What are the benefits of Digital Dictation Systems?

A friend of mine has given me some "headlines" to work with which will hopefully help me with my marketing of Document Direct. I have 13 pages of text to pick and choose from and it certainly helps generate ideas.

"Sending us your dictation to be typed up will reduce your overhead, increase the turnaround of documents and make a happier workforce who enjoy a flexible workplace. All of this will ultimately mean increased profit for your business. And considering it only takes 30 minutes per person to set up, all of this can be achieved almost immediately."

If any readers are interested in learning more, please leave a comment.

Sending large attachments to emails (digital dictation in particular)

I'm sorry Paver Smith. It was my fault. I asked a client to send the dictation as an attachment because it was too large to be uploaded onto our website.

I didn't realise that the attachment was 70MB. In typist talk, that's about 8 hours of recordings which would take about 32 hours to type up!

So what happened today was all of our email system stopped working because of a huge fat attachment blocking the pipe. When it finally did reach me, silly me tried to open it which caused the server to use almost 100% of its resources (working overtime) and almost crashed our whole system. Oops.

There's a lesson or two to be learnt here.

1. Spend more time with your client to show different ways to use the recording device.
2. If a piece of work needs a lot of dictation then split it up. That way the work can be done even quicker by having more than one typist work on it. The document can be joined together when it's all finished and then proof read.
3. The best way to transport digital dictation is by using the special software provided so that mailboxes don't get filled up quickly.

If you can think of any more lessons please post a comment.

Digital Dictation and the psychology of application forms

All of this blogging and and gobbing (if that is a word for using your mouth instead of your fingers to type I mean), seems to be paying off when it comes to receiving applications. You do get what you ask for and so far I've received six new application for a position with Document Direct since the New Year. Not bad considering not a penny extra has been spent on recruitment.

I've re-designed the whole application procedure and have sent out my new application form to some possible candidates already. Now comes the hard part. Receiving the completed (or incomplete, as the case may be) forms and resisting the temptation to return it and ask the candidate to DO IT PROPERLY PLEASE. Obviously the name of the game is to filter out the wrong personality type for the job. I'll only find out if it works though, if I receive a form that is completed properly and the candidate is successful through the whole process. I am so, so impatient.

Come on people - ask me for an application form!

Recruiting Success

Well it's done. The final part of my consultation with Steve Wooding is finished. I now know the secrets to recruiting success and boy, am I rearing to go and see if this works.

In a nutshell, Steve has told me all about my super star secretaries' personality profiles, what makes them tick, why our clients love them, what's important to Document Direct and - this is the important bit - how I'm going to find clones in the most time and cost effective way. I'm re-writing my whole recruitment procedure and will start rehearsing some interview questions ready for the first candidate.

I've had my first few enquiries from potential candidates already during these past few days. Hey careful what you ask for as it may come true!!! (Divorce, divorce, divorce. Only joking! not.) (More business, more business, more business.)

I'll be posting a blog soon about Law Costs Draftsmen and how they will be changing the way they work - very, very soon. The way they work I mean, and the post - oh hell - writing garbage again.

Liverpool Capital of Culture

I was at the people's launch last night. It was good. I never expected it to be great - you're in the middle of a huge crowd, miles away from the stage, the people look like insects, and the view of the huge screen is obscured by all of the tall people in front of you. But I'm glad I can say I was there.

I wonder if the rest of the world got the joke about the high visibility wear and safety hats and Ringo Starr's blatant promotion could have been done with a little more grace I think. But hey, he brought the world's press to the city so a small price to pay. You'll never please all of the people all of the time. I'm looking forward to seeing it on the telly tomorrow night.

The best part of the night was after the show when we went to Moureen's restaurant, Osqa. It was the first time I've eaten there and the food was a real treat. We had a table with a view directly into the white sparkly kitchen. My hubby and kids loved it. There was music from a pianist and singer rendering out show tunes and old Sinatra type classics. That part the kids didn't like. But how unusual to go to a restaurant and be entertained. I'm a bit of a saddo and have to say I'm impressed with the cutlery and the crockery. I like Moureen's eye for detail. The next time I don't fancy cooking dinner then I'll be hinting we nip out for their early bird specials!

Woo hoo - I've received a referral

I said I would hit the ground running in January and I have. This week I've concentrated on havinng 1-2-1 meetings with associates in my BNI network. Andrew Kirby of Clement Gallagher will come back to me once his insurance scheme is up and running which promises to save a massive 10% of anybody's commercial insurances. You'll hear more about him later.



My meeting with Dean Scrutton of The City Servant has proved fruitful already. We had a great meeting and brainstormed ideas together on how we're going to grow our businesses. He's received my brochure and passed it to one of his clients who are interested in Document Direct's services. Fan-bloody-tastic!

I learnt so much about Dean's business. Not only does The City Servant offer a great errand running service but also does a complete HANDYMAN service. Down girls - i'm talking DIY. The City Servant Handyman service gets most of its work from lettings agents and landlords and anybody else who's involved in property management. But they can do any type of odd job for the home or office. From hanging pictures and fixing leaking taps, to assembling flat packs, building wooden gates and fitting kitchens.

So I'm going to be working hard at getting Deano a referral in return for his hard work. Anybody reading this blog who thinks they can benefit from a handyman kindly leave a comment for me to follow up.

Thanks Ian for your comments left on my blog. My first action of the year is to get the right people pinned down for the job. I've realised that I'm not confident going out to prospective clients if I'm not certain that the people I have no board will do a good job. I do have high standards and I want all of my people to be just like me and really care about what they deliver to our clients. For the last six months I've had a number of people come and go and that's definately slowed me down. So now I'm focussed. And what a great day yesterday was - three people approaching me for work and interviews lined up. I'm sure I'll have at least two new people needing to be trained come this time next week. My next hope is that I get a stampede just like you, Ian. That'll definately help me on my way for my new targets.

It's that time of year

It's that time of year when new resolutions are made. Or, as lots of us like to call them nowadays, new targets and goals.

From a business point of view that's an easy one - more sales please! And perhaps tweaking a few things to give us smoother processes along the way. Oh and don't forget to recruit the good quality people too.

From a personal perspective, more quality time with the family is a must. Note my choice of words.

By far one of the most challenging of goals I have set for myself is to be more creative when it comes to writing. So I make my first concerted effort here in this blog. From now on I shall write whatever gobbleygook articles I fancy and hope that someone will leave a kind comment and perhaps some words of encouragement.

By the way, Su Grainger, if you read this, I've been tapping away at the EFT to get these paragraphs down.

I've been asking some inane questions on Linked In and I'm quite surprised that I've received some answers. So my next task this evening is to respond to those kind people and get on with some internet networking. Sounds fun hey. If you've had any dealings with people on Linked In perhaps you would like to leave a comment and let me know if it's been of any use to you.

I shall report back later in the blog if anything transpires from the correspondence.