. Now nine years later, they're thriving entrepreneurs who serve a clientele of small to mid sized companies in the New England area and nationwide.

When not providing IT expertise to their clients, Mark and Melissa are also avid outdoors people who enjoy skiing and spending time with their two kids.

They were kind of enough to take some time out of their schedule to chat with us about their business and how it integrates with our hosted helpdesk software. 

ENTER MARK AND MELISSA:

Tell us about MoonRivers Media.

From web hosting, to email marketing, to Google Apps integration, MoonRivers Media offers an array of technology solutions for clients in the New England area and nationwide. The nature of our company is very mobile/on the road and the majority of hours are spent on site at client's offices, not our own. MoonRivers Media experienced a big growth once we settled at our home in New Hampshire and built a client base of local small to mid size companies with IT support needs.

What challenges you were facing prior to using Mojo?

Our diverse client base is spread around the country and our clients come to us for support 24/7. We needed to centralize the management of the requests and we needed a help desk to be bullet proof and accessible from EVERYWHERE.

How do you use Mojo day to day?

Tickets come in via email to help@moonrivers.com and our techs can grab them and get to work. It also integrates with our existing site and Google Apps both of which were great for us. 

Tell us about the results.

We can search the tickets for answers to questions people submit again and again. We can show them how to self-help and login to their own custom profile with all their tickets.

We also get the original requests via email and then the help@moonriver address sends the tickets to a few email boxes and to the helpdesk so we can see them every which way and respond as appropriate. 

We combined the helpdesk with our remote software support and now we have a GREAT helpdesk.

Melissa Gallagher, co-owner, MoonRivers Media. (Photo credit: Zoe Isaac)

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If you're a IT consultant or tech consulting firm looking for a help desk or ticket tracking software, you can visit our website: Mojo Helpdesk or send me an email at ryan @metadot (dot) com .

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How to Turn Tweets into Helpdesk Tickets

Turn customer Tweets into helpdesk tickets with our latest mash up.
(Photo credit: @daskeyboard)

You may not have asked for it, but it's happening.

Your clients are using Twitter to reach out to you when they need customer support.

Their question, requests, and complaints are in the public eye; your responsiveness and service quality are out in the open for anyone to see.

It's the perfect time to start getting systematic about how you address support via social media channels.

Having your customer's Tweets automatically turn into helpdesk tickets is a great place to start so we've setup a little hack to make it happen.

You'll need a Gmail account and a Mojo Helpdesk account for this to work.

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Step 1 (Optional). Create a Helpdesk Queue for Tweets

If you haven't done so yet, sign up for a trial of Mojo Helpdesk.

From your Mojo Helpdesk navigation bar, click 'manage' >> 'Queues and email addresses' and click the 'New' button. Enter a queue name and an email address and then click the 'create queue' button. You now have a place for all your customer's Tweets to be stored as tickets that you can follow up on.

Make note of the email address you created because you'll need it for Step 3.

For this example, I created a new helpdesk queue called Twitter and set my queue email address as twitter@ryanluedecke.mojohelpdesk.com:

If you already have a Mojo Helpdesk account, you may prefer to use an existing queue that you've already setup. To use an existing queue, click 'manage' >> 'Queues and email addresses'and find the email address associated with the queue you plan to use. Take note of this email address because you'll need it for Step 3.

Step 2. Link Twitter to a Gmail address.

Log in to Twitter. Click the gear icon in the upper right hand corner of the navigation bar, then click Settings. In the Account view enter a valid Gmail address in the email field.

Check Gmail to confirm your account is receiving Twitter notifications. You should have a verification message from Twitter.

Step 3. Tell Twitter which Tweets to send to Gmail.

Click the gear icon in Twitter and select Settings. In the Email Notifications screen you need to tell Twitter which Tweets to send as email notifications to your Gmail inbox. 

For my helpdesk I selected "My Tweets get a reply or I'm mentioned in a Tweet - By anyone" and "I'm sent a direct message" as these are the types of Tweets that are most likely to contain a customer inquiry, a new feature request, or a complaint.

Step 3. Tell Gmail where to forward Tweets.

Open Gmail. Click the gear icon in the upper right, then select Settings. Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.

Enter the queue email address from Step 1. Gmail sends a confirmation code that you need to grab from your 'Unassigned' tickets view (or 'Unassigned' >> 'Guest Requests' view if you have special filters or automations set up).

After verifying your code, click the 'Disable' forwarding button and scroll down and click the'Save Changes' button. When you finish this step, your settings will look like this:

Step 4. Tell Gmail which Tweets to Forward.

Log into Gmail. Click the gear icon in the upper right, then select Settings. Click the Filter tab. Click the 'Create a new filter' link and fill in the filter pop up form as follows:

From: *@postmaster.twitter.com

(this is the email domain Twitter uses to deliver every email notification as of 5/15/13. The asterisk tells Gmail to include any email with a domain of postmaster.twitter.com)

Has the words: "mentioned" OR "direct message"

Leave the other field blanks. When finished, click the 'Create filter with this search' link.

Here's how it will look on screen:

Now you need to check the 'Forward it to:' box and select the forwarding address you set up in Step 1. Click 'Create filter' (or 'update filter' as shown below) and you're finished.

Note 1: Filter fields in Gmail work just like Google Search by giving you more control with search operators like the asterisk (*). The asterisk (*) serves as a placeholder for any unknown or "wildcard" terms. Here it protects our filter if Twitter changes the local part, or first part, of the email which looks like something this for notifications:"n-elna=zrgnqbg.pbz-ab31d".

Note 2: There are probably several ways to set this Gmail filter, but unless you are an expert and willing to troubleshoot, I'd recommend using the filters as shown in the screen shot above. The filter example is especially useful if you've having Twitter send you notifications for new followers and retweets as you probably don't want those flowing into your helpdesk as tickets.

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Once these steps are complete, you'll get notices when people Tweet you, reply to a Tweet, or send you a direct message on Twitter.

Questions about this Twitter mash up or about our hosted helpdesk software in general? Send them to me at ryan (at) metadot

All the best,

Ryan

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How To Save $1,500 to $21,300 A Year on a Helpdesk...

What could you buy with the money you save by using Mojo Helpdesk? How about a 3-story office slide. (Photo credit: Ben Terrett)

How much does web hosted help desk software really cost?

What is the yearly investment required to run web hosted ticket tracking & request tracking software?

How much budget should I set aside to equip our customer service team with an online help desk support system?

If you've ever had one of these questions, take a look at the web hosted help desk pricing table below. It shows yearly costs for some of the most popular web hosted help desk and ticket tracking apps.

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Web Hosted Help Desk Pricing ($ per year)

Table Notes:

- Last updated 4-29-2013.
- Assumes month-to-month pricing with no long term contract.
- Competitors' most popular plan chosen for pricing comparison (where listed):

• Mojo Helpdesk - Business Plan
• Zendesk - Plus Plan
• Desk Dot Com - Full time Agent Plan
• Freshdesk - Garden Plan
• UserVoice - Enhanced Plan

- Competitor pricing rounded to the nearest hundred.
- Agents are individuals who responds to support ticket and/or can change settings. Most web hosted help desk software is billed per agent. Mojo Helpdesk charges one flat rate per month for unlimited agents.

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If you're looking for an affordable web hosted helpdesk solution that's easy to implement, then consider Mojo Helpdesk. It can save your organization an average of $1,500 to $21,300 a year on web hosted help desk software...

...and that assumes your organization has 50 agents or less. We have several users with 60+ agents who save their organizations $30K+ a year with our flat rate pricing.

Need to demonstrate your value to current or prospective employers? Imagine adding this to your list of accomplishments:

"Saved my company $XX,XXX per year and increased department productivity by researching and implementing a web-based ticket tracking system."

Switching over from old help desk software? What if you had this data point for key decision makers:

"By switching help desk systems we can save an estimated $XX,XXX per year on IT and customer service costs."

Running a small business? Imagine adding thousands of dollars to your income every year just by choosing Mojo over the other guys. At the end of the year you'll have this good news for employees and investors:

"We implemented a simple web-based helpdesk solution this year that helped us solve customer requests faster, reduced our online data storage needs, and saved us thousands relative to other technology investments we were considering."

This isn't fluff. The numbers in this post are the proof.

-Ryan

ryan (at) metadot dot com

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How to Create Help Desk Tickets from Google Calendar in 5 Steps (or Less)

Girl Talk's new mash up makes the crowd go wild. Mojo's will too.  (photo credit: milkshake media)

It's a Google Calendar event. It's a help desk ticket. It's a do-it-yourself mash up that can be configured in 5 steps or less. If you've ever wanted your Google Calendar events to flow straight into helpdesk a ticket, here's how you do it:

(Author's note: You'll need a Mojo Helpdesk account to get started. Sign up on our home page for a 30-day free trial.)

Step 1 (Optional). Create a new queue for your Google Calendar events

From your Mojo Helpdesk navigation bar, click 'manage' >> 'Queues and email addresses' and click the 'New' button.  Enter a queue name and an email address and then click the 'create queue' button.  Make note of the email address you created because you'll need it for Step 3.

For this example, I created a new queue called Google Calendar and set my email address as calendar@ryanluedecke dot mojohelpdesk dot com :

Instead of creating a new queue, you may prefer to use an existing queue that you've already setup. To use an existing queue, click 'manage' >> 'Queues and email addresses' and find the email address associated with the queue you plan to use. Take note of this email address because you'll need it for Step 3.

Step 2. Set up email reminders in Google Calendar. 

Open Google Calendar. Click the gear icon in the upper right, then select Settings. In the Calendars Settings screen, click the 'Calendars' link. On the Calendars page, click the link for 'Reminders and notifications' and then set up email reminders as shown below (don't forget to hit the Save button). 

Step 3. Set up a forwarding address in Gmail.

Open Gmail. Click the gear icon in the upper right, then select Settings. Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab. 

Enter the queue email address from Step 1. Gmail sends a confirmation code that you need to grab from your 'Unassigned' tickets view (or 'Unassigned' >> 'Guest Requests' view if you have special filters or automations set up). 

After verifying your code, click the 'Disable' forwarding button and scroll down and click the 'Save Changes' button. When you finish this step, your settings will look like this:

Step 4. Set up a filter in Gmail. 

Keep Gmail open. Click the gear icon in the upper right, then select Settings. Click the Filter tab. Click the 'Create a new filter' link and fill in the filter pop up form as follows:

From: <calendar-notification@google.com> 

(this is the email Google uses to deliver every Calendar reminder as of 4/29/13)

To: your Gmail address
(I entered my Gmail address: ryan |at| metadot dot com) 

Subject: Reminder

(Optional) Has the words: #mojo
(If you only want certain events to show up as tickets, set this filter and tag your Google Calendar events with '#mojo' in the title or description. In the example below, I want all Google Calendar events to create Mojo tickets so I didn't use this filter.)

Leave the 'Doesn't have' field blank. When finished, click the 'Create filter with this search' link.

Now you need to check the 'Forward it to:' box and select the forwarding address you set up in Step 1.  Click 'Create filter' and you're finished (see example screen shot below).

Step 5. (Optional) Auto-assign the Google Calendar tickets to yourself.

Now that your Google Calendar event reminders are creating tickets in your help desk, you may want to auto-assign them to yourself using an automation. 

To get started, click 'manage' >> 'Automations' then click the 'new' button. Give the automation a title and then scroll down to the 'Assign to:' field and select yourself from the drop down menu. From there, click 'Create & Activate'. When this automation is activated, you'll be able to manage your Google Calendar tickets from your My Assignments view as shown below. 

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Did you enjoy this mash up? If so, please tweet this message and help us spread the word about Mojo Helpdesk. Every tweet is appreciated.

Questions about this mash up or about our ticket tracking software in general? Send them to me at ryan (at) metadot

All the best,

Ryan

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Sync Google Apps users instantly with Mojo Helpdesk

Mojo Helpdesk is excited to announce our new Google Apps User Sync integration. With user sync you can import all your Google Apps users into Mojo Helpdesk in a few mouse clicks. For example:

• Businesses that have large classes of new hires starting every summer can now import them all seamlessly from Google Apps.  
• School or universities with hundreds of new students enrolling each fall can now add them to Mojo with no manual data entry.  
• Government agencies now have the ability to quickly add temp workers and seasonal employees as Mojo users. 

If you've already integrated Mojo Helpdesk with Google Apps, all you have to do is click the 'Google Apps Users Synchronization' in the Admin menu and you'll be given the option to import all your Google Apps users (see below).

If you haven't integrated Mojo Helpdesk with Google Apps, you'll need to do so in order to take advantage of the user sync feature. As a first step, watch this short video on how to integrate with Google Apps. As a final step in the integration process, check the box for 'Import Google users' as shown below and you'll be all set.

Here are a few additional things you should know about the Google User Sync integration:

1. All of your Google Apps users are imported as 'users' in Mojo Helpdesk, so if any help desk staff are imported you'll need to change their 'Role' status from 'user' to 'technician.'
2. During the synchronization, existing Mojo users will not be duplicated but Mojo will update their user profile to be consistent with Google Apps.
3. Users whom you've suspended in Google Apps will be imported to Mojo Helpdesk as inactive users.

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If you have any questions about the Google Apps User Sync integration or want to learn more about request tracking, help ticketing, or ticket tracking software, please contact ryan |at) metadot (dot] com.

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How Ticket Tracking Software Helps Homeowners Associations Work More Efficiently

Homeowners associations and other property management organizations can streamline operations and handle requests more efficiently by using web hosted ticket tracking software.

Requests can include internal assignments related to the HOAs tech infrastructure (computers, laptops, phone lines, etc) as well as maintenance and support requests that come in from homeowners (landscaping, grounds keeping, security alerts, etc).

While using email to handle requests can seem simple at first, as your residential community grows, it becomes highly inefficient.

For example, how do you know all incoming requests are being followed up on and how do you know who is responsible for handling which requests? How do you keep track of projects that started months ago or years ago (such as a major park or pool renovation)? With email, it's impossible to track everything and keep everything organized but with a help desk & ticket tracking system you can monitor projects to completion.

Your residents will also feel comfort knowing they can email your support desk or login to the portal to create a support ticket. They can also track their issue with you until completion by logging into the portal to check the status. 

Below we provide an example of how a web hosted ticket tracking software, like Mojo Helpdesk, could be used by homeowners associations. Managing tickets with Mojo Helpdesk is simple and works much like a group email inbox. With Mojo Helpdesk's reporting tools you will be able to track issues assigned to your HOA staff members and know what issues are being handled in a timely manner and which are not. 

{Author's note: We've also included several references to one of our all time favorite cartoons. If you can name the cartoon, then send an email to ryan (at) metadot (dot) com and I'll send you a special prize.}

How Ticket Tracking Software Helps HOAs Work Efficiently

1. Centralizes homeowner requests for you

We're using the fictitious Orbit City HOA in our example and have assumed they have the following responsibilities:

1. Community landscaping
2. Maintain recreational facilities
3. Provide security
4. Arrange for maintenance of streets and curbs
5. Enforce deed restrictions

In this case, it will be helpful to centralize all the requests and then sort all the requests into topic specific queues:

Each queue is then assigned it's own email address where homeowners can send messages. The email addresses for each queue would be listed on the HOA's website for homeowners to reference.

In the example above, all landscaping requests are sent to landscaping@orbitcityhoa.com and then centralized in the 'Landscaping and Grounds' queue, all street and curb maintenance requests are sent to streets@orbitcityhoa.com and housed in the 'Streets and Curbs' queue, and so forth.

Orbit City HOA could assign staff members to each queue and have staff members automatically notified via email when a new ticket arrives in their queue. In the example above, Jane receives email notifications for all landscaping requests and Spencer receives all inquiries related to neighborhood security. 

If an HOAs responsibilities expand, new queues can be added. Similarly, staff members can be reassigned to different queues or added to new queues as necessary.

2. Helps you turn requests into tasks and assign those tasks to staff

Homeowner issues often require some kind of follow up. Maybe a tree has fallen in the street and  the debris needs to be hauled away. Maybe a sprinkler has gone haywire and needs to be repaired. Maybe  homeowners have been given notice to remove holiday decorations by the end of the month and someone on the HOA team needs to confirm compliance.

In these situations you need a system like Mojo Helpdesk that lets you delegate tasks to your HOA staff or outside suppliers and then monitor those tasks to completion.

In the example below, George assigns the task of curb repainting (also called a ticket) to the HOA team member in charge of streets and curb maintenance, Rosie. Once George clicks 'Submit Ticket', Rosie receives real time email notification that she has a task to complete. 

The ticket includes a text description of the task and priority level indicator (normal, low, urgent or emergency) so that the assignee knows how to prioritize the task.

3. Allows you to tracks tasks to completion

When assigned a task in Mojo Helpdesk users can add comments to the ticket and give status updates so that anyone with permission can view the progress made on the task. 

In the example above, George has added comments to the tickets indicating key milestones for a task as it moves towards completion.

4. Lets you search solved requests

Often times it's helpful to check previously solved tickets for instances of precedent. For example, if a new homeowner has a question about attaching a basketball goal to his garage, it may be helpful to search previous tickets relating to 'basketball goals' to ensure that the HOA response to similar questions is consistent.

Once you've completed a search you can save it for later reference and make the search available for others on your HOA team using the Saved Searches feature.

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The example above gives a basic overview of how ticket tracking software such as Mojo Helpdesk lets HOAs centralize, assign, and track requests until they're done. There's also other benefits to consider:

1. It's affordable for HOA's, especially those managed by volunteers on a tight budget.
2. You can easily add new HOA members and de-activate past members. 
3. Support tickets can be raised, tracked, and closed by residents.
4. HOA members can use the messaging feature to communicate with residents about important updates or notices, for example messages such as, "please remove all holiday decorations by the end of the month," can be sent to all residents.
5. All resident contact information is stored in the user profiles, so each time a ticket is raised you have their profile info and ticket history right in front of you.

If you have any questions about ticket tracking software or you'd like to receive a demo of Mojo Helpdesk, please send an email to ryan |at| metadot (d o t ) com.

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