Category Archives: Business

If I took a holiday… who would answer my company’s phone?

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Time for a break?

Are you thinking of taking a well-earned break but concerned about who’s going to take care of your business’s phone calls whilst you’re away?

We can help with our Holiday Cover Phone Services.

Whilst you’re relaxing in the sun (fingers crossed) we can answer your calls and then forward the messages to you via email or SMS.

We provide 2 Holiday Cover services:

Holiday Cover Basic – £15 per week

• We take your calls and answer with “reception”
• Messages are taken and forwarded to you via email or SMS
• Unlimited calls & messages from 9am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday
• Service available from 1 to 4 weeks

Holiday Cover Plus – £25 per week

• We take your calls and answer in your company’s name
• Messages are taken and forwarded to you via email or SMS
• Unlimited calls & messages from 9am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday
• Service available from 1 to 4 weeks

See here for more information about our Holiday Cover.

Proof of ID & address required if signing up for mail forwarding: It’s the law

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It is required by law that we hold proof of ID and proof of address for all customers who use our London mail forwarding service. This is to ensure that we comply with legislation set out by the City of Westminster:

“The City of Westminster introduced legal controls under the London Local Authorities Act 2007 which requires a virtual office to register with the Council, keep records of all clients who use their services and a copy of their identification and proof of address” Continue reading →

Phone Answer, Patch & Divert: What’s the difference?

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our telephone servicesOur 4 phone services are based around 3 methods of taking your calls; answer, patch and divert. So what’s the difference?

Answer

• You receive a unique telephone number
• Calls are answered by our team in your company name
• We take a message and then send the message to you via email or SMS

Patch

• You receive a unique telephone number
• Calls are answered by our team in your company name
• We then direct the call through to you
• If you can not take the call we take a message and then send the message to you via email or SMS

Divert

• You receive a unique telephone number
• Calls are diverted straight to you

For more information about our different phone services take a look here:

London Presence Phone Services

If you have any questions leave a comment below and we’ll be in touch.

Do I have to live in the UK to use a Mail Forwarding service?

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In a word, no.

Our London based mail forwarding service is open to residents of the majority of countries in the world. If Royal Mail can send mail to you, you can use our service. And having spoken to a Royal Mail representative today we now know that they can currently send mail anywhere other than Iraq and Syria.

To check Royal Mail’s current rates for sending mail abroad see here:

Royal Mail Price Finder

If you have any questions simply leave a comment and we’ll be in touch.

Lifetime Of A Piece Of London Presence Mail

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If you’re thinking about using our London Mail Forwarding service, or already using it, you may be interested to see how your mail is handled. So, for the curious, below is the journey your mail takes.

1. Mail is sent for your attention to our office

2. We receive it

3. Our team process the mail

4. And then, depending on your specified choice, we:

a) Post it to you

b) Scan the item and then email it to you

c) Let you know that mail is available to be collected from our office

Any questions? Let us know below.

Clerkenwell. Where we’re at.

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ClerkenwellHere’s some background about where we’re based (and where your mail is handled if you use our mail forwarding service).

Clerkenwell is in the London Borough of Islington. The name originates from “Clerks’ Well” an actual well dating back to the middle ages that still remains visible from the Well Court building on Farringdon Lane. We’re based on St John Street, the pictured St John’s Gate is located just a minute’s walk from our office.

Other “historical” landmarks include:

• Smithfield’s Market
• The execution site of William Wallace (Braveheart)
• The Crown Tavern – the pub where Lenin and Stalin apparently first met
• The Eagle – London’s first gastropub (Clerkenwell is now a foodie’s dream with restaurants including St John, Club Gascon and Moro all being in the area)

Cineastes may recognise Clerkenwell from a number of films. Skyfall, Eastern Promises, About a Boy, The Dark Knight Rises and 28 Weeks Later all had scenes shot around here.

Clerkenwell is now considered the hub of the UK’s design industry and hosts the aptly titled Clerkenwell Design Week, “the UK’s leading independent design festival”. The design boom (previously Clerkenwell was associated with the printing industry) has resulted in a real buzz. Rarely are the multiple bars and restaurants empty, it’s only at the weekend that things slow down and even then there’s Fabric nightclub.

Clerkenwell’s location is a huge selling point. Nestled snugly between the financial square mile, trendy Shoreditch and Central London, it’s at the heart of London’s business activity. This, and the fact that it’s such a hub for creativity, makes Clerkenwell the ideal place to base any business from.

Our 6 Tips for Working from Home

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your businessJust because Yahoo are putting an end to staff working from home doesn’t mean that the concept’s days are numbered. Recent research by Direct Line for Business found that up to eight million people in the UK are now running a business from home. So, for the benefit of those 8 million, here are our top tips for working from home.

• Put some clothes on

It’s important to build a routine. Wake up, have a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush your teeth, do some work. Lofing about in your pj’s equals one thing. Daytime TV.

• Pick a good spot

Where you carry out your work is integral. It doesn’t need to be a big area or even a clean area but it does need to be an area where you’re not going to be distracted. And shut the door. This tells people “I’m working, leave me to it”.

• Take a breather

Just because you’re cutting out the commute doesn’t mean that you have to cut out fresh air. A brief wander outside can do wonders.

• Failing to plan is planning to fail

Or if you prefer, there’s the 7 military P’s. Every day set out a plan outlining what you want to achieve. Include some smaller, basic tasks for when procrastination rears its ugly head. Doing something is better than nothing.

• Make yourself available

Unanswered Skype chats (and calls) will make people think you’re skiving. Respond as quickly as you can.

• And stop

The two temptations of working from home are “never start” and “never stop”. For the latter, don’t forget your non-work life. Work specific hours and stop when your day is done. Easier typed than done.

What are your working from home tips? Let us know below.

Welcome to the brand new London Presence

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Consider London’s momentous year capped; London Presence has had a makeover.

We’re delighted to present the all new LondonPresence.Com. Not only have we given the site an overhaul, we’ve also sculpted our services and processes so that they fit into our new way of thinking.

For ease of understanding we’ve broken our services up into four different areas (click the links for more information):

• Mail Forwarding
• Phone Services
• Virtual Office Packages (Mail & Phone Services combined)
• Holiday Cover

We’d really love to know what you think of the new site. So get in touch via our contact page, Twitter or Facebook.

Checking-Out

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Our local Tesco had it easy for too long. Located on St John Street in Farringdon, it has lapped up all the custom in recent years being the only supermarket within a lunchbreak walkable distance. Now though they’ve got to up their game, a flash new Waitrose has opened right next door.

So what has their retaliation been? Not cheaper prices (as far as I can tell), not more staff, not even new produce to rival their neighbour. No, instead they’ve installed self-checkouts where perfectly good manned checkouts used to be.

Now whilst studying I spent a hellish few years working in my local supermarket (job title: barcode analyst) so I’m quite the expert when it comes to “checking out”. My fellow shoppers obviously did not carry out this rite of passage though as my queuing time has tripled.

It is understandable Tesco wanting to demonstrate progression but this particular addition seems rather odd. Very rarely is the average man-on-the-street going to be faster than the trained checkout staff.

The obvious answer for supermarkets doing this are to save on staff, but could there be a more web related answer? Are supermarkets taking advantage of the web-savviness of their average shopper? By replicating the experience of shopping (or just paying) online are we settling for a lesser service in place of a sense of control?

Rise in Youth Unemployment Figures Embarrass Labour

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On this blog we have previously looked at the thousands of young people turning their backs on the traditional career path of work hard, university, good job, as a result of the recession. However, the true cost of the recession for the youth of today was revealed this morning as youth unemployment figures has risen to nearly one million.

The ‘lost generation’ ,as Labour have previously called them, looks set for years of unemployment and the dole, as one in five of the UK’s under 25 are left out of work and unsure of what the future will hold.

This will be an embarrassing day for Labour who in the past, have publically vilified the Tories for years of complacency in ignoring the plight of teenagers in today’s society.

In 2005 New Labour claimed to have ultimately obliterated youth unemployment as a direct consequence of their commitment to the New Deal scheme. However experts are now suggesting that the drop in youth unemployment at that time was largely due to economic boom rather than Labour’s socio-economic policy.