Customer Service, a Priority in Better Business

It’s difficult to build a business on poor customer service, if you’re involved in the related industries, that is. If you’re into production, service, logistics, or shipping, then the efficiency of the operation depends to a certain extent on customer perception. That’s an understatement; you have to prioritize clients on peak periods when delayed service could mean lost revenues. What’s worse is your loss is your competition’s gain. It makes sense to dedicate a department for servicing customer inquiries, complaints, and purchases. A business’s lifeblood can involve a variety of factors, but the pang of regret will hurt when your clients leave en masse and migrate to your competitor, all because you failed to address their concerns.

The Cost of Ensuring Efficient Operations

You’re doing your clients a favor by ensuring efficient operations. One roadblock to this involves a shipping process that’s on the clock, but ensuring the product or service delivers to the standards of quality. Startups should prioritize this before considering an expansion, or else you’ll be swamped with placed orders you can’t cover for in time. Of course, this is easier if you have people enlisted to handle every aspect of the process, with specialized, dedicated tasks. The problem with this setup is in the operations cost. It makes better business sense to hire people who can juggle as many tasks as possible, within reason of course. You can compensate with better pay and privileges; besides, multitasking is the norm nowadays and employees are expected to adapt.

A Real Person at the Other End of the Line

You customers need something tangible at the other end of the line, literally. Automated customer service may seem more efficient and feasible, but many of your clients would think otherwise. Have you ever been put on hold for twenty minutes on the phone, only to be transferred to another person or department? Consider your customers’ patience when your providing added service. You have to prioritize their concerns and complaints in the same manner you put a premium to their inquiries and order placements. Additional manpower comes at a cost but should pay off in the long run with more clientele and great feedback.

You don’t have to handle the customer service hotlines in-house, though. There are plenty of third-party services who’ll take over for you, with trained professionals in-the-know with your company’s profile and offerings. Outsourcing is a byword for better business, and you only have everything to gain if you invest in a virtual answering service that’s efficient and reliable. Do your business a favor and entrust the legwork to professionals who can deliver.

Disruptive Technology in Business Today

In life, sometimes it is the simple things that count, despite modern technology. In the next few months, I will be able to see 3-4 of my books published. Traditionally, it takes most large publishing houses 12-18 months before their books are published. As an independent publisher, I learned that the speed of products to the market place is a good way to beat a large competitor.

In fact, my success relates to a simple website called Elance.com, a freelance website that allow customers to solicit work from a variety of outsourcing services, which include programmers, designers, office support, translators, marketers, researchers and many other disciplines.

Elance.com allows a business to post a job opening and invites freelance workers who believe they have the requisite skills for the job to make a bid. The company charges a $10 fee to each business to post a job and also takes a small portion of what gets paid to contractors. Through this website, I have found some of the most talented individuals from across the world. For these services, it is a buyer’s market. Some people would argue that it is all about buying cheap labor for profitability.

In this scenario, developed countries appear to be exploiting underdeveloped countries. This is not always true. I have paid more in the past for the best talent. With that said, potential employers see a website that attracts over 500,000 talented freelancers. For the freelancer, there is an opportunity to bid on 48,000 jobs, worth $480K. [1] Therefore, a differentiating strategy can defeat a low-cost strategy on a global playing field.

Technology must be a management tool that is used strategically. Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, provides a framework for understanding the interrelationship between technology changes and a business success. Christensen demonstrates how successful companies have been overtaken by small disruptive technologies.

The cell phone, undermining the profitability of the established communication networks such as AT&T, further showcases the impacts of disruptive technology. Sadly, more executives are unwilling to think strategically due to the wrath of their investors and financial pundits.

For example, Amazon’s revenue grew in 2012, but the details were lacking. Amazon.com’s revenue rose to 17.4 billion (35% increase) in the fourth quarter. However, it fell short of Wall Street predictions. According to VentureBeat, Amazon sold as many as 6 million Kindle Fires and its older tablet prototype.

Given this reality, the Fire would move ahead of Android tablets from Samsung and Motorola, making it only second to Apple’s iPad. Analysts were concerned that the $199 Fire would not make a profit. Additionally, Amazon.com is spending capital on clouding technology.

Maximizing profits on Fire as an industry leading tablet is a near-term strategy. However, CEO Jeff Bezos appears to have disappointed Wall Street with a long-term perspective instead of sacrificing shareholders with profits in the near term.

Innovators take note of disruptive change as positive turbulence in the market. John Gamble and Arthur Thompson, authors of Essentials of Strategic Management, explain, “Understanding the nature of competitively important resources allows managers to identify resources or capabilities that should be further developed to play an important role in the company’s future strategies.” Therefore, organizations which do not understand the importance of making sustainable growth by being more efficient will not be successful over the long-term.

Suggested Video Content Ideas To Effectively Market Your Business

With the emergence of the digital age, there are simply many ways you can do to market your business. Truly, every business should have its very own website. However, not all businesses with website can be successful. Along with a website should be a very interesting and informative content. These days, simply putting texts and images on your website isn’t effective enough to engage your audience. You need to incorporate web videos to promote your business. The question is, “what is the most effective content to make efficient video promotions?”

Just like what Hollywood movies are up to recently, remake, reboot, or re-imagine some of your video content. Business experts have discovered the efficacy of presenting a very familiar topic in a unique and new style. Doing this will enable your target market, be it the individual consumer or an entire industry, to recall your product or service.

Infographics, the FAQs, the invites – these are just some of the things you can include to make compelling videos for your website. Infographics are the most effective ways to inform your customers about how your business has improved the industry, how it has been able to help clients, or how its products or services have become significant over the past year. Work with an established video production firm to have them animated and edited with catchy music. You can even choose to have it done with or without a voiceover, and get it produced with just clean and attractive graphics or images. Just be sure your video is short but very informative.

Another content you can include is the FAQs or the frequently asked questions. Instead of simply using texts to provide answers to questions your customers usually ask, why don’t you address them all in a series of short, informative, and entertaining videos? Have your hired video production company shoot one of your staff or experts while answering some of the frequently asked questions. You can emphasise certain points by adding graphics or text which may also contain tips or even quick how-tos. If the question is about product use or service enquiries, you can also incorporate a demo.

You can also encourage people to come to your event by inviting them through videos. It’s also better to add a register button.

While there are devices these days that allow you to easily create videos, it’s totally a different matter when it concerns videos that will represent your business. You will need the right equipment and the right experts to create video promotions.