Local Market Launch

Local Market Launch

The Team

Business

3 Reasons That Calendars Are the Perfect Promotional Product

When it comes to deciding on marketing and promotional products, today’s businesses are faced with a number of options. And while many companies are choosing to go digital with their promotional efforts, paper is certainly not dead. In fact, handing out physical marketing materials can be immensely beneficial. One promotional product that is still popular is promotional calendars. But why are promotional calendars so great?

They’re practical

While a lot of promotional products are available, not all of them are truly useful. Fortunately, calendars are useful and practical — most people have at least one calendar at home or at their place of work. People look at calendars every day, which can help promote a brand each time the calendar is looked at.

It’s always a good idea to give consumers promotional products they’ll see regularly. Brochures, flyers, and other paper items work fine, but they often get thrown out or shoved into a drawer. But most people will actually hang up a calendar they receive, especially if it’s free. And every month, they’ll see the logo or brand information, furthering the connection they have with the company. And giving people something they can actually use will tell consumers the company cares and is invested in building a relationship.

They’re cost-effective

Staying under budget is often a big concern with marketing materials, particularly when a company is trying to reach a large audience. This is especially true for companies that are smaller or are just getting started. Calendars are reasonably priced. Compared to traditional advertisements, or even digital advertisement placements, calendars are an affordable promotional product.

And if a business is interested in digital marketing, they can pair their digital efforts with a great calendar — having a physical reminder of a brand is always a good idea. For example, a calendar can include important company events and businesses can send an email reminder. This can help expand marketing efforts without going way over budget. And calendars also have a lower cost per advertisement viewing, with calendars being looked at numerous times a day. Overall, calendars are certainly worth the cost.

They’re engaging

One of the best things about using calendars as promotional products is that they keep the audience engaged and connected. Businesses have the opportunity to convey their message however they’d like — which allows them to fully connect with their audience. A company can put whatever it wants on a promotional calendar, whether it’s funny quotes, facts about the business, or cute animals.

Every day, and every new month, consumers will be reminded of the brand that’s represented on the calendar, which is immense exposure. Companies can even take an extra step and include relevant events or dates for their audience, like local events or company events. This way, consumers will be reminded of these things, and the brand, without having to get an email blast or a flyer.

Compared to other types of marketing materials, calendars can also be a lot more personal. Personalized calendars for businesses can be custom-made for the audience. Including images and messages that are related to an audience’s interests will show that the company truly knows its audience will help build a bond between consumers and the brand.

Marketing materials are meant to build a relationship between consumers and a brand, and calendars can help achieve that goal. Choosing calendars as a promotional product can give companies control over the message they’re giving to consumers, stay connected and engaged with their audience, and get a lot of exposure for a low cost. All in all, using promotional calendars can be beneficial for all businesses, big and small.

To read more on topics like this, check out the business category.

Business

Planning for Profit: How to Start Your Own HVAC Business

HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) is the system that adjusts the temperature and maintains air quality in your home. There are multiple elements involved in an HVAC system, including air systems, gravity systems, and radiant systems. Essentially, the air system works by blowing hot or cold air through two separate ducts. Gravity systems are generally used in basements and operate based on the knowledge that hot air rises and cold air sinks. Radiant systems operate by heating the walls, floor, and ceiling of a room.

If you’re particularly knowledgeable about these systems, you might consider starting your own HVAC business. Like any business venture, this is likely to be one of the most challenging things you do in your life, but also one of the most rewarding. It’s important to remember that running a successful business will differ greatly from the work you’re used to. The following are some essentials you’ll need to understand before setting off.

Take a small business perspective

Instead of always thinking specifically about an HVAC business, it’s important to realize that you’ll be starting with many of the things all small businesses do. You need to think about fundamental business practices, including advertising and networking. Once you think you know how to start a small business, you can begin focusing more specifically on ducts, air systems, and the other particulars.

Keep success in mind

It won’t be good enough to just think about an HVAC business. Instead, you’ll need to constantly consider how to start and run a successful HVAC business. It may seem obvious, but this will wire your brain to think more positively and keep you more determined when things get challenging. It will also make you constantly think about what you’re going to do to beat the competition. A winner’s attitude is exactly what you need on any venture.

Products and services

Your business is going to have to stand out from the crowd. Will you offer a wider selection of products and services? Will you have lower prices? Will you offer improved service in exchange for higher prices? These are just a few of the most basic questions you’ll need to answer.

You may even work with other entities for additional business or to attract customers. For example, vehicles generally all have HVAC systems, so you might work with a car dealership to pursue HVAC leads. You might even start an automotive HVAC business to corner this market if there are none in the area. Pursuing “outside the box” options can be extremely profitable.

Staffing

No one can run a business on their own, so you’ll have to carefully consider your staff and how you’ll compensate them. It’s possible that you’re starting your business with a partner you can trust, which always makes things a bit easier. Still, you’ll need some additional staff. While you can certainly hire from the local area, it’s worth looking into some staffing agencies.

Such recruiting agencies specialize in finding the right engineers and workers for specific projects. If you want some of the best candidates for your business, this may be the solution for you. Potential candidates range from mechanical engineers to managerial roles if you need help running the business itself. For example, what is the role of a CFO? A CFO can handle things on the financial side of your business while you focus more on your products and services, as well as making any needed improvements to the business.

This may seem basic, but for any of this to succeed, you’ll need to discuss the business plan with family and be prepared for anything. You’ll be spending most of your time running the business, it’s likely money will be tight in the beginning, and it’s always possible the business could fail altogether. Being realistic about the amount of work you’ll have to put in and properly understanding the risks is vital for any real chance at success.

 

Life Style

Signs that You’re Ready to Retire

brown wooden framed white padded chair in between green indoor leaf plants inside bedroom

Approaching retirement age is a scary phase in your life. You don’t know what’s going to happen next. You worry that you’re not getting the same monthly income anymore. You also think that being out of a job will drastically change your life. If you haven’t reached that age yet, you have time to prepare. Once you see these signs, you know that you’re ready for retirement.

You’re ready to stop your job

Changing your daily routine after decades of doing it could be tricky. You wake up at the same time each day so you won’t be late for work. After retirement, you suddenly stop going to work, and it changes everything. However, if you’re ready to let go of your job and pass it to someone younger than you, it means that you won’t feel bad about retirement.

You have plans for retirement

Another sign that you’re ready is when you already have plans for retirement. You know what you will do with your free time. You don’t feel worried that you will get bored not doing anything. You can pursue your hobbies or take part in different organisations.

You still have friends outside work

You worry about your social life once you retire. If you made friends outside work over the years, you know that retirement will still be fun. You can hang out with them or even travel to different places. If they’re your fellow retirees, you won’t feel bored with retirement at all.

Your kids are already stable

It’s not easy to retire when you know that the people you love still have a lot of financial challenges. They could also face other issues outside the family. As adults now, you don’t need to be so responsible for them. However, as a parent, you want to make sure that your kids are in a good situation. If they are, you can retire without feeling burdened.

You feel excited

Most people are unhappy about retirement. They dread the time when they won’t be as useful as they used to be. However, if retirement excites you, and makes you feel like you have a lot to look forward to, it’s a good thing.

You’re financially ready

You won’t have the same income anymore once you retire. If you prepared well by saving up using your retirement plans, it’s a good thing. You can use your savings to sustain your lifestyle upon retirement. You can even start doing the things you love but were unable to do because of the nature of your job.

If you don’t think you’re financially ready yet, it’s okay. You can rely on loans for retirees such as equity release schemes. For this loan, you need to secure it against your property. After you die, the creditor will sell your house and use the amount to pay for the loan. The extra money will go to your kids.

Retirement is scary for several reasons, but you need to face it with pride and excitement.

Image: https://unsplash.com/photos/psrloDbaZc8

 

Business

Be Your Own Boss: Start an At-Home Business Selling Vitamins and Dietary Supplements

If you’re stuck in a rut working your day job, or you’re looking to start a side gig to make a little extra money each month, it may be worth looking into starting your own business.

Besides a variety of tax write-offs for small business owners, starting your own business can be a way to increase your income and do some more personally fulfilling work. One simple industry to get into is the vitamins and supplements market. This market is booming and is showing no signs of slowing down; it’s projected to be worth almost $200 billion dollars in the next six years.

If you want to work for yourself and make a decent profit, here’s what you need to know about starting an at-home business selling supplements and vitamins.

Find your focus

When starting your own business, it’s crucial that you pick a focus. While starting an online vitamins/supplements store is a niche within the broader market of health and wellness products, it’s best to make sure that you can diversify yourself from the competition.

Focusing on supplements for building muscle or women’s vitamins (as examples) can be a simple way to specify your business a bit more and help attract a more specific audience. This will help when it comes to marketing, as online social media channels and Google AdWords all allow you to target specific demographics and interests.

Distribution tactics

Once you’ve determined what area of the supplements industry you want to serve, you’ll need to find a distributor to fulfill your orders. There are plenty of dietary supplement manufacturers who can provide you with a wide range of vitamins and supplements, so it’s good to know what to look for when choosing a distributor.

In an ideal world, you’ll find a business that can handle multiple aspects of the supply chain, such as manufacturing, design, and fulfillment. Having one business handle each of those aspects will enable you to move much more agilely as a business owner.

For example, if you need an order drop shipped overnight due to the success of your latest ad campaign, it can be helpful if you don’t have to field requests from multiple companies. This way, you spend less time worrying and more time delivering great service.

Tracking your business

After you’ve set up your online storefront, you’ll need to be able to track your sales and inventory. This is particularly important as you begin to scale your business up; you don’t want to be running out to the palette of supplements in your garage every time a large order comes in. While you could use a spreadsheet to track this information, using asset management software is a far more powerful solution to consider.

Using cloud-based asset tracking software allows you to access your sales and inventory from a host of devices, and also lets you attach photos, images, and even voice memos to specific customers, products, and orders. An asset tracking solution is also far more flexible than typical spreadsheets, offering you the ability to sort and search in a variety of ways while keeping important data linked.

As you can see, starting an at-home business requires a lot of legwork at the onset. That being said, if you put in the right amount of effort at the beginning and think strategically about how to position yourself in the market, you can begin to start turning a profit. Customers are excited about becoming fitter and healthier, and by selling vitamins and supplements, you can play a meaningful role in their lives.

 

Finance

Increasing Your Income and Net Worth

Money isn’t everything. Money can’t buy happiness. But let’s face it: If you don’t have much money, life can be pretty miserable. If you want to achieve the retirement that you’ve been dreaming of, then you’re going to have to find a way to increase how much money that you take home, save, and accrue over the years. You don’t have to be materialistic or miserly to realize that it’s vital to increase your income and increase your net worth.

That’s easier said than done, though, which is why we’re here with some ideas.

Bulk up your resume with skills and degrees

If you’re going to grow your net worth, then you need to save money. Without decent earnings and careful saving, you won’t have any money to use in our next couple of basic strategies. But what can you do if your career is stalling?

Well, the experts at Excelsior College say, you could seek to improve your employability and earning power by pursuing a new degree. A new degree could make you more employable in your current profession, or if could help you change gears entirely. Excelsior College is known for its Excelsior Nursing program, a great example of a degree program that can open doors. Nursing can be a lucrative career, but it’s not an option unless you hold the degree that qualifies you for nursing positions. Get a degree like that, and your earning power could increase quite a bit.

A new degree isn’t the only option. You could also opt for certificate programs and professional certifications — or even just a course or personal study that adds a skill to your resume. The more you learn (and, ideally, document that learning), the more employers will want to hire you — and pay you what you deserve.

Invest what you save

The beginnings of your retirement strategy are pretty simple: You spend less than you earn, and you save the difference. But what then? If you keep saving under your mattress (or even in bank accounts), your net worth growth will be painfully slow. Inflation will be working against you, and you’ll only get what you save each year. But if you invest some of your savings, it’s a different story.

Over time, the power of compound interest can help you grow your nest egg exponentially. That’s why a dollar saved in your 20s can be worth up to 10 times more than a dollar saved in your 50s.

You’ll need a sound trading method, of course. For most people, a sensible strategy will be conservative and will emphasize buy-and-hold tactics. Index funds and blue chips, plus a lot of time, will add up to a decent return. Of course, plenty more advanced trading strategies are out there. You may decide to put some of your money into a more aggressive trading strategy. It’s up to you.

Buy your home (if it makes sense for you)

Buying a home is generally considered a smart financial move, and with good reason. You’ll be paying every month to live somewhere whether you rent or buy, and buying will ensure that your payments are at least going toward something more (your ownership of a valuable property).

Over time, this can really increase your net worth. But be careful, because it’s also possible to lose money by purchasing a house. Thanks to closing costs and other expenses, it doesn’t usually make financial sense to buy a home that you don’t plan to stay in for some time. Be smart, and always do the math to make sure that your housing situation is as good for your net worth as possible.

 

Finance

Why PCI Compliance Is Important

By 2020, the losses that stem from credit card fraud cases in the US could exceed $12 billion. Who will be the greatest losers? When credit card data breaches happen, all stakeholders end up being losers. First, customers risk identity theft as well as getting into financial disasters. Second, businesses that are primarily affected by these breaches get their reputation damaged, not to mention, the financial effort it takes to survive such disasters.

Last, the credit card companies that offer their financial services might experience the loss of customers. With the interest of these and more stakeholders at heart, the top credit card brands came together to create the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). The standard outline standardized security practices for protecting sensitive cardholder and credit card data.

Here is some more information as to why compliance with the standards is essential:

Who Needs To Comply With The Regulations?

Do you need PCI compliance? Well, you do, as long as you accept, process or store credit card data. This includes e-commerce merchants, retail stores, and even service providers. It also spreads to your vendors, especially if they have access to your payment information.

Ideally, firms need to achieve 281 directives and 12 objectives to be compliant. While it might seem like 281 directives are too many, your organization might not need to follow each, and it all depends on the compliance level you are placed. Under the standard, you are placed in level 1, 2, 3, or 4, depending on the number of credit card transactions that you deal with each year. Furthermore, there are some security controls that you can implement, which will stand for more than one directive.

PCI Compliance Can Build Customer Loyalty

In an age rife with data breach cases, customers have learned to be conscious about the security posture of any business that they work with. In fact, two-thirds of US adults will cut ties with your business after a data breach. As a result, showing that you care about data security will give you a competitive advantage.

Customers can trust you with their personal and credit card data more. While compliance might be relatively expensive, the ROI that comes from it is unmatched.

Avoid Costly Fines

In case an audit proves that you are non-complaint to the PCI DSS, you risk getting fined. Not only can these fines have substantial financial repercussions, but they can also portray you in the wrong way to customers. For businesses that manage to escape the radar of non-compliance fines, data breaches can have adverse effects.

A great example if the situation of the Wyndham Hotel, which was sued by the FTC after they experienced three data breaches. While the lawsuit ended in a settlement, the damage it caused to their reputation was irreparable. Even worse, you risk customer lawsuits, government fines, third-party lawsuits, and card brand fines. Compliance helps evade such issues.

PCI DSS Provides a Security Blueprint

Without the PCI compliance guidelines, businesses would have to guess what needs to be done for a healthy security posture. Although others will get it right the first time, it can be quite easy to leave gaping security holes as you try to protect the sensitive data. Luckily, the guideline offers enough information to ensure that your business can remain secure enough.

It offers information on security tools and strategies to implement, such as data masking. Businesses also learn how to handle PR nightmares that follow data breaches. Most importantly, it offers a guideline to continuously monitor your security controls, since compliance isn’t a one-time deal.

Attract the Right Investors

Investors have the most significant interest in the success of your business. Since they are pouring their sweat into it and betting on a business’ success, it only makes sense to invest in a business that shows the highest chance of success. For most investors, having a strong cyber-security posture is a necessity.

The last thing on their list of expectations is to lose their investments to a data breach. As a result, focusing on PCI compliance is a sure way to attract the right type of investors. It ensures that you can build a history that proves to the future investors that you can indeed take care of their interests.

The Power of Accountability in Compliance

Most businesses implement the security controls for compliance and leave it at that. Sadly, when the PCI guidelines are updated, or one of their security controls fails, the chances are that they go unnoticed. In turn, this increases the chances of non-compliance and the occurrence of a data breach.

To avoid this, your business should offer the compliance monitoring role to specific individuals, a compliance officer to be specific. Their role will be to be accountable for compliance updates and security controls. As a result, it becomes easy to act quickly to changes in your security posture, both due to updates in the regulations and the failure of security controls.

PCI compliance ensures the happiness of all stakeholders. Even better, it only takes a few steps to achieve compliance. Focus on maintaining compliance to fortify the future of your business.

 

Life Style

Burnaby Flooring Store – Hardwood, Laminate, Vinyl Plank, Carpet, Tiles, Cork & Rubber Installation Contractors

If you’re looking to remodel your home, you may be surprised just how much detail you’re probably going to spend on finding the right floor. Not only that, but sometimes you don’t have all the time or the tools in the world in order to do custom flooring yourself, as it can be a pretty tedious and time consuming process to replace a floor in a room. If that is your story, you can count on quality flooring stores that has their own installation contractors to get the job done for you!

Burnaby’s Finest Flooring

There are numerous applications that you may need new floors, as well as different types of flooring available. When you’re remodeling your floor, some of the best and most popular materials that are chosen are:

  • Hardwood floors
  • Laminate
  • Cork Flooring
  • Vinyl
  • Tiles
  • Carpet
  • Rubber Floors
  • Rugs

And even others that people don’t often think of (there are some unconventional flooring materials as well).

What a Flooring Contractor Can Do for You

A flooring contractor will be able to assess what would be your best situation when it comes to traffic throughout your business or home building and give you the greatest options in terms of pricing, installation, and even repair for your floors. Depending on what types of floors you want also depends on what types of work will be performed. For example, if you need your ceramic tiles to be replaced with a new custom design, you’re probably going to have to have some “deconstruction” of the previous flooring done in order to achieve the optimal results, as well as have the concrete and insulation remade. Some types of flooring aren’t the type that can just be laid on top of the other in order to “cover it up” like a coat of paint.

Why Brands are Important

You want to hire someone who not only has budget friendly materials available, but also high-quality materials so they can perform a better job, and you can get those custom floors that last. Not only that, but also having the right brands helps when it comes to a proper design sense in order to give you the best floors out there that can even look so amazing that they’re excellent conversation starters.

Conclusion

If you live in Burnaby, you can get some excellent contractors in the area. Be sure to shop around, but take a good look at One Stop Flooring, where you can get a customized free estimate, and have people come in to help you design floors for your new home, or redesign floors for your old one. If you want to do the work yourself or have another contractor, you can always use their supply store for your supplies as well. For all of your flooring installation and restoration needs, you can trust a company that’s been around for years and has helped hundreds of homeowners and businesses alike in order to give them new flooring at a good price range.

If you want to learn more about our blog, please click here.

Business

Gold Coast Roofing Contractors You Can Trust

Finding a roofing contractor to do an excellent job without having to be a burden or hassle to your roofing project itself can sometimes be a challenge. However, this isn’t impossible, and more than anything, you need to have a contractor that not only can you trust with your home, but also to repair or build your roof properly. There’s a lot of details that your roofer needs to know, and a lot you do too in order to have a successful contract in place, let alone high quality work. Shall we discuss this? Keep reading if you’re interested!

Building Trust with a Contractor and Client

When it comes to building trust with a roofer, you need to be able to have a lot of proof and have the freedom to ask for it. If they can’t provide you with things like a solid portfolio, a realistic date that they’re going to get done, and especially whether they’re qualified, licensed, and fully insured (many good contractors are), then you may want to consider hiring someone else for the task as hand.

Don’t Just Trust Reviews On their Website

Look elsewhere for reviews of the company that you’re wanting to hire before you actually do. This is a key thing that you need to consider, because a contractor is going to make their website a resume, and you only put good references on resumes. See if the contractor is willing to give you another previous or the most previous 3-4 job’s contact information before you ever decide to sign anything. This can save you your home, your health, and even the contractor in the long run.

Don’t Trust “Low-Balled” Options

If you have someone who’s willing to bid on a project and keep going down well below what the budget is, then you may want to watch out for a shark. Many times, these “low-ballers” that provide too good to be true offers, are either scammers, or they have the tendency to just be a contractor who’s only in it for the money, and doesn’t have your best interest in mind.

Don’t hesitate to ask people in the area if they’ve heard of your contractor either. If they do quality work, they’ll gladly tell you about it, especially if they don’t know the contractor you’re talking to.

Make Sure they Have a Service Guarantee

When hiring a quality roofer in the Gold Coast, you also want to make sure that they have a service guarantee, as well as plenty of knowledge in being able to work on your roof when it comes to not only experience, but also with quality products, and knowing what codes and regulations they need to follow.

Conclusion

SkyHighRoofing.com.au is just one of the many companies in the entire Gold Coast areas, but they are by far the best when it comes to taking care of your your commercial, industrial, and residential needs. By hiring them, you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve got the right contractor for the job required to help you with whatever your roofing problems or needs are.

To read more on topics like this, check out the business category.

Finance

Why is Liquidation Useful?

The word “liquidation” doesn’t always conjure up positive associations. For many consumers, it’s a sign that something has gone wrong or failed. You tend to see the word pop up a lot during going-out-of-business sales, for instance.

While liquidation does happen when a business is closing up for good, that’s not the only way it occurs. It can even have a positive meaning in a lot of cases. Liquidation is a cost of doing business for most places, and while it’s not entirely ideal, it can result in plenty of benefits for both the company and potential customers.

Here’s what you need to know about liquidation and why it’s potentially useful.

Why is merchandise liquidated?

If an entire company is going under, then they’re going to need to get rid of everything. If you’ve ever passed by a storefront in its last days, you’ve no doubt seen signs like “Everything Must Go!” and “Fixtures For Sale.” A store putting out signs that say “Everything Must Go” is easier and quicker than saying, “Our lease runs out in a month and we have no use for this stuff anymore; please take it from us.”

The fixtures (like clothing racks or dressing room mirrors) often go to other retailers who are still up and running. If the store has locations which are staying open, it’s possible that some of the extra inventory will be moved to those places. But if all the stores are going, then you should expect to see even more of a fire sale of sorts.

But while that kind of liquidation gets the most attention because it’s easy to spot, perhaps you’ve also seen sales for things like Walmart liquidation. Walmart is the biggest brick-and-mortar retailer in the world, so they’re obviously not going under. Walmart liquidation happens when Walmart stores have merchandise that they can’t or don’t want to use anymore.

Some of these liquidated products might be customer returns that were either lightly used or not used at all. But once an item’s box is opened, it typically can’t be sold as “new”. That means the company might stick it in a pile with other items and just have a Walmart liquidation sale for this entire pallet of related merchandise.

How regular customers get liquidated merchandise

Let’s say you’re interested in a deal on a pretty big-ticket item. Something like a fancy vacuum cleaner or big-screen TV can be costly if you buy brand-new. But if you buy liquidated merchandise, you can get a better deal on a product that might not be perfect, but will still last you a long time. So how do you go about doing that?

You could try looking for online liquidation sales of single items, but you should know that it’s more common for entire pallets to be sold. And you’d likely only want an entire pallet full of customer-returned vacuums if you’re running a store and think you can sell those vacuums.

So you’ll need to seek out local retailers who have purchased pallets and are breaking them apart for individual sales to regular customers. In many cases, Googling your town name and something like “liquidation sale” will get you off to a good start.

One final reminder: you’re not going to get the newest technology when you buy liquidated. If you’re looking for digital photo storage boxes, you’re going to have more like buying something brand new from the retailer or maybe Amazon.

If a product is cutting-edge or really trendy, waiting for it to hit the liquidation market is probably not the best use of your time. You might be able to get a good deal on a similar model from a couple of years ago, though.

 

Business

The Ultimate Customer Service Guide

Customers drive businesses and keep them alive. In order to retain customers, it is vital for a business to maintain a high and consistent level of customer service. There are several key features to a quality service experience that customers look for, and with this ultimate customer service guide, businesses can understand what best practices are on trend to adapt to. 

Customer-facing employees, such as customer service agents and representatives, must possess a specific set of skills tailored toward customer care in order to retain customer loyalty and, consequently, revenue. 

Communication skills

Communication skills are imperative to being an effective and successful service agent. Agents need to listen to the customer to fully understand and assess the issue, and know how to adjust their communication style based on the customer’s chosen communication channel. Customer service agents must also be organized and keep track of all relevant information in order to arrive at a detail-oriented approach to finding resolutions. Being organized saves time for both the agent and customer, as the agent will be able to efficiently and effectively tackle any issue. 

Collaboration skills 

Collaboration skills are also important to success. Agents will need to work with each other, various departments, and customers. Like any strong team, it is necessary to maintain positive relationships with colleagues in order to promote a healthy work environment and focus on the tasks at hand. Agents need to work with customers to arrive at solutions that have a positive outcome for both the customer and the business. 

Tech tools and resources 

Streamlining an omnichannel customer service setup into one unified space with a help desk allows the service team to provide effective customer support while being fully aware of the context of the issue at hand. With all customer communications in one place and accessible at any time by an agent, they can keep track of ongoing conversations and reduce the need for customers to repeat themselves whenever they make contact. 

With the Helpdesk, canned responses related to Frequently Asked Questions can be created and used by agents to respond to customers. Not every customer issue is as simple as a copy-paste response, but agents can build on a response by adding in case-specific details to the existing stock response, saving time for both themselves and the customer. 

When agents have access to tools to enable them to deliver an exceptional customer experience, they become more confident, give better performance, and are more satisfied. Bright Pattern’s advanced omnichannel call center software will result in lower operational costs, higher agent productivity, lower turnover rates, and less time and resources spent on recruitment and training. 

Bright Pattern understands these needs and offers a solution to provide a premier agent and customer service experience. Their Zendesk call center integration unites industry-leading CRM solutions with the most advanced contact center software on the market. Bright Pattern understands the need to deliver on customer expectations for a personalized experience by hosting a powerful omnichannel contact center platform that can access the rich data kept in Zendesk. This call center solution greatly increases agent productivity because it allows agents to discover more about the customers they engage with and use the collected data in new ways. 

Zendesk call center integration supports search, identification, screen pop functionality, and even creates items based on interaction data. The unified omnichannel Agent Desktop makes it convenient for agents to manage all communication channels, and integrates with Zendesk to create flexibility in toggling between communication channels. Also noteworthy, Zendesk features artificial intelligence and bot solutions, giving both agents and customers strengthened automation to increase resolution speed and improve the customer experience. 

Customers and customer service agents are vital to the success of any business. Use this guide to ensure your agents are equipped with the proper skills and tools to help them succeed in providing your customers an optimal customer service experience.