Business Msn ?

[Gavin-Design-Right]

Do anyone on here Use MSN ?

I was talking to someone who told me he gets more people Ordering and adding him on Msn that he does emails. It was interesting some of the points he came up with. Anyone else think this is a good/Bad idea ?

[tony84]

if your going to be on your computer anyway then you may as well have it open for customers.

I have designers, programmers and web hosts on mine. If i need anything i usually drop them a quick message to see what they can do. It feels more personal than an email. They are all people i have worked with in the past and was happy with so they tend to get all future work unless they are just too expensive or can not do it in a timescale im happy with.

[website]

i personaly reccomend something like providesupport, bold chat or live person livechat software. much better than msn and more pro.

[iboxsecurity]

we use msn for customers who we speak to frequently not really as a means of getting more work but keeping a personal level between ourselves and customers.

[Burden]

I use it for Friends and people i work with and if i'm working on things with people at that time as it's much faster.

[Gavin-Design-Right]

Like ourselves Sean :)

[Gavin-Design-Right]

Burden do you want to add me, Not too sure if you got my email ?

[Gillie]

Have msn, however, don't use it for business ... merely to bug the life out of a few!

My business can't be done on msn ... and apart from which, the personal touch of face to face or the phone works so much better!

[hlsps]

not sure I have time for MSN as well as Twitter and Facebook and the forums. I used to use it but go so many junk messages I gave up. Would be interested to see if it does work for others as now I am a VA I can sort of see the value in it.

[davidshaw89]

Gavin,

I used to use msn for business, but I don't anymore. To be honest, I had a separate account for business and personal, and it was too awkward to switch between the two. I used trillian at one point, but this wasn't without problems. Now I just use a personal account and don't use msn for business.

I suppose it really depends on who your clients are going to be, since a lot of people do not use msn. As suggested, a dedicated chat facility is a good idea - projects a very professional image too if you pick a good one.

Hope this helps,

[Fernhurst Solutions Ltd]

MSN is like many other forms of communication, for some customers/supplier it is appropriate and for others it isn't ... have said that, if they are online you can usually get a quicker response than that of an e-mail. I would imagine a lot of younger business / new business people use it as opposed to more traditional business'/industries.

[KreativeJuice]

Agree with David on this, we have found it to be a pain in the bum, there are a few clients overseas that insist but the majority are happy with phone or email.

We are looking at providing a dedicated chat at some point, although its a burden in the fact that you need to drop everything you are doing to chat.

[iboxsecurity]

we did have one particular client who insisted on msn above all and took full advantage of it by chatting non stop although after we clarified to the client (who was in their late teens) that we only use MSN for business talk and not everyday chit chat - then things calmed down and the level of noise and distraction went down again.

[cmcp]

asl ?

[Gavin-Design-Right]

I have set up MSN for the business now. Just as that late night option if any client have any questions and they do not feel calling is the right thing to do.

get me added Gavin@design-right.co.uk I only have 3 contacts right now haha.

[Comspec]

I have MSN and it is damn useful for talking to a few people who are geographically too far away.

I do tend to have to keep a few accounts though, as your people list grows too big and you end up having convos all over the show, and it eats your time like a superbug.

[florenceij]

It depends on the client. I had a client that liked to contact us via skype. Google talk has also been useful especially since I configured my domains with Google Apps for domain.

I have reserved MSN/yahoo messenger for friends and family only.:)

[iboxsecurity]

we keep several accounts i.e. everyone has their own HOME/PERSONAL msn account and then we have a couple of work based accounts.

Gavin - got your late night message - and no i was not referring to you at all - It was a client we had recently.

[Jon236]

A lot of business people I know like to use Skype as somehow it seems more professional than MSN.