8 Survival Tips For The Laid Off And Looking

8 Survival Tips For The Laid Off And Looking

It can be difficult to stay focused, positive, and proactive when you get laid off, but that is exactly what you need to do if you want to get a new job!

If you’re laid off and looking, check out these eight simple tips to get you out of the house and back to work.

1. Get Dressed

It may not seem important, but it is. Changing your clothes can change your mindset.

Just as it is important to have a designated area to “work” on your job search, you should have a job search wardrobe. You never know when you might interact with someone who might have a job opportunity for you. Put your best foot forward at all times.

2. Leave The House Every Day

Happy woman walking stays positive after being laid off

Leaving the house every day will increase your chances of meeting others with job opportunities or even interview opportunities. Even beyond the simple act of reminding people you exist by presenting yourself in public, you get human acknowledgment.

Sitting at home, alone, in front of a computer can result in feeling like you don’t exist after a while. Making eye contact with others and receiving acknowledgment can really improve your confidence and self-esteem.

3. Read Something Career/Industry Related Every Day

Man on laptop reads up on his industry while unemployed

Feed your mind! Keep up to date with your industry so you can continuously know what skills are in demand. Reading job search and career-related articles can also give you some tips and tricks from which you might benefit, and help you stay connected to the working world.

4. Vary Your Job Search Approach

Woman on laptop looks for a job after being laid off

Not only is sitting in front of the computer applying for jobs day after day boring, but it is also ineffective! You will rarely get a response, and if you do, it is often a rejection letter.

The easiest and most effective way to land a new job is by networking your way into the company. Also be sure to follow up on your applications and resume submissions with any connections you may have at the company, to try to go around the ATS and get your job application in the hands of the hiring manager.

Changing up your job search will keep you engaged, fresh, and motivated.

5. Practice Interviewing

Woman practices interviewing during unemployment

I am always so surprised when a new client contacts me to practice for an interview a day or two before the main event. Ideally, you should practice with a career coach or other professional several times before you are even called for an interview.

Mock interviews can be extremely helpful, especially if you’re nervous. Have a trusted colleague ask you behavioral interview questions so you can practice your answers. Once the mock interview is over, listen to their feedback to see what you should work on before the real thing.

6. Keep A Schedule

Man writes down his schedule while unemployed

Paper or electronic—it doesn’t matter. Map out your week ahead and review your schedule daily. This will ensure you don’t miss any application deadlines or opportunities to follow up or network. You also won’t forget to keep your word to call an employer back “next Tuesday.”

Job search is your business right now…unless you want to continue being unemployed.

7. Review Your Resume, LinkedIn Profile, And Cover Letter

Man on laptop reviews his resume and LinkedIn profile after being laid off

Your resume, LinkedIn profile, and cover letter should all be considered living documents. You should also review and update them regularly so you’re always ready for your next career move, no matter if you get laid off or simply decide you want to look for a new job. Even small improvements or corrections can make a surprising difference.

Additionally, it is easy to overlook things you take for granted like the same link that has been on your LinkedIn profile for ages but now happens to be broken. Try to use an objective eye when reviewing these documents. If it’s been a while since you’ve updated them, and you don’t know where to start, a career coach can help!

8. Volunteer

Woman volunteers while unemployed

You may not think you have time to volunteer, but you do. Not only will the organization or individual receiving your time and effort appreciate it, but you will benefit as well.

There is no way for me to describe how good it can make you feel to be able to contribute your time and energy a few hours a week to a good cause. It is good for your self-confidence, builds feelings of relevance, and can be another networking opportunity as well.

You just never know what will lead you to your next job opportunity! While this is by no means a complete list of things that you can do if you are laid off and looking, it is a good start.

Need more help with your job search?

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.

Monday.com: Project Management Made Easy

Monday.com: Project Management Made Easy

As an educator together with administrator, I enjoy assisting young adults as nicely as adult learners along with their academic journey. Inside my role, I oversee guidelines and procedures that assist support student learning and additionally success. Therefore, I apply multiple innovation projects to back up students and meet all of them where they are.

Monday. apresentando Is good for Managing Projects

Monday. por meio de, task management management platform

The solution is Monday. contendo. The Work OS function management platform helps our team manage projects not to mention workflows more efficiently. The particular project management includes this scope, time, and spending budget.

What My partner and i like about Monday. junto de is that is a new very simple and intuitive helpful work platform that utilizes apps and integrations to be able to create a custom work flow for the project. The versatility helps me (as well as my team) keep on track and the integrations with apps such since Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Googlemail, and Excel, permit me to very easily continue working with the best tools from within often the platform.

Wednesday. com Capabilities

Project manager purpose project management software

Since My spouse and i work on several tasks, Monday. com software allows me assign tasks and also prioritize what’s most essential for the team for you to execute. To do this particular, I break down your components by color as well as timeline. For example, our own digital badge project any short implementation timeline, breakthrough, and deliverables. The software allowed me to control the entire workload almost all in one space.

Conclusion

Man uses anxiety attack software during a yanks meeting

​My biggest takeaway: the exact platform fosters creative effort with my team and then other departments. More significantly, the collaboration is smooth and supplies visibility into the very progress of our own work. This saves time. You might want to give this a try!

Competing With Spreadsheets — The Joy And The Horror!

Competing With Spreadsheets — The Joy And The Horror!

Bill Gates has a lot to answer for. Every office computer has a spreadsheet application on it. Any task involving numbers is done on a spreadsheet.

Selling contact center technology, I am frequently told, “No problem, they’re only using spreadsheets.”

A professional colleague told me that when people replace existing technology, either they are looking for a solution that does more for the same price that they are already paying, or for something that does the same as their current solution, but for a lower price.

Since everybody’s computer already has a spreadsheet application on it, they see it as a zero-cost application.

How do you compete against a zero-cost application?

Know Your Enemy

Microsoft Excel icon on a laptop

Sun Tzu wrote: “If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of 100 battles.”

Now we’ve identified spreadsheets as our “enemy,” what are their strengths and what are their weaknesses?

The Strengths Of Spreadsheets

Man on laptop looks at a spreadsheet

Their greatest strength is that they are essentially free. Even if a company does buy your solution, they are not going to give up their spreadsheet licenses. They use spreadsheets for so many other parts of the business, so there is no saving by adopting your product.

Spreadsheets are the legacy solution. People have designed and amended their files over the years to meet their needs exactly. People feel as comfortable using spreadsheets as they would wearing their favorite pair of slippers.

The final strength of spreadsheets is their flexibility. The average Excel user regularly uses about 5% of its full functionality. Spreadsheets’ formulae address all aspects of mathematics and contain many tools for analyzing and processing data. Most software cannot emulate all the different functions that spreadsheets have to offer.

The Holes In The Spreadsheets’ Armor

Empty spreadsheet on Microsoft Excel

Spreadsheets were originally designed to make calculations and save them in files. These calculations could be shared by sharing the file.

More than one person can work on a spreadsheet at the same time, but it has its challenges. The key challenge is that the number of users working on a spreadsheet at any one time is limited for practical purposes, to two or three. If you create a database table in Excel, it’s not possible to have 100 users making real-time changes to it simultaneously.

Security is another headache. Spreadsheets can be password protected, but that password protection cannot be integrated into an identity and access management (IAM) tool. The password is unique to the spreadsheet and not to the user If 100 users use the same spreadsheet, then 100 users know the same password. Alternatively, each user can use their own spreadsheet and then regularly merge the files. This requires a lot of manual work, which is prone to error.

Automation is possible within spreadsheets, but it’s complicated. Not many people know how to write macros in VBA. If your product has a functionality that would need a macro to replicate it, then it’s unlikely that your customer’s organization will have someone who can write that macro. On the other hand, if your customer’s spreadsheets use macros to perform certain functions, it’s pretty unlikely that your product will perform the same function as the macro. I have often worked with customers using spreadsheets with macros. When I ask how they work, they will tell me that the person who wrote the spreadsheet has moved on. No one in their company knows how it works, but they have to keep using it.

Replacing Spreadsheets — Including The Value In (Return On Investments) ROI Calculations

Woman looks at a spreadsheet on her computer

As discussed, people look for solutions that do more for the same price that they are already paying, or for solutions that do the same as their current solutions, but for a lower price.

The trick is to understand what are the units of work being done on the spreadsheet and to attribute a financial value to them based on the manual labor. This is usually based on the time it takes to do the work. If you can show that your product can do the same units of work in a shorter period of time, or with the reduced attention of a human worker, then you can estimate a cost saving.

This manual work can include the costs of someone checking the work, and also the costs of rework to rectify mistakes.

The second way to calculate the ROI is to look at the consequences of non-compliance. Keeping customer data on a spreadsheet is not very secure for the reasons mentioned above. It is likely to violate data protection laws. You can also factor the likely penalties, fines, and legal costs into the ROI.

The wrap-up

If you’re selling to small and medium-sized customers, spreadsheets can be a fearsome incumbent to beat. You need to reveal the effect of the spreadsheet’s weaknesses on the business while being ready to handle objections based on the spreadsheet’s strengths.

Are you competing against spreadsheets? Why are your customers considering replacing them? How are spreadsheets holding them back? What do they hope that your product can do that spreadsheets can’t? How does the value your product creates compare to the value spreadsheets generate?

Internal Controls To Safeguard Your Assets

Internal Controls To Safeguard Your Assets

When you hear the words “internal controls” does the early 2000s, Enron scandal, and SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) come to mind? It probably does especially if you work in finance or accounting. Internal control as defined by COSO is “a process for assuring of an organization’s objectives in operational effectiveness and efficiency, reliable financial reporting, and compliance with laws, regulations and policies. A broad concept, internal control involves everything that controls risks to an organization.”

Many people will focus on the financial aspects when they think about internal controls, but as the COSO definition states, internal controls are for the entire organization. This includes operations and information technology (IT) and may not have realized that some things being done are internal control related. For example, if you work at a manufacturing plant, the equipment is critical, and you want to make sure that it’s working properly. So, you’ll have inspections and routine maintenance, which are considered internal controls.

Technology is at the center of most organizations, so you definitely want to make sure your IT assets are working and protected. If there is security breach or ransomware, the CEO will want to know how it happened. You might not think of internal controls, but it certainly could be related to an internal control weakness.

Types Of Internal Controls

internal controls /safeguard assets concept

Internal controls are typically divided into three categories:

  1. Preventative controls – policies and practices designed to “prevent” problems from occurring.
  2. Detective controls – procedures designed to “detect” if a problem occurs. It identifies that something has happened.
  3. Corrective controls – these are implemented after the fact to “correct” so that it doesn’t happen again. It could be offering training, applying a software patch, or rebooting a system.

There are two types of IT-related internal controls – general controls and application controls:

  1. General controls – are for the overall environment and include physical hardware, software, security, etc. For example, make sure you schedule (and test) routine backups. In the event of a disaster, you want to be confident that you can restore the system. Other general controls are antivirus, firewalls, and change management processes.
  2. Application controls – are specific for input, processing, and output for each application. Examples are required fields, correct date format, and data completeness checks.

How To Identify And Mitigate Internal Control Weaknesses

internal control concept

Some elements to help identify and mitigate control weaknesses are:

1. Defining and inventorying risks. While some risks may be common across an industry, some will be specific to an organization. It’s important to identify which risks are mission critical to your organization. There are some individuals who specialize in identifying ongoing risks.

  • One of the top risks is cybersecurity! Many organizations have a dedicated CISO (chief information security officer). Also, individuals can obtain the CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) certification.
  • Some organizations have a specific GRC (governance, risk, and compliance) group.

2. Frameworks and conducting risk assessments. There are numerous tools, processes, and templates available. You’ll want to determine and document the risks, the likelihood of the event happening, the impact including potential cost, if/how to mitigate the risk, etc. Some frameworks and considerations are:

  • If you work in healthcare, how do you ensure you are HIPAA compliant?
  • How often do you perform penetration tests?
  • If you have an ERP partner, have you reviewed their annual SOC2 (System and Organization Controls Type 2) report to review their internal controls, and any client considerations you may be responsible for?

3. Involvement by Internal Audit (internal controls is practically their middle name). They can be a valuable business partner and provide an independent perspective to make sure the internal controls are effective (including cost effective) and working properly.

4. Continuous monitoring. Both your organization and the threat landscape are constantly changing. You want to regularly conduct assessments and reviews to ensure the controls are effective. Don’t make controls so rigid that it’s impossible for the business to function.

  • There are tools that can systematically monitor, identify, and remediate issues such as Norton identifying viruses and malware.
  • Conduct phishing training and testing for all employees to increase security awareness.

You can’t make the organization 100% secure without shutting the business down, but you can create and maintain a framework of internal controls to safeguard the organization’s important assets.

There are great resources regarding internal controls provided by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), and Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

For more information on internal controls, follow me on LinkedIn!

Are You Committing Unemployment Insurance Fraud By Accident?

Are You Committing Unemployment Insurance Fraud By Accident?

Unemployment insurance fraud takes place when an individual conceals or misrepresents some information to get or increase unemployment insurance payments.

Most often, unemployment insurance frauds imply making a false statement about one’s work and earnings. Sometimes the cases can also include work refusals, unreported travel, check forgeries, identity theft, inability to work, incarceration, perjury, non-availability for work, incorrect claims for dependent allowance, etc.

Here’s everything you need to know about unemployment insurance fraud.

Types Of Unemployment Insurance Fraud

Woman on laptop researches the types of unemployment insurance fraud

  • Failing to report your employment. This includes cash jobs, commission, self-employment, 1099, or temporary.
  • Making a false statement or misrepresenting information to increase or receive benefits (for example: not reporting school attendance when receiving benefits).
  • Not reporting your work refusals.
  • Fabricating job searches or not conducting a solid work search.
  • Not reporting a work separation.
  • Using another individual’s identity (social security number and/or name) to work and file for insurance payments.
  • Failing to report being incapable and not available to work (for example: sick or injured, abroad, etc.) and receiving benefits.
  • Not reporting other types of reimbursement (for example: workers’ compensation payments).
  • Helping somebody file a fraudulent insurance claim.

What Happens If You Commit Unemployment Insurance Fraud?

Couple on laptop tries to avoid unemployment insurance fraud

If you commit unemployment insurance fraud intentionally or accidentally (not knowing the regulations, for example), you have to pay back all the benefits that you received plus a penalty (50% of that sum).

In most cases, a person is going to be disqualified from getting unemployment benefits in the future (minimum 6 weeks for every week of receiving benefits). There can also be imprisonment and fines included depending on the sum of the received fraudulent benefits.

Unemployment fraud punishment may differ between U.S. states. The Department of Unemployment Insurance in Arizona, for example, has different periods of disqualification from collecting unemployment insurance benefits than in Colorado. You should check your state’s law to get the full picture.

Repaying Overpayments

Woman on laptop pays back her unemployment insurance overpayment

There can also be overpayments, which you must pay back. Some of the typical cases of overpayments include:

  • You report some information wrongly when you file for benefits, and that information is corrected after.
  • The Unemployment Insurance Program processes your claim erroneously.
  • Your income was wrongly reported by your employer.

There can be a repayment plan organized for you if you cannot repay the whole sum at once.

How Can Unemployment Insurance Fraud Be Detected?

Man on phone reports a case of unemployment insurance fraud

There are a lot of ways in which unemployment insurance fraud is identified. Here are some of them:

  • Public tips by internet, mail, or phone
  • New employer’s hire reports
  • Cross-matches with some government records
  • Quality control audits
  • Claim center referrals
  • Other investigative efforts
These days, unemployment insurance fraud seldom goes unpunished. We hope this article has informed you about unemployment insurance fraud and helps you avoid any potential mistakes while you’re unemployed.
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.

30 Tips For Your First Day Of Work: Preparing For Success

30 Tips For Your First Day Of Work: Preparing For Success

Your first day of work can feel like a whirlwind, so being as prepared as possible will make a big difference. This list of tips for your first day on the job will help you keep your nerves at bay, make a great impression, and hit the ground running. 1. Make Sure You’re Well-Rested Having […]

The post 30 Tips For Your First Day Of Work: Preparing For Success appeared first on Career Sherpa.

How To Reduce Average Handling Time (AHT) In Contact Centers

How To Reduce Average Handling Time (AHT) In Contact Centers

It’s common knowledge that approximately 65% of contact center costs are staffing costs. Inbound staff get paid by the hour. If your cost per call is USD 3.82, then USD 2.90 of that cost is for staffing costs.

If you can reduce AHT by 10%, staffing costs reduce to USD 2.06, and the overall cost per call reduces to USD 3.59—a USD 0.23 cost reduction per call.

Let’s scale these numbers up for a 100-seat contact center. Assuming that each agent handles 50 calls a day, and there are 90 agents working at any one time, then the contact center handles 4,500 calls a day, so it will save approximately USD 1,033 per day, USD 23,000 per month, and USD 276,000 per year.

Common Root Causes And Solutions

Call center employee talks to a customer on the phone

​To reduce AHT, the best way to do it is to listen to a selection of calls that are longer than AHT, and a selection that are shorter. You can then see how many of the common root causes listed below you find in the longer calls as opposed to the shorter calls.

If you have speech analytics software available, you can make this task a lot easier.

Transfers And Routing Strategy

Person dials a phone number

​How many calls are agents transferring to Tier 2?

Let’s say your AHT is 4 minutes (240 seconds) and 10% of calls are routed to a Tier 2 agent.

Customers spend 2 minutes with a Tier 1 agent, 1 minute on hold while the Tier 1 agent explains the problem to a Tier 2 agent, and 3 minutes with a Tier 2 agent. Total time = 6 minutes.

If that call was routed directly to a Tier 2 agent, he could handle it in 4 minutes. This is a net saving of 2 minutes or 33% on the longest calls in the contact center.

Why not redesign the IVR to route customers with common Tier 2 problems directly to Tier 2?

“Dead Air”

Call center employee talks to her manager

This is when neither side is talking. Customers do not like it because they don’t know what is happening and they are paying for the call.

It’s often caused by slow computer systems or poorly trained agents who are not familiar with the tools or workflows.

It’s worth finding calls with “dead air” and investigating why this is happening. If computer systems are the problem, do they affect all categories of cases or specific cases where specific tools are used?

Can the tools be sped up in some way? Can the process be adjusted so that agents are running the tools while doing something else? Could this category of issues be handled by chat instead of a call, so that agents can handle multiple chats at the same time?

Call Handling Skills

Call center employees answer phone calls

Most contact center agents are nice people. They are trained to be polite to customers. They are not always so good at taking control of a conversation when a customer is upset or simply wants to talk about something else.

Agents need to be assertive to keep the conversation on track. They need to be trained to control the conversation by asking the right questions and not getting drawn into other directions.

Workflow: How Much Can You Reduce Call Length By?

Empty call center

Listen to a selection of your calls. If you reduce the call to the bare minimum of greeting, verification, needs analysis, response, and goodbye, how many seconds will it shave off of the call length?

How will this affect customer satisfaction (CSAT)? How will they react to a shorter, brisker call?

Can Some Calls Be Automated, And What Will That Do To Your AHT/CSAT?

Woman in call center talks to a customer on the phone

Some simple requests can be handled by automated “bots.” Contact center costs are a function of cost per call and call volumes.

If we reduce AHT, we reduce the cost per call.

Automating simple processes will reduce call volumes but may lead to an increase in AHT.

Let’s say we can automate 10% of calls, but this will lead to an increase in AHT by 5%. What is the net effect? Let’s do a “before” and “after” comparison.

“Before”

Assume the cost per call is USD 3.82. (See above)

90 agents normally work at any one time, and each agent handles 50 calls per day.

Total costs per day = USD 17,190 per day.

“After”

Assume the cost per call is USD 4.00 because AHT on human-handled calls has been increased by 5%.

90 agents normally work at any one time, and each agent now handles 45 calls per day.

Total costs per day = USD 16,200 per day.

This is because call volumes have been reduced from 4,500 to 4,050 per day.

This saving of USD 990.00 per day represents 69 employee hours that can be realized by redeploying them to other tasks.

Multiplying this up, savings of USD 990 per day is USD 22,770 per month or USD 273,240 per year.

Over to you!

Are you trying to reduce your AHT? How much can you cut your call length by? Which root cause looks most likely?

5 Tips For Getting A Job During The Holidays

5 Tips For Getting A Job During The Holidays

Finding a job during the holidays is no easy task. You have to navigate vacations, slow hiring processes, and increased competition. Yet with the right strategy, it can be done.

Here are five ways you can stand out from the competition this holiday season and find a job before the end of the year.

1. Showcase The Right Skills On Your Resume

Hiring manager on laptop reads a resume during the holidays

Make sure your resume highlights and draws attention to any experience you have in the industry. Look at job descriptions and the core responsibilities of the positions you’re applying for. That’s where you’ll find the skills employers are looking for in job candidates. By including the right skills on your resume, you’ll stand out to hiring managers and have a better chance of getting your resume past the ATS. It’s all about keywords!

The holidays are hectic, so share with the potential employer how you’ll be a positive addition to the team by leveraging your strengths.

2. Dress The Part

Well-dressed man interviews for a job during the holidays

Don’t underestimate the power of a great first impression. Dress for the interview in professional attire. Even if the job indicates you’ll be wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, you need to show respect for the employer by visiting them in clothes that show you are committed to being seen as one who cares about their appearance and the impact it has on others.

Not sure what to wear? We recommend dressing conservatively in clothing one level above what the current employees at the company are wearing. You want to look professional, but not like you don’t fit in with the workplace culture.

3. Show Your Connection To The Company

Woman answers an interview question during her holiday job search

Employers like to hire candidates who have a passion for what they do. Why? Because they know that excitement will translate into better performance.

In your disruptive cover letter (and during your job interview), demonstrate how and why you admire the company. Highlight what you love most about their products and services. Give examples of how you have personally used them in your own life with success. The more you can show them you understand and respect the business, the more likely you’ll impress the hiring manager and move forward in the interview process.

4. Demonstrate Your Value

Man has a phone interview during the holidays

It’s important to remember that you’re a business-of-one, and you’re trying to sell the service you provide as a business-of-one to employers (the customers who will be paying you for the service).

To find a job during the holidays, it’s critical you adequately demonstrate your value as a business-of-one and potential employee in the hiring process. How? Well, make sure to quantify your work experience on your resume. Use numbers to showcase your accomplishments. Clearly state how you’ll make or save the company money with your employment. Do this, and you’ll easily become one of the top job candidates for the position.

5. Express Gratitude

Woman interviews for a job during the holiday season

The holidays are busy for everyone. When you’re applying for jobs during the holiday season, keep gratitude in mind.

After every job interview, always send a thank-you note. It’s just the polite thing to do, and you’ll score more points with the hiring manager. Even if you get rejected, or never hear back about a position, make sure you send an email thanking the employer for the opportunity and wish them the best of luck with finding the right job candidate.

Don’t be bitter. Be gracious. You never know what will happen in the future. You might want to apply for another job at the company down the line. So, don’t let your frustration get the best of you.

Remember: if you get rejected, they didn’t say, “No, not ever.” They just said, “No, not today.”

A successful holiday job search depends on a solid strategy. Follow the guidelines above and land a job this holiday season!

Need more help with your job search?

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.

How To Prepare An ROI Calculation

How To Prepare An ROI Calculation

A very experienced technical sales professional told me something very interesting. Nearly all business-to-business sales attempt to replace an existing solution. He said: “Companies buy solutions that produce the same outputs for a lower price or produce more outputs for the same price.”

What Is A Return On Investment (ROI) Calculation?

Return on investment (ROI) concept

ROI calculations are thought experiments to show your audience what will happen if they switch from their existing solution to the proposed new solution. It’s used in the sales process to stimulate discussion.

As a conversation starter, the calculation doesn’t have to be totally accurate. Where you don’t have the full figures, you can make assumptions. They must be based on some sort of reality such as industry benchmarks, for example.

Be conservative in your estimates. If a customer says you have underestimated the savings they will make, then they are selling themselves the product.

Here is a step-by-step guide to how to prepare an ROI calculation, using savings made with a voice biometric authentication system as an example.

Step 1: Define The Experiment

Man on laptop working customer service

Decide what effect switching to the new solution will have. Consider the financial value of the cost reduction or increase in productivity. The voice biometric system won’t make any money itself. It will eliminate the need for agents to ask the customer security questions, so reducing call lengths by approximately 1 minute.

Step 2: Define The Current (Control) State

Time, percentage, money, return on investment, ROI concept

Scientific experiments often have a control. In drug trials, two rats are injected with the target pathogen. One is injected with the drug, while the other isn’t. This second rat is the “control.” It demonstrates what happens if the drug isn’t used.

The basic scenario of the ROI calculation does the same thing.

Assume our contact center has 100 agents on the phones. Each agent handles 100 calls a day and each call is approximately 3 minutes long. Agents are paid USD 10.00 per hour. The agents work 7 hours a day (Breaks are unpaid), 47 weeks per year not including holidays and sickness. Cost per call = USD 70.00 / 100 calls = USD 0.70 per call.

Step 3: Define The Effect Of The Experiment

Salesperson listens to help a customer

Now we define what happens, from the financial perspective, when we use the new solution. In our example, removing the security questions will reduce the call length by 1 minute. Calls are now 2 minutes long instead of 3, so agents can make 150 calls in the time they handled 100 calls. The new cost per call will be USD 70.00 / 150 calls = USD 0.46 per call.

Step 4: Define The Savings

ROI, return on investment concept

We have defined the financial situation before adopting the product and after adopting the product. Now we calculate the savings by deducting one from the other. Before product adoption, the cost per call is USD 0.70 per call. After product adoption, the cost per call is USD 0.46 per call. The savings will therefore be USD 0.24 per call.

Step 5: Introduce The Solution Cost To Calculate The True Savings

Woman salesperson talks to a customer on the phone

​The solution itself has a cost. We must factor this into the savings calculation to see if it’s worth buying.

Traditionally, on-premises software was sold with a single license fee and a small annual maintenance fee as a follow-up. Nowadays, software is more likely to be sold under a monthly or quarterly subscription fee or, if it is cloud-based, as a consumption charge. It’s important to express savings in the same time frame as the solution costs.

To keep things simple, let’s assume that our product is priced as a monthly subscription based on the number of named users. The subscription fee is USD 150.00 per agent per month.

An agent handles 150 calls per day for 21 days per month (assuming we lose 2 working days per month to holidays and sickness) which comes to 3, 150 calls per month. Monthly savings will therefore be USD 0.24 per call x 3,150 calls = USD 756.00 per agent per month.

Net savings is the monthly savings minus the subscription fee. USD 756.00 – USD 150 = USD 606 per month. Multiply that by the 100 agents working in the contact center, and you have a total monthly saving of USD 60,600 per month. Multiply that by 12, and you have a savings of USD 727,000 per year.

Skull Busters

Return on investment (ROI) concept

Sometimes customers will tell you they want to do something like “improve CSAT.” The financial benefits are not always obvious. In my experience, the best way to address this is to ask the customers themselves what such improvements will mean financially.

If they can’t tell you this, then they may not really know why they are buying the product.

If they tell you every 1% improvement in NPS scores will lead to a USD half million increase in revenues, build that into your numbers.

If you think the savings look too optimistic, present your more “realistic” figure. Explain that you want to err on the side of caution. Your customer will be reassured by your transparency and prudence.

Presentation

Businesswoman looks at charts and graphs

Your “ally” in the customer’s company may ask you for the ROI calculation to help her persuade the board that buying your solution is a good idea. Provide her with an easy-to-understand presentation with explanatory notes explaining what the facts are and where they come from, what the assumptions are and what they are based on, and what the calculations are and how they were calculated.

She may need to present the calculation without your help.

Wrap-Up

Are you trying to prepare an ROI calculation? Let me know if you need any help!

Further reading…

Try reading this article about building your business case. It might help you flesh out your calculations with some narrative.

Should I Quit My Job? How To Make The Decision (Simple)

Should I Quit My Job? How To Make The Decision (Simple)

“Should I quit my job?” is a question that more and more professionals are asking themselves these days. But with so many people moving between companies, it can be hard to determine what is a good reason for leaving (and what isn’t). This guide will help you figure out if you should quit your job, […]

The post Should I Quit My Job? How To Make The Decision (Simple) appeared first on Career Sherpa.

How Salary Transparency Can Backfire On Job Seekers

How Salary Transparency Can Backfire On Job Seekers

Several U. S. says now require companies towards post their rates about every job posting, in addition to there’s legislation out right now there that may mandate salary visibility for all the models. If you arrive across salary transparency throughout your job search, which you need to understand…

Businesses Might Not Post As numerous Jobs AnymoreÂ

@j. t. odonnell Replying to @n2musique How salary transparency may backfire… #paytransparency #careertok #jobs #careers #jobtok #salarytransparency #salarynegotiation #salarytransparentstreet ♬ original sound — J. T. O’Donnell

In the situation that salary transparency is usually mandated within the U. T., I’ve been told simply by employers that they’re merely likely to stop posting work.

Wonder just how that’s possible?

It’s simple. Instead involving posting jobs, companies may proactively seek talent. This particular means you will require to possess a massive specialist network at least realize how to network. Your own network is your internet worth. About 80% connected with jobs are already obtained via referral. But when job postings go aside, the only way you will learn about great careers as if you know just what employers you want that will work with (create an job interview bucket list to assist with this).

A positive job search depends on knowing which usually companies you would like to work regarding and reaching out so that you can people that work at individuals companies. Then those individuals introduce you to employing managers and also you get a new job interview. Which can not require giving you will any pay ranges.

Once you find out how to do this stuff you can actually work out a higher salary regardless of precisely what they told you this salary range was. Plus if it doesn’t job, have the self-confidence to help you leave and find some sort of better opportunity. This just about all comes with knowledge. A possibility rocket science. It’s certainly not nuclear physics. But it can also not something these people taught you how to perform in school. It’s concerning as being a better job hunter by knowing how to make sure you be discerning to get what exactly you want and are worthy of within your career.

Need more assist with your job lookup?

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