Reflections and Celebrations – Cutting Costs and Growing Your Business

PRLog (Press Release) - Jan 18, 2009 -
By Gayle Buske, President and CEO, Team Double-Click®

Reflecting on 2008

As I sat down to write this first Gayle’s Desk of 2009, I just had to look back at my first one from 2008.  It was the Year of the Rat, according to the Chinese…predicted to be “an exciting year full of new beginnings and major accomplishments.”  In a word…eeeeYuk!  The year turned out nothing like most of us expected.  2008 threw all of us some curve balls, that’s for sure.  Toward the last quarter of the year we saw a lot of clients go out of business and still more struggle to keep their businesses alive in a down economy.

The year wasn’t all bad though.  For me, there is always a silver lining and I fully believe that when one door closes another one opens and opens wider.  As I reflect back on 2008, I see what a wonderful job our Sales Director/VSR Director/Right-Hand-Woman, Janice Clark has done in improving profits and customer service at Team Double-Click®.  I see what a stellar job our Virtual Services Reps did in speaking with new clients and educating them as to what virtual assistants can do for their businesses and matching them with the best virtual assistants.  I applaud the team we’ve assembled at Team Double-Click®.  These folks truly know how to do their jobs, do them well, and help a company grow.

Celebrating What Works

At Team Double-Click®, while some clients just couldn’t hang on in this economy, others have thrived.  So why are some thriving while others falter go out of business?

For some, circumstances dictate that there just isn’t much to be done to hang on in this economy.  I think about a good friend of mine who happens to be a Realtor®.  She hasn’t sold a single house since May.  We live in a small mountain town where the cost of living was already high and jobs were already few.  She doesn’t have the luxury of mining sales in other neighborhoods – the entire county is made up of roughly 2,000 people.  So she’s been forced to pick up other jobs that allow her to continue showing homes when folks are ready.  She tends bar, offers massage, and a few other things here and there to make ends meet until the economy improves.  In her case, short of moving, there isn’t much more to be done.

But for others, one key has been to cut back spending as quickly as possible.  Cut back expensive staff salaries through layoffs.  Cut services that aren’t so needed right now.  Stop going to movies and dinners.  You get the picture.  This exact strategy is one we’ve employed here at Team Double-Click® in order to help us weather the storm.  We’ve cut vended services to the bare minimum as we have with staff.  What this has done for us is kept profits steady and cash flow strong.  

Many of our clients are heeding the advice of the gurus and doing the same – cutting expensive in-office staff and replacing them with virtual assistants at a much lower cost and higher efficiency.  This is helping their bottom line and cash flow grow.  By first cutting the expenses, these clients can then take the next set of advice from the gurus and continue and even increase their marketing.  The experts tell us that in order to weather a recession, you must remain in front of your potential customers through marketing and sales.  Do this and you’ll be the first to rebound from recession.  Good advice.  Those Team Double-Click® clients who are marketing, marketing, marketing, are also thriving, thriving, thriving – even in this economy.  They’re using their virtual assistants to perform public relations work and internet marketing to keep their companies in front of clients.

I recently analyzed our client data for the last couple years and compared their virtual assistant use to the equivalent usage of bricks-and-mortar staff.  The numbers showed that to date, Team Double-Click’s clients have collectively saved nearly $2,000,000 by using virtual assistants as opposed to hiring their bricks-and-mortar counterparts.  Those same clients continue to collectively save over $1.40 per second 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year.  Impressive numbers!  This cost savings allows many of them to continue to thrive and grow where their competitors are failing and dying.

Be sure to catch our upcoming teleseminars aimed at helping you survive and thrive through this recession and beyond.

Date: Tuesday, January 13, 2008
Time: 8:00pm EST - 7:00pm CST - 6:00 pm MST - 5:00 pm PST            
Speakers: Gayle Buske, Team Double-Click® CEO, Jim Buske, Team Double-Click® HR Director and Janice Clark, Team Double-Click® Sales Director
Sponsor: Team Double-Click® www.teamdoubleclick.com
Topic: Turn Your Business Around with a Virtual Assistant

Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009          
Time: 8:00pm EST - 7:00pm CST - 6:00 pm MST - 5:00 pm PST            
Speakers: Gayle Buske, Team Double-Click® CEO, Jim Buske, Team Double-Click® HR Director and Janice Clark, Team Double-Click® Sales Director
Sponsor: Team Double-Click® www.teamdoubleclick.com
Topic: Saving Money With A Virtual Office and How To Set It Up

To register for upcoming teleseminars:

1)   To register, please email info@teamdoubleclick.com
2)   Include:
a.   The name of the seminar you wish to attend;
b.   Your name;
c.   Your email address;
d.   Questions you’d like answered on the call (we’ll incorporate your questions into our teleseminar.
3)   We’ll email you immediately to confirm your registration;
4)   The day before the teleseminar, we’ll email a reminder;
5)   The day of the teleseminar, we will email a quick-reference sheet for you to use during the teleseminar.

I wish you a happy, safe, and prosperous 2009.

About the author:
Gayle Buske is the co-founder and CEO of Team Double-Click® the country’s leading virtual staffing agency. As the head of a virtual staffing agency with tens of thousands of virtual professionals in its pool, Ms. Buske is uniquely qualified to speak to the ins and outs of the industry. Gayle enjoys spending her free time with her husband and business partner, Jim, their daughter Madison, practicing Yoga, reading, hiking, flower gardening, off-roading, watching NASCAR®, chairing the Lymphedema Lifeline Foundation, and playing with the family’s three dogs and three cats.

Team Double-Click® provides virtual assistance for large and small businesses. Visit Team Double Click’s Web site at www.teamdoubleclick.com or phone 888.827.9129. Click to receive your free report, 101 Ways To Work With A Virtual Assistant.

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