General


When you place a call to a business office, a live person answering the phone is always preferable to a recorded message. In fact, many customers will simply hang up if they hear an answering machine or voicemail message; and that means they might call someone else to help them with their issue. In the age of instant gratification and a highly competitive marketplace, you can’t afford to not be there 24/7 for your customers.

For businesses that rely heavily on personal care such as a doctor’s office or therapist, the need for a live operator answering service is even more pronounced. Individuals who call with medical emergencies or a personal crisis can be negatively impacted if they are not able to talk to someone about their specific condition when they call. Leaving a recorded message and just hoping someone will respond is a terrible situation for people who are experiencing acute pain or are concerned about their condition.

The ideal situation is to have a live operator answering service available for your customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. No matter how dedicated you are to your business, it is simply impossible for you to be there all the time. But with the support of a professional answering service, your customers don’t have to suffer when you need to take time off. You can use your answering service in your marketing to assure your prospective clients of your availability at all times. Let them know that you can be reached no matter what time they call.

When you select an answering service, you want to make sure they are a professional, well-trained service that can represent you in the best possible light. After all, your answering service is an extension of your company or practice’and the way they talk to your callers will reflect on your entire business. Make sure the service you hire has a good track record and other satisfied clients that you can talk to before you make your decision.

If you are in a specialized professional like law or medicine, you can even find some answering services which work exclusively with your type of business. They have training in handling specific issues that may arise in your clients’ cases and can refer them to the best sources for them to get exactly the kind of assistance they need’including knowing when you need to be personally contacted.

While it is true that a live operator answering service may cost a little more, you can consider the upgrade in your business services and investment in your company or practice. The more attention you are able to pay to your clients or patients, the more likely you will be to retain them and earn referrals from satisfied individuals who feel they are genuinely cared for by your call center team.

For more information on live operator answering service visit The Answering Service Guide

The World Football Challenge will come to the United States this summer, so you’d better be prepared with the right tickets, the right jersey and a few of the basic facts. For Americans, who will be too invested in baseball stats to afford much time for European soccer study, we have arranged a little cheat sheet below. Now you’ll look and sound like a real Premier League hooligan when you use your World Football Challenge tickets.

Club Basics
Chelsea Football Club, otherwise known as Chelsea F.C. or Chelsea, or The Blues, is an English Premier League soccer team based out of West London. Although Chelsea used to be one of the laughing stocks of the Premiership a few decades ago, in the mid to late 1990s the team sprinted to the top of the standings and found a good deal of success, both in their league and in international competition. Nowadays Chelsea is one of the most beloved (and most loathed by their rivals and the jealous types) soccer teams in England. They frequently secure the best and brightest soccer stars from the UK and around the world. In 2005 and 2006 they won the Premier League title.

Jersey Sponsor
Known colloquially as The Blues, Chelsea has a distinct all-blue (save for some white stripes and white socks) uniform. They’ve traditionally worn blue shirts, but they have alternate jerseys that are all-black and all-yellow. This will be hard for American sports fans to get used to, because in the states team colors usually stay mostly the same, although they add more white or gray when the team is home or away. The Europeans must know something about branding and merchandise sales that the Yankees don’t.

Chelsea could probably be fully sponsored by their owner, Roman Abramovich, a Russian oil tycoon and head of Millhouse LLC, reportedly worth somewhere just the other side of $10 billion (with a b), but they instead have a huge Samsung logo on their jersey tops. Samsung is a Korean business famous for many different things, electronics, heavy industry, construction, etc. The brand has a good reputation, and fits well with the club, so nobody should be embarrassed to wear a Chelsea jersey to the stadium come game time.

Star Players
John Terry - A defenseman and captain of the team, Terry is an English National Team veteran with many, many appearances. He’s a favorite for his smart, hard-nosed play and steady hand at the helm.

Frank Lampard - John Terry’s vice-captain, Lampard is an attacking midfielder most of the time. He has played with Chelsea since 2001 and leads the team in goals. He’s also a member of the English National Team.

Michael Ballack - A German National Team veteran, Ballack plays midfield and is one of the most recognizable players in soccer today. He earned a reputation as a good free kick taker while with Bayern Munich before joining Chelsea.

Bottom Line
If you’re looking to root for one of the hottest teams on the planet, you can’t go wrong with Chelsea. StubHub can get you to the stadium to see this fantastic soccer team in action, so buy tickets as soon as you can. Chelsea has a large fan following in the United States, so their games ought to be packed

Brent Warnken wrote this article in association with StubHub. If you are looking for World Football Challenge tickets, sports tickets, theatre tickets, concert tickets, or any other kinds of tickets, StubHub.com is one of the best places to find them.

Promotional products are inexpensive ways to advertise that not only make sense from a publicity standpoint they make sense because of the wide variety of options available as well. Pens, calendars, and magnates are simple and easy to distribute and t-shirts and ball caps make great gifts as well as advertising your company. Below are the ten best reasons for using promotional items.

Announcements

When something special happens or you reach a milestone anniversary use promotional items to let the world know and share your joy. You can also use promotional items to announce new ventures or renewed company mottos.

Mementos

Use promotional items as keepsakes for employees, business associates and clients. Coffee mugs, picture frames and wall clocks with your company logo make fantastic gifts that will be treasured and used.

Awards

Promotional items such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, and travel mugs make fantastic awards for goals met, attendance, or other achievements. They are low cost and still hold a lot of emotional value as well as being items that your employees, customers, and business associates will enjoy using. You can also give these special promotional items as birthday gifts for employees, awards for being customer number 100, 1000, or any other level, and company anniversary celebrations.

Billboards

Billboard advertising costs a fortune but are heavily used in promotional campaigns because of their effectiveness. They get the word out about products to millions of viewers that pass by them every day-your promotional items can do the very same work for you for much less money. Give away t-shirts, jackets, or sweatshirts and turn your employees, customers and other business associates into walking billboards for your services or products.

Advertising

Refrigerator magnets, calendars and pens are effective advertising for your company and will get used often and end up getting passed around to spread the word quickly. These low cost items that can be purchased in bulk are effective tools and your customers and clients will love them.

Trade show giveaways increase traffic

Put together promo goody bags full of small inexpensive promotional items like magnets, pens, calendars and even a t-shirt to give away to viewers who stop by your table at a trade show and watch the pile up build around your table. Ask visitors to your table to fill out a simple name and address card to get the promo goodie bag and kill two birds with one stone-get traffic to get your product seen, and also build your mailing list.

Public awareness campaigns

Show your support of charitable organizations while including your logo on promotional items to let your customers, associates, and employees know about your generosity and support.

Thank you gifts

Use various promotional items to thank customers for loyal return purchases. Include magnets, pens or calendars with every regular purchase as a special thank you. You can make a big impact by giving bigger promotional items as a thank you for employee service or business associate involvement with your company.

Public relations

Nothing says goodwill like ‘FREEBIE’. Giving away promotional items regardless of affiliation, purchase, or service makes people aware of your product in a way that feels good for them.

Top reason-brand recognition

The most valuable use for promotional items is to gain brand recognition. Every businessman and woman knows how important branding is to a good advertising campaign, and how challenging getting that name recognition ingrained in the public’s mind. Passing out a wide variety of promotional items that are most likely to be used by your employees, customers, and associates ensures the likelihood most of them will be seen by others, and seen repeatedly by the users themselves.

It is said that it takes at least seven views of a brand before the consumer has it imprinted on their mind. The more they see it the name more likely they will be to immediately think of that particular name in association with a product when they go to make a purchase.

Convention centers are a great to place to host a variety of meetings or gatherings for large groups or companies. Within these convention centers are spaces for exhibits, banquets, or even ceremonies for public or private use. They’re also a great meeting point for those arriving from various locations, since the centers are usually placed around airports, hotels, restaurants and other downtown amenities. Ohio Convocation centers are no exception, being placed in some of the most convenient areas of her larger cities like Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo.

In Cincinnati, the Duke Energy Convention Center is an ideal location to host any ceremony or banquet. Aside from the newly renovated center, there are six major hotels within walking distance for those visitors coming from out of state. Plenty of restaurants, shopping and other city activities are scattered throughout the area to visit when not at your event.

Ohio Convention centers like the one in Dayton are ideal, since they are located on the Crossroads of America- the I-70 and the I-75. The convenience of having a convocation center in the city of Dayton is perfect because it offers accessibility to those who need to travel, while it’s a convenient and affordable location for locals. Like Cincinnati, centers in Dayton/Montgomery County offers shopping and dining within minutes from the center, as well as accommodations and other day activities to do while staying in the city.

Columbus, Ohio is home to a 1.7 million square foot convention center, with hotels and attractions all around, so visitors enjoy their time in Columbus. Conveniently located just ten minutes from Columbus International Airport, the Greater Columbus Convention Center offers entertainment, dining and accommodations for travelers for more than half the United States, since Columbus is only a one-hour flight from many cities in the United States and Canada.

The International Exposition Center, or IX Center, is 1 million square feet of exhibition space, making it one of the largest in the country. With millions of visitors each year, this center has some of the largest exhibits and trade shows in the United States each year. Located very close by is the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, so visitors are able to attend shows and conventions with little hassle. Dining, shopping, accommodations, and attractions are found all throughout Cleveland, making it a great city for any meeting or venue.

Ohio Convention centers are a great place to host a trade show, banquet or meeting since they are found around some of the best attractions in Ohio. Various shopping opportunities, dining at the best restaurants, luxurious hotel accommodations, major league games and fun-filled attractions make this state one of the best places to host your next convention!