Tungle: A Time Management Tool
Do you Tungle? I do!
Not as much as I would like, but that’s changing as my small business grows.
What is Tungle? It’s a great way to simplify scheduling meetings. Let me give you a few reasons why I use it. These are my response to the questions posed on Tungle’s blog.
Inspired by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing’s post, 5 Questions You Should Ask Every Customer, we’d like to ask you these 5 questions:
1. What made you decide to start Tungling?
- I saw someone Tweet about it one day and thought I would check it out. The quick video intro on the home page sold me.
2. What’s one thing we do better than any other productivity app out there?
- I like the ease of seeing different people’s schedules vertically. I haven’t researched these in great detail, but I helped a client schedule a meeting with another online scheduling tool (I honestly forgot which one) that was less intuitive. I also think the name is memorable. It reminds me of a Jethro Tull song…
3. What’s one thing we could do to create a better experience for you?
- It would be nice to be able to look up friends or business contacts via their email address. I’m not looking for a directory, I would just like to be able to enter the email address of someone I know and find their Tungle calendar.
- While we’re at it, maybe we could go so far as to look up someone’s schedule based on a Twitter ID. I have people I know on Twitter who I don’t use email to work with.
4. Do you refer Tungle.me to others? If yes, why?
- Yes, I have recommended it to several people. A few of them have signed up with it, too. I really appreciate that your availability is well, available. My tungle.me link is both on my business card and in my email signature. Why isn’t yours? It makes it easy for someone to schedule a meeting.
5. What would you Google to find an app like Tungle.me?
- I don’t know, I haven’t thought much about finding better productivity tools. If I did, I might look for “schedule meeting” or “calendar management.”
I’m still green enough as a solopreneur that I haven’t thought to look for tools to improve my productivity. That will change, though. I hope your small business grows even more quickly than mine does. If you Tungle, it might happen faster than mine is.
My new website will definitely have a Tungle link in the sidebar.
[disclaimer: I'm totally gunning for a free T-shirt and gift certificate. But I promise, I will never endorse anything here that I don't have personal experience with.]
Troubleshooting and the Language Barrier
“This guy e-mailed me this link, and I can’t get it to open.” Even over the phone my client’s frustration was palpable.
“What happens when you click it?” I asked, probing for clues.
“Just a moment.” He read: “‘There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired.’ What’s going on? I need to see this link.”
That error message was new to me. This wouldn’t be something I could sort out over the phone. I was envisioning some sort of broken MIME-type or registry issue. I cringed internally.
When I arrived at the client’s site, I knew in seconds what the problem was. It wasn’t a link at all, it was an attachment. Specifically, a PDF that his outdated version of Acrobat Reader couldn’t open. A few mouse clicks and a download later, the client thought I walked on water.
We both spoke English, we were both from the same country, there was no funny dialect, but there was a language barrier. The client didn’t have enough exposure to the computer technology to know the difference between a link and an attachment. To him, they were just a hurdle he had to jump in order to get to the information he needed.
What’s the point? It can be very hard to troubleshoot computers over the phone. Differences in terminology, technical background, and levels of patience are all limiting factors. Screen sharing can allow a technician to take remote control, but what if it’s too difficult to walk a user through that connection process? Sometimes the best thing to do is make the trip and sit down at the keyboard.
Rosetta Stone image from Wikimedia Commons
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Meet with the Geek
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Do you want my two cents here?
Posted by TJ on August 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment
“It just doesn’t feel right to me,” didn’t seem like an adequate response. I struggled with it for a little while, and here are my thoughts on the subject.
Have you ever noticed the weekly flyer displayed at the front of a Target store? Would you expect to see comments scribbled on the wall below the ad? Imagine the flyer was posted Monday morning, and these comments were posted by 3 PM:
Maybe the plumbing problem is patched within 15 minutes and new stock is scheduled to arrive Tuesday morning, but the comments are stuck there until the next week’s specials can be posted.
I see pages on a website like that flyer. As the website owner, you are well within your rights to delete (or not approve) comments at any time.
For those of us who think too much, this could spark an ethical debate: Should you approve (or delete) bad comments? What if a problem were fixed immediately, or a product or service has been discontinued? Are the comments still relevant? Should you delete them?
I would rather avoid the hassle (and the questions).
Blog posts, on the other hand, provide a natural opportunity for discussion. I think of them more like a conversation with someone at the customer service counter. There is a specific context. You may be glad that a painful discussion fades away and loses impact as new posts are added. The reverse can also happen, where the record can turn into a testimonial for your business.
You will note that comments are disabled on pages on my site. I will happily accept comments below.
Filed under Business Lessons, Communication, WordPress · Tagged with blog, business, comment, strategy