As any business owner will know, your company's image is absolutely crucial to its success. Whenever a potential customer makes a buying decision, this is made as much on who is selling as on what is being sold!
Whether you are providing a service or a product, if you don't already have much competition (in which case, is there a demand?), you soon will have - and unless your company is moving forward, it is definitely moving backwards.
Many entrepreneurs I've spoken to in the past will tell me how they had to pay THIS MUCH for such and such and THIS MUCH for something else where, with a bit of research, huge savings can be made and these savings can then be churned back into cashflow; the lack of which is the number-one cause of most small to medium businesses which fail. However, when it comes to ensuring that you can meet your client's expectations it is essential that your 'value for money' purchases are not replaced by 'cheap'!
For example, you're planning to make an important IT hardware purchase that will be business critical and you find 2 suppliers; one can seemingly offer the same solution but at a fraction of the cost of the other however, whenever you call to find out some information, there is nobody to answer your calls for you. How would this make you feel? Particularly if 3 months after purchase you had problems and couldn't get hold of your supplier to rectify it. The value of your lost business could far outweigh the original cost savings and the damage to your business's reputation could be irreparable.These thoughts will be going through your customer's minds when they are making a purchasing decision (even if it is low value - it still could be of huge importance to their needs) and that's why ensuring that your business conveys a consistent, professional image is not just important to your company's success, it is absolutely essential.
That's not to say that you have to spend a fortune in order to present a professional image but make certain that you do concentrate an element of budget and time to ensuring that you have the fundamental resources in place. Essential requirements in today's market include a professional looking website (this is your shop window) - which doesn't have to be extremely complex; just ensure it appears professional, illustrates clearly what you do and invites your customer to act.
Also a means of ensuring that your phones are always answered by a real person during opening hours by someone who understands your business is absolutely key - what is the cost of a missed call to your business? But how can you visit clients, make sales, attend meetings and still ensure that there is always someone there to ensure your telephones are answered without the cost of hiring full-time staff. One flexible and cost-effective solution is to use a business phone answering service who will answer your calls for you, at a fraction of the cost of hiring staff and without the burden of an ongoing overhead of staffing and similarly the headache's of covering holidays, sick-leave etc.
And when you have your customers, do your very best to retain them; Good customer Relationship Management (CRM) databases can be bought 'off the shelf' for less than £100 and are an extremely valuable tool in keeping track with your customer's ongoing needs, issues and so much more. It's essential not to become complacent with existing customers but need to keep winning their business through excellent customer service!
However, even if you have the best website in the world and the most amazing telephone answering service, the most fantastic IT system and support and all your potential customers have a fantastic impression of your company from the word go, unless you have a high quality product/service and are able to deliver on your promises your customers will rapidly disappear.
And one final piece of advice that I once read and try to live by in running my business is that in today's competitive marketplace just being "good" is simply not good enough!
Andrew MaKenna
Best Reception
Telephone Answering Service & Virtual Reception
For further information about our call answering services visit the Best Reception website.
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