In 2016, 50 TechTips were published. Each provided what I hoped would be useful information about a new app, process, platform, or productivity idea. While I know not every issue resonates with every subscriber, my goal is always to provide enough value to make it worthwhile for you to review.
I recently reviewed all 50 TechTips and picked what I consider to be the top 10 from 2016. They are listed below in no particular order so you can have an opportunity to review what I consider the best productivity improvement tips.
I have included a short description and a link back to the original article so you can review the original issue.
1. Quickly Join Conference Calls with One Touch – MobileDay
MobileDay is one of my favorite apps to streamline the process of logging into a conference call. MobileDay recognizes the calling pattern for all the main conference services and allows you to log in with One Touch as either a host or participant. It is available for iOS and Android platforms. Read the article.
2. Use Email Signatures as a Marketing Tool – Sigstr
Your staff sends out hundreds if not thousands of emails every week to prospects and clients. Unfortunately, it is hard to enforce a consistent brand when using email signatures. Sigstr is a platform that allows you to manage all employee email signatures centrally. Why is this important? Because these emails are a great marketing opportunity for upgrading existing coverages, rounding out accounts, and reminding the recipient of all the services you offer. The agency can determine what marketing campaign to promote and all employee email signatures are updated with the new information. Read the article.
3. Giving the IRS Your Hard-Earned Money?
The MileiQ app automatically detects when you are driving because it runs in the background, continuously detecting your speed and automatically converting each trip into miles driven. The app allows you to give each drive a purpose with a simple swipe by marking them as business, personal, medical, charity or any other custom category. Read the article.
4. Create Better Presentations with Canva
Canva is a great tool for creating all kinds of graphics. One of their newest categories is Presentations. You can simply browse through the predefined presentation templates on the Canva site and click on any multi-page layouts to see a preview. Select the layout you like by clicking it or dragging and dropping it into your design. Once you have completed your design, you can click the presentation button on the bottom right-hand corner of your screen to activate the full-screen presentation. Read the article.
5. Outsource Small Projects with Fiverr
Fiverr is an online marketplace that offers services starting at just five dollars. You can use Fiverr to create a new logo, video introduction, infographic, or have a whiteboard drawing video created for use in your marketing. The possibilities are endless. Read the article.
6. Pay Your Bills By Emailing Checks
Deluxe Checks has created a secure process — called Deluxe eChecksPro — that allows you to send a check to anyone with an email address to pay your bills. Eliminate a FedEx charge by emailing a check to an E&S broker to bind coverage. You only pay per check sent. Read the article.
7. Ensure Email Delivery By Sending Whitelisting Instructions
The primary method we use to communicate with clients is email. It is important to make sure your email ends up in your client’s inbox. One way to do that is to send every client instructions on how to whitelist your agency email address. This TechTip highlights a free website – Email Delivery Jedi – that helps you create whitelist instructions for virtually any email service your customer uses. Read the article.
8. Google Adds Video Chat for Any Device
Recently Google released a new one-to-one video-calling app called Duo that is available for both the Android and iOS platforms. Think FaceTime for any platform. The app requires Android 4.1 or later, or iOS 9.0 or later. Read the article.
9. Update Your Website Security or Risk Becoming Invisible on the Web
Google is taking a hard stance on unsecure Internet sites. Your agency website needs to add security for it to continue to be visible in search results. This TechTip explains the steps you can take to make sure your site is in compliance. Read the article.
10. Sell All Insurance Coverages to All Your Clients
On average, consumers purchase up to seven (7) different types of insurance coverage. Are you selling them all? Health Partners Solution provides a way for your agency to efficiently provide less common insurance coverages that your clients may be purchasing. Read the article.
As I mentioned at the beginning, these are based on my personal preference and comments made by subscribers, and not listed in any particular order.
What TechTip from 2016 had the biggest impact on your productivity? Let me know in the Comments Section below.
