Starting a business is one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences an individual can put themselves through. The concept of turning an idea, a passion, or a skill set into a profitable entity that provides value to customers and a living for employees is at the heart of the American spirit. Unsurprisingly, entrepreneurs starting a business are often faced with numerous challenges, often all at once. Even the most experienced and level-headed entrepreneur will find themselves faced with issues they either don’t have the ability or the time to handle properly.
One of the keys to being an effective and smart startup business owner is knowing where and how to delegate and outsource certain elements of the business. Neither a single entrepreneur nor a small startup team can handle everything that comes their way (at least not effectively), so knowing when and how to outsource and delegate is absolutely essential.
The importance of customer service for a startup business
In the early stages of a business, your reputation and brand are still being established. That means that interactions with customers, potential customers, and anyone else you come in contact with (on a professional basis or not) can have a substantial impact on your company brand, and your personal reputation, for a long time.
At the start, it’s unlikely that you have an individual who is solely dedicated to handling customer service inquiries. Nevertheless, customers will no doubt have a large number of questions, concerns, and requests for your company, and it is imperative that you answer those questions professionally, promptly, and thoroughly.
While it is certainly admirable to try and personally answer each of your customer’s questions, the reality is that there simply won’t be enough time in the day for you (or likely even your team) to do so, and certainly not without a negative impact on your core business. While customer service is indeed important, spending all day responding to those questions will prevent you from creating and improving the actual product or service they wish to purchase from you.
Using an answering service for customer service
Instead of spending all your time answering customer questions — or worse, ignoring or postponing those questions — you should strongly consider an answering service. Using an answering service for a startup business takes the bulk of the time and energy associated with customer service calls and transfers them to a professional and highly-trained customer service team. That team will be able to provide world-class service while leaving your team to focus on growing the business. Ultimately, using an answering service is a win-win for you and your customers.
MAP Communications is one of the leading providers of answering services in the United States, and their customers range from large Fortune 500 companies to startup businesses that are just barely getting off the ground. MAP Communications customer service representatives will take the time to understand your core business in order to provide the best possible customer service to your customers. In addition, they can be trained to filter out high-priority calls that should in fact be handled directly by you or a member of your team. MAP Communications is a fully scalable service as well. This means you won’t be spending more than you can (or should) in the early going, yet your MAP Communications answering service will be able to grow right alongside your business.
To learn more about MAP Communications, including how an answering service can have a profoundly positive impact on your startup, please contact us at 888-252-6555 or sign up for your free 7-day trial here.
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