These days pretty much everybody has a Skype account. The account is free, easy to set up and the app is easy to download and use. This service does more than just give you the ability to chat and make video calls, though! Here are some of the things that you can do to level up your skyping experience.
1. Get Your Own Phone Number
Skype offers dedicated phone numbers for extremely affordable rates. These phone numbers come with calling plans, voice mail, call waiting, the works. Why spend a bunch of money with your cable or phone provider to get the same exact service if you don’t have to?
Even better, the phone will only “ring” when you are logged in to Skype. If you don’t want to be disturbed you simply log out of the app and your calls will go straight to voicemail. Then, when someone leaves you a voicemail, you’ll be sent an email.
You can also forward calls to a cell phone or house phone if you don’t want to stay logged in to the system but do want to be able to answer calls as they come in.
2. Record Your Calls
There are several different call recording apps that you can add on to your Skype service for very low (some are even free) prices. Call recording might not be something that you need for personal calls but it can be incredibly valuable to your business. This way when someone tells you that you discussed something over the phone you can actually go back and check and listen to the conversation again.
Important: Make sure the people you talk to on the phone know that the call is going to be recorded. It’s the law!
3. Bitwine Tracks Your Time
Do you charge people by the hour for your services and information? Install Bitwine to your Skype account. Bitwine tracks the amount of time that you spend on each call which you can then use to determine how much that client should be billed. If you use the Bitwine Extra feature you can even bill them automatically via PayPal. This saves you all sorts of time (and greatly reduces the chance of a math error making you over or under charge a client).
4. Translation!
It’s a global marketplace and you are undoubtedly going to be doing business with people who do not speak your language very well (if at all). The add on Universal Chat Translator translates for your words into your client’s native language and vice versa. Right now the add on is only available for text-based chatting, but it’s better than having to stumble through and worry that your point isn’t being properly communicated or that you are misunderstanding your client.
5. Collaborative Desktop
This is one of the most valuable tools you can install. It allows you and the person (or people) you are chatting with to work on documents simultaneously and to see what each person is doing—in real time. This way you and your colleagues will literally be on the same page as you work together!
There are lots of different add ons that you can install that will turn your Skype account into a fully fledged small business machine!
