All too often, it can seem like the world of business is impossibly competitive. When you are up against so many similar companies, you may wonder what else you can do to make yourself stand out in an already saturated market. Sure, there are plenty of typical tips and tricks around, ranging from direct marketing to changing the way your internal team communicate with each other. But one thing that will surely make your business stand head and shoulders above the rest is if you make it accessible right around the clock. We are lucky, living in the internet age, as the old tradition of clocking in and clocking out has somewhat died a death. Thanks to the advances made by the internet, we can now keep our businesses open pretty much 24/7 – even if we are not in the office at that time. This is also a huge step forward for international business relations and can get some great results. So, just how do you keep your business ticking over no matter what the time is?
Make sure all your systems are working
This is something that every business faces at some point during their lives. As much as technology benefits us, it can also be our worst enemy, too. If that system goes down, you can guarantee that it’s going to go down at the worse moment possible, and it could even result in you losing vital data and documents that are integral to your business. In case this does happen, make sure you have a trusted IT Support team on hand to help you out at short notice. Even an hour of downtime can have potentially catastrophic results on your business, so enlist the help of professionals to get you back up and running as soon as possible.
Implement a chat feature on your website
If your small business has started to expand, chances are you are experiencing a lot of traffic on your website. Utilise these online visitors by adding an online chat feature to your website, so you can easily convert passing visitors into paying customers. A chat feature is far more likely to be used than a phone call these days, as many members of the public simply don’t have time to be ringing up companies looking for quotes. Providing you have the staff to man the chat rooms at all times, this can be a great addition to your business and make it much more accessible.
As the CEO, it is your job to make sure that you are always kept in the loop of whatever is going on with your business. Of course, everyone is entitled to some downtime now and again. But more often than not, you always need to be contactable in case you are required to deal with any business related mishaps. Utilise your business expenses to provide yourself and your core staff with company phones, or even tablets if they are applicable. Communication is the key to running a successful business, and always remember that business hours these days stretch way beyond the usual 9-5.
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