Well there is hope. First of all you have to be aware of your situation, have a strong desire to change and then take action.

Jackie's Story Jackie is 31 yrs of age and Business Development Manager for an insurance company.

She always arrived at work at 8.00 a.m. and never left office before 6.30 p.m. most nights. She bemoaned fact that work took over her life.

Through process of coaching we discovered that only reason Jackie didn't have a personal life was because she never planned to have one.

She realised she buried herself in her work needlessly. She avoided going home as she had nothing to look forward to. Jackie lived on her own, she wasn't in a relationship and had no hobbies. So she defined her purpose in life through her work. It made her feel worthwhile and wanted. Although her career was blossoming, Jackie was unhappy. In fact, she was lonely.

We worked on getting Jackie on purpose in her personal life.

Through coaching process we concentrated on three key goals which would be achievable and realistic over a six month period. Why? Because that timeframe is long enough to achieve measurable results and make long term changes.

Jackie's main goal areas related to her career, health and fitness and relationships. This is what she came up with:

Career Leave work by 5.00 p.m. each day.

Health and Fitness To be able to wear my black skirt. (Jackie had put on so much weight that she couldn't do zip up.)

Relationship To be in a loving relationship.

There were a number of secondary goals, however these three were key ones that Jackie was most passionate about and was prepared to take action on.

Define Goal

Once goals were defined we then worked out strategies to reach them and then actions to take to achieve them.

Career - Leave work by 5.00 p.m. each day We looked at Jackie's time management. I had her fill out our Weekly Planner which also can be used as a time sheet. We discovered she wasted at least two hours a day on unwanted interruptions and being unable to say 'no'. We showed her simple ways to plan her day more effectively and get more done.

In New York and New Jersey, Teleco at http://www.teleco4.com is one such vendor. Established in 1978, Teleco has over 25 years experience and can give you benefit of 100's of installations, so you don't waste time and money chasing after wrong solutions.

Here are just some of technologies that exist today.

Remote Administration

Remote administration is one of most valuable technologies available today. This allows your vendor to make programming changes or do diagnostics remotely, via modem, to your telephone or voice mail system. Most companies today do not have a full time IT staff or even a part time telephone system administration. Remote administration allows your vendor to perform that task for you. In NY and NJ, Teleco at http://www.teleco4.com , will do it for FREE if you have a Maintenance Contract with Teleco! Through remote administration, your vendor can reset mailbox passwords, change toll restriction, change ringing, perform normal software upgrades, move extensions, and back up your system's database. This keeps your system running at it's best.

Interactive Voice Response: IVR

IVR allows your callers to get information, such as account balances or store locations, from their touch tone phones.

In simple systems, IVR can be used just to give directions, business hours, a fax number or web site address. This can help alleviates repetitive questions that your receptionist or operator is frequently asked. Simple IVR is a feature of all voice mail systems.

Complex IVR can be used to give more information, for example. At a major NYC transit company, Teleco set up an IVR system to give callers bus route information. Riders can information on schedules, stops, fares and more. Callers can even order a handicapped accessible bus to be at a certain stop at a certain time. This has freed bus dispatchers from answering dozens of calls a day and provides riders with easy 24 hour access to needed information.

In another IVR solution, Teleco set up a retail store locator for a major high end clothing designer. Now, potential customers can find retailer nearest them that carries clothing line they are interested in by entering their zip code. The system tells them nearest 5 locations that they can buy clothing line they want. This IVR system handles hundreds of calls a month from all over country. Now 24 hours a day, in any time zone, potential customers can get information they need find what they want to buy.

Automatic Call Distribution: ACD

ACD, also known as call queuing, places calls on hold until "they are answered in order received." ACD is a very common technology, but it needs to be implemented correctly. Callers can get very frustrated with long waits and lack of information while they are on hold.

Teleco http://www.teleco4.com can provide live ACD monitoring and historical reporting, so supervisors can assign right number of people to cover phones at busiest times. ACD can also be programmed to send callers to a back up destination, such as main operator, when they have been on hold too long or if there are too many callers waiting in queue.

As with most complex technologies, it takes expertise to understand and explain all of options available and to set up a system to work well and to be user friendly.

Teleco's 25 years of experience is crucial in making sure your ACD works as hard as your do.

Speech Recognition

Speech recognition Auto Attendant allows callers to speak name of person they want rather then pressing number. This can improve call processing and give a very high tech impression of your company. Internal users can also use speech recognition instead of key press for voice mail functions such as delete, forward, save, rewind, replay, etc.

Direct Inward Dial: DID

DID is one of our most popular features. DID has been used by large businesses and institutions for many years, but now is affordable to almost anyone. DID gives your company a block of contiguous numbers (555-1000 to 555-1099). Each number is assigned to a specific telephone, group of phones, ACD group, voice mail box, or fax machine/modem. Each phone can even have more then 1 DID number, so you can give a priority number to your friends and family or to important clients.

This lets callers get right to correct person without having to go through an operator or auto attendant and this can greatly improve call processing.

Computer Telephone Integration: CTI

CTI is a new and up and coming group of technologies. Just some features include, caller ID screen pops, recording calls to your PC, dialing from your PC using your contact software such as Outlook or Act, checking your voice mail from your computer, or any computer on internet for that matter. CTI includes some of today's most complicated technologie. Call Teleco today to see what CTI can do for your business!

Multiparty Conferencing