You Need These Five People to Succeed in Business

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If you were asked to drum up a list of people crucial to your business’s success, who would be your first five picks? It’s hard to imagine success without support, and this usually involves a wide network of contributors. This is true for start-up companies sprinting towards the jump; your momentum determines how far you’ll go, and there should be people supporting you all the way.

You need all the help you can get, but if you had a choice, who are the people you want to propel you to success, with less time and minimal effort? We shortlisted them into five types; your business is probably already partnered with several of them. Complete your dream team if you want to fast-track your success.

1. The Adviser / Coach

Spare yourself from false starts and countless mistakes; learn all you can from those who’ve been there and done that. Advisers ideally have years of gleaned experience to offer – imagine all the pressure and anxiety you’ll skip with mentoring! You may already have insider knowledge and wisdom, but you can’t best good advisers when it comes to experience.

Many mentors are also well-connected in the industry, something you can tap onto as you expand your initial network.

2. The Industry Insider

Insiders are different from mentors because they exponentially boost your network. They’re well-connected and willing to refer you to the appropriate channels. An insider’s introductions are precious! You could find someone who knows someone, who knows someone important. You’ll join smaller and smaller circles as you zero in on your best contacts.

Insiders boost your reputation and influence by mere association; a good insider is like having Obama re-tweeting your tweet, exposing your handle to his millions of followers.

3. Peers

You’re on equal ground with peers, which means you have everything to gain by earning their approval. It’s true they don’t have the upscale insights advisers offer, but their network is still crucial if you really want to be part of the community. Peers share your struggles and triumphs, and there’s reward in knowing you’ve hurdled roadblocks the hard way, with colleagues.

You’ll tackle similar problems with peers, and there are plenty of opportunities to handle. Find solutions as a team, and move forward.

4. The Specialist

They keep your business (and the community) from falling apart. They’re also the grinding gears of your business. That’s a crude analogy, but specialists do ensure every piece is in its rightful place. They’re skilled in focus areas you want to press, and they’re immediately accessible in your network. If you’re outsourcing jobs, specialists can be freelancers, fresh graduates, or free agents rapidly moving between projects. Some may even be working on their own start-ups on the side.

5. The Investor

How deep are your pockets? You’ll know by the quality and quantity of your investors. Yes, you can be frugal with resources, but you also need a consistent stream of working capital if you want to succeed long-term. Investors boost your resources until you can stand on your own, and they also help get you out of tight situations. You’ll find them in unlikely places, and they’re so hard to spot, so elusive – you’ll only know when you’re introduced by the right connections.

Investors rarely (if ever) advertise their services, so the best way to meet them is to be properly introduced. You usually need a good reputation to make this happen.

There’s always a better way to jump start a business, but you’ll cut a lot of corners if you’re partnered with the right people. Ensure you’re on board with them if you want the shortest possible (and feasible) ­route to success.

Elsewhere on this blog:

Six Strategies to Maximize Your Business Profits

Navigating Timezones: Three Strategies for Expanding Businesses

3 Outsourcing Essentials for Better Business

Six Strategies to Maximize Your Business Profits

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Profit is primary reason in doing business, but it’s hardly the end-all of goal. Success is measured with various metrics, like healthy client relationship, employee satisfaction, liquid assets, etc. It can also be elusive, especially without planning and strategizing. If you want to maximize revenues as soon as feasible, you need to consider a handful of factors to make this happen.

Investing in business comes with risks, and only people with true grit are able to handle the pressure. If you have any intent of building a start-up, then you should be ready to invest your money, time and personal comforts to make it happen. Here are six strategies that ensure you get more mileage with your initial efforts:

1. Know Your Target Crowd

You have plenty to consider in putting up a business. If you’re starting a restaurant, you think of the best location and the best ingredients, hire the best crew to set your business apart from the rest. However: while thinking of the best elements to complete your business, you might forget the number one factor that is needed to succeed – your target market.

Your target market is the most important factor you should consider; without it, no one will purchase your products and avail of your services. It’s hard to develop a business if you’re clueless about the market. Consider the crowd covered by your products or services, what they want and need, and what they’re willing to pay for, as you go along improving your enterprise.

2. Make Your Business Stand Out

After examining your target market, determine how to highlight your product’s unique features, use these to develop brand identity. Make your product stand out so it’s unique to all the other offers on the market. It must be attractive enough so the market is encouraged to patronize your products and services. Get a grip on this technique if you want to find your sweet spot on the market.

3. Make Your Business Known

Investing heavily in business, keep in mind the best way to achieve success is to be visible to as many people as possible. Your products or services might be as good as your crowd demands, but if it is not known by the public, there’s less chance you’ll achieve what you really want. After developing the best product to market, start a buzz around it and maximize reach before launch. There are two ways to make your business known: by maximizing exposure online (social media), and through outreach marketing.

4. Deliver a Great Customer Experience

Once you are done introducing your products to the market, deliver to expectations in terms of service. First impressions last, so make sure your initial impact is positive, or at least satisfactory. Deliver what your market wants, and they will note your service for next time; you have potentially subsequent customers, repeat business. Customers who are secure in your business stay loyal, which is always good in the long-term.

5. Offer a variety of products and services.

Your product is already exposed on the market, and it is already patronized. Building a momentum is challenging enough, but you also need to sustain it. People who are easily satisfied eventually ask for more and better. If you offer products without variety, there is a possibility that you might lose your customers. Try something new and add some spice to your business. Innovation is always needed in the industry and you should conduct it for your business’ success. Innovation keeps the crowd satisfied with what you offer, leaving them to choose from your products’ varieties.

6. Encourage Word of Mouth

A good impression goes a long way, especially when you’re just starting your business. If your first customers aren’t satisfied with your services, you’re seriously risking repeat business, choking your revenue stream. These same customers might give share negative comments about your business, preventing conversion of potential customers. Reputation spread by word of mouth is indeed significant; to gain more customers, encourage your first crop to refer you to others, ensuring your business develops and grows.

It takes a lot of courage to enter the business industry. The successful make it look so easy to profit, but it actually involves hard work and perseverance, which are so often endured behind the scenes.

Elsewhere on this blog:

4 Smart Solutions When Your Capital Isn’t Enough

3 Outsourcing Essentials for Better Business

Business Metrics: What Surveys Can Do For Your Business

4 Smart Solutions When Your Capital Isn’t Enough

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It takes serious commitment to start a business. It also takes courage to persevere through the highs and lows of management, expanding operations by outsourcing jobs. Unless you’re set with a huge fortune to back your capital, you’ll need supplementing funds more often than you would admit. If you’re heavily invested in your business, then it’s likely you’re built to take on the risks, starting a business with capital insufficient to last the long haul.

Here are four smart solutions to tide your business over, in times you’re running low in capital:

1. Start Small

Startup businesses do not necessarily require massive capital, just enough to sustain about a year’s worth of expenses. Most large corporations start from small enterprises, others were acquired by other companies at hefty markup. You want your products or services to be known around the world, but you have to start local to achieve this goal. Take it easy and one step at a time; make the most out of whatever you have right now. With a feasible business plan, your company will grow through stingy and wise management.

2. Curb Your Expenses

Creativity is crucial at the start of small business, especially when it comes to spending. Innovation in products and services is also important, a secret to streamlined operations. If you think you do not have enough capital to start up a business, at the very least minimize your expenses. You may not need to outsource jobs you can manage (not yet), especially if you can’t afford the service. Your priority should involve looking for resources. Don’t limit yourself to expensive tools when free or cheaper alternatives are available.

3. Partner with an Angel Investor

Angel investors throw money at startup businesses, allowing these to spend on development and improvement. This is first benefit of partnering with an angel investor, but you also gain experience from mentorship and coaching; years of hard-earned experiences imparted to your gain. Looking for angel investors can be a challenge, but easier if you’re well exposed and connected in the relevant industries.

4. Advertise for Free, Use Social Media

Social media is a free, effective promotional platform, and the accounts are easy enough to set up. Make sure you’re established on these free platforms before you invest TV commercials, multimedia, and printed advertisement. Take advantage of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and similar sites where you can introduce your products or services. How can you resist the appeal of free advertising?

According to Robert Kiyosaki, “It does not take money to make money.” Business is a step-by-step procedure, and you have a variety of resources at your disposal. Start small and let it grow, and then outsource jobs to keep operation costs feasible.

Elsewhere on this blog:

Choosing Your Business Model: Shared Services Over Centralization

Business Metrics: What Surveys Can Do For Your Business

Boost Your Business Without Going Bust – 4 Scaling Tips for Startups

Caffeine Is the Lifeblood of Your Business: 3 Reasons You Should Keep the Coffee Flowing

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What’s one thing workday mornings can’t do without? Based on the law of averages, ask enough people and you’ll likely reach a consensus: it’s the lifeblood of business, and it fuels the daily grind. It’s as close as you’ll get to ingesting magic beans, and it opens your mind to endless possibilities. Still stumped? You can have it drip, pressed, brewed, instant, and (gasp) decaf.

All credit goes to the guy who discovered coffee, an Ethiopian goatherd who one day noticed his goats were giddier than usual. He literally followed the scent leading to a local monastery, where he saw monks trampling on red beans to extract a weird concoction. This weird liquid is currently second to water as the most consumed drink in the world.

You may not consider coffee the staple of productive mornings, but there’s surely people at your office who will disagree. One experiment even aimed to measure how coffee affects productivity, comparing the difference between a week of flowing coffee and a week without it. The result? A 19% margin increase in perceived and actual productivity. This difference is more than enough to ensure your team delivers under pressure and against tight deadlines.

Have you ever considered coffee as essential part of your business? It’s served with donuts, at board meetings, on-the-go, and at every opportunity that needs a caffeine boost. If you plan to target the office’s coffee supply in effort to cut costs, these three crucial reasons should convince you otherwise:

1. Coffee makes people happier, consequently more productive

A study by the National Institute of Health proves drinking four or more cups of coffee makes people 10% happier, or at least 10% less depressed and cranky. This improvement is attributed to that caffeine jolt, but it gets better. The long-term effects is caused by all the antioxidants contained in every cup. The benefits are immediate and lasting, and in moderation, safely addictive.

2. Coffee boosts intelligence

If you’ve ever powered through overtime work downing pots of coffee, then you have first-hand experience how caffeine improves intelligence, at least for a short time. The caffeine jolts you wide awake, improving your focus. Your brain works smarter and faster this way. When sleep is scarce and you need a boost, drinking coffee improves attentiveness, reaction time, and logical reasoning, attributes closely related to intelligence.

3. Coffee is great for the liver, reduces risk of Type 2 Diabetes

A study showed people aged 22 and above tested lower risk of developing liver cirrhosis, an autoimmune disease closely related to excessive alcohol consumption. It appears coffee has protective effects against alcoholic cirrhosis, and increased coffee consumption proportionally reduces the risk. A separate study also showed drinking coffee reduces the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes by as much as 50%.

These should give you enough reason to keep the coffee flowing from the break room. Sure, you also have to account for those who prefer tea or chocolate, but nothing spites the flow of a productive day more than an empty coffee mug you can’t refill. So, break out fresh grinds and keep the pot filled, if you want to make the most out of the daily grind.

Elsewhere on this blog:

3 Outsourcing Essentials for Better Business

Navigating Timezones: Three Strategies for Expanding Businesses

Business Metrics: What Surveys Can Do For Your Business

Boost Your Business Without Going Bust – 4 Scaling Tips for Startups

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Startups are now the norm in business, where risk-takers with big ideas flock. Launching a startup requires thrust to escape gravity, though. Yours may not be in league with Tesla or Uber, but who’s to say investors won’t like your special sauce? And while some attribute success to luck, yours should be about hard work, coupled with the knack to capitalize on every opportunity.

You’ve crunched the numbers and they’re solid, your business is primed to scale up. You’re even weighing the advantages of outsourcing development. But before you do, it pays to assess actual health with a handful of criteria. These four essentials are not exhaustive, but enough to ensure you have a good head start.

1. Focus on the Bigger Picture

If you think your business is now the big fish in your pond, then it makes sense to dream of open seas. You have to mind the transition, though, which means there are smaller, shallower waters to navigate before you’re really capable. Say you’ve valuated your business at $1 million, how high should you scale up? $100 million may be a stretch, how about $30 million?

Keep your goals realistic, and progress with doable margins. You’re likely aware many startups crash and burn because too much money was funneled into a flimsy business model that fell flat. Make sure yours is solid before you boost.

2. Your business deserves a face – like Apple and Microsoft

Many of the biggest brands are fronted by equally big personalities. Think Elon Musk, Oprah, and Donald Trump. While it is possible to build a brand separate from its founders, it’s in your best interest to couple personal brand with your business. For better or worse, stamp your seal of approval and front the business with a familiar face.

Building your public profile exposes you to the industry, opening tie-up opportunities. If eventually you’re big enough to spread out to related industries, your personal brand will tie these ventures together. Think Google, currently spread out into countless areas in tech.

3. Build, expand your network

This may seem an understatement, but have you considered there are connections you’re better off without? Some connections spark and sustain growth; others hamper, or worse, drag you down. Before you pursue potential tie-ups, do the legwork and research your investor. Confirm if your partners are financially sound before you commit.

It appears counter-intuitive to turn down opportunities for funding. It’s wise to think long-term, though, cut ties and preempt any potential damage.

4. Steer the ship, delegate the details

This is the pitfall of many start-ups, failing to focus on strategy and push with it. It’s true success is measured in small steps as much as milestones, but upper management is supposed to steer, even in small start-ups. If you find you’re knee-deep in routines you can delegate, pause and find someone to do the dirty work. Outsourcing development and processes to third parties lifts the burden, frees you to focus on the long view.

Hire specialists to take on tasks, prefer multi-taskers if you’re tight on finances. It’s important your head is clear preparing for investor meetings, setbacks, and other curve balls thrown your way.

Stepping up in business takes true grit, but it helps if you’re also equipped. Avoid the urge to gamble, though; businesses that went all-in and succeeded are the exceptions. Plenty more went bust and only had lessons to learn from the mistake.

We want to help you build better business! Visit our website and check out our staff leasing solutions.

Elsewhere on this blog:

Is IT Outsourcing a Necessity?

Why Outsource to the Philippines?

The Evolution of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in the Philippines

 

10 SEO Tips for Small Online Businesses

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Small online businesses are everywhere these days, and they are not limited to just gadgets, clothing, novelty items and knickknacks. If your business is new or have been around for a couple of years but still not getting that stable monthly or yearly sales you are aiming for, then you are probably not SEOing right or have not done it for your website.

SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. It is the process of optimizing your website to get a better spot or ranking in search engine results pages (SERP). It’s a very tedious and repetitive task that’s why many clients are outsourcing them these days. Don’t worry about any expenses because SEO is free, all the free parts of online marketing!

Try these simple SEO tips to help your small online business get a better visibility on the web.

On-Site Optimization

This refers to your website. If all you have is a Facebook page or an Instagram account for your business, I suggest registering your own domain, it is much better if you have a real website that people can visit, view your products and get to know your brand better.

1. Use the H1 tag for page titles. It helps your visitors to know what page they are in and helps search engine robots to know what that page is all about.
2. Research for keywords. Using the keyword “novelties” is too broad, why not use “novelty gifts” or “novelty items” instead for your online novelty gift shop? It gives you a better ranking in SERP.
3. Page descriptions are not just for visitors. Keywords are also laid in page descriptions, this helps search engine robots rate your website or a specific page on your site for the relevancy of keywords you are using for its contents. The more relevant your keywords are, the better ranking you will get.
4. Register to Google Webmaster Tools. It’s a free SEO tool for analyzing your website, reports on your visibility on the web and diagnostics for a healthy, Google-friendly website.
5. Register to Google Analytics. Another great free SEO tool for monitoring traffic on your website. With this tool, you can see the number of visitors you have per day/month/year, other sites that are linking to yours and what keywords are driving more visitors in.

Domain Tip: If you do not have the budget for a domain name and hosting, go to WordPress.com or Blogger.com for a free domain.

Off-Site Optimization

Off-site optimization, also called link building, is a SEO method for helping your website rank in SERP, increase your brand’s visibility on the web and improve its reputation using other sites. Your small online business will benefit greatly with link building.

6. Get social more often. If you already have a Facebook page for your business, why not add another social media account like Twitter, Instagram or Youtube? The more visibility you have on the web the greater is your chance of getting more customers.
7. Free online directories are everywhere! Make it a habit to register your business online on your spare time.
8. Not all ads are paid. There are free ad sites where you can post your products, try Craigslist.org now!
9. Create your own blog. WordPress.com, Blogger.com and Tumblr.com are great for creative blogs, don’t worry they’re free!
10. Socialize with other blog owners. Join a blogger network and socialize with other bloggers in the same niche as yours. You can even trade links with them by offering an article for their blog with a link pointing to your blog or website.

Link Building Tip: Always add a link to your website when posting your ads, registering to online directories and on your social media profiles. This way, people will know that your business has a real website they can visit and search engine robots can rate you better.

Your small online business will work its way up slowly but surely by using various SEO techniques, and SEO doesn’t need to be expensive. You can do it on your own or by asking a friend or relative to help you.

The time will come that your small online business won’t be so small anymore. The growth of your business will lay more and heavier responsibilities on your hands perhaps that will be the time where you will be able to think of allotting a budget for hiring a SEO specialist. You can start by outsourcing a freelancer in your area or if you’re bold enough, try offshore outsourcing for other types of SEO services.

5 Ways Customer Feedback Can Help Grow Your Business

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Customer satisfaction is one of the most important parts of any business, but when customer feedback piles more negative responses, the business can be at risk of running down.

Businesses these days are taking different courses in handling their customer service; some build their own in-house team of customer care agents while others seek the help of outsourcing firms. Whatever the route a business takes, customer service will not improve if the owner themselves fail to understand their customers.

Here are five (5) simple ways customer feedback can help grow your business, especially for start-up businesses and newbie entrepreneurs.

1. Finding Your Strengths and Improving Your Weaknesses

Satisfied customers will leave positive feedbacks, with this you can learn about your products’ strengths and how you can make it even better. But when customers become unhappy because of your product or your sales personnel, negative customer feedbacks will continue to pile up until you resolve the issue. You can easily pinpoint the cause of decline in customer satisfaction by simply paying more attention to their feedbacks.

2. Happy Customers Creates Sales Opportunities

Customer surveys are not just for finding weak spots on your products or business, it can also be a great material to study and research for other sales opportunities. Whether it’s a positive or negative customer feedback, your sales team can always use fresh ideas or new approaches to grow your business.

3. Win Back Lost Clients and Keep Existing Ones

A customer survey doesn’t need to be too broad or too personal, just keep it simple and easy to understand and answer so you can get more customers to take it. The result of your survey provides you with ideas on how to keep your existing customers, and plan on how to win back lost clients, so have it regularly administered.

4. Getting Social Helps to Improve Overall Reputation

Asking your satisfied customers to leave public reviews on social media sites is a great way to improve your reputation, as well as asking them for testimonials that you can brag on your website or on social networking profiles of your company. The more positive customer feedback you get, the better will be your overall reputation, thus increase sales.

Tip: Have a dedicated staff monitor and manage your social networking profiles, this way you are always updated on what your customers like and dislike about your brand. Some entrepreneurs prefer outsourcing this job to save on overhead costs.

5. Create Brand Advocates Among Your Customers

Customer satisfaction often ignites comments online, the more you make your customers happy the more likely they will post positive comments and share their experience online promoting your brand for you for free! So the next time you pass on a customer feedback, whether it’s a good one or not, think about the growth of your company. If it’s important to grow your business, you will pay more attention to your customers’ feedbacks.

Tip: Social media sites are not just for connecting with customers; sites like Facebook offers paid advertising where you can use your online marketing materials to attract more customers. Some entrepreneurs seek the help of outsourcing firms that specializes in online marketing to strategize and initiate online marketing campaigns for them.

Outsourcing Tip: How to Make Your Data Entry More Efficient

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In business, outsourcing is a merely a method entrepreneurs use to grow their bottom line. What makes a huge difference for others are the techniques and approaches they use to get to their goal.

Outsourcing your data entry does not guarantee a huge victory for your company, but it does give you a lot of rewards if you’ve done it right. Here are a few tips on how you can make your outsourced data entry more efficient.

Provide a Good Work Environment

Outsourcing firms have their own offices to house your outsourced data entry specialists. Even though it will be the responsibility of the service provider to provide all the equipment, software and other office supplies to your outsourced staff, it is still your responsibility to ensure that their work environment and physical conditions are perfect.

Your data entry specialists will be encoding data all day long, and a tired data encoder makes the most mistakes so it would be nice if you make sure their:

  • Office chair is comfortable enough;
  • Keyboards, mouse and computer monitor are working well;
  • Breaks are well scheduled; and
  • Workload is properly managed.

Check for Updates and Upgrades

Assuming that the outsourcing partner you’ve chosen specializes in data entry, software upgrades will never be a problem for you. All you have to do is review and approved such upgrades.

In case your service provider is not a data entry firm, it does not mean that they’re not tech inclined with data entry software and upgrades, keep in touch with them about the latest technologies available in the market and software upgrades that can benefit your outsourced staff. If necessary, take time to discuss it with them.

Set a Realistic Time Table

Some people think that outsourcing data entry, especially offshore outsourcing, gives you employees that work faster than anyone else. Well, quantity is way different than quality. If you want both, you need to set a realistic time table. Managing the workload of your outsourced data entry specialists is also important, because there’s a limited amount of workload one person can do in eight hours straight. So it’s important that you do not overload them.

Consider Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

Although it’s not a 100% guarantee to be accurate data, it lessens the time of encoding and provides more time for your data entry specialists to review and proofread their work. It would also help if you provide them with the original PDF files or scanned document so they can use it to double check the accuracy of their work.

In reality, data entry is a very important function of any business. Whether it’s a small, start-up business or a well established one, everyone in the office relies on data. So to make sure that outsourcing data entry will be efficient for your company, establish metrics on your service provider not just the outsourced staff. If you feel that you need a better outsourcing partner, look for another one. There’s also a thing called trial-and-error with outsourcing, no perfect combination or formula.

Is IT Outsourcing a Necessity?

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Some argue that IT outsourcing is more of a need, while others contradict and says that it’s a luxury rather than a necessity. In any way you look at it, to outsource is simply a method that many businesses use for various purposes such as cost cutting and time saving, while others benefit from the hassle-free recruitment of new employees, upgrading of technology, and the opportunity to expand their brand wider and farther.

If your business is already outsourcing or it’s still planning to outsource IT services, what is your main purpose? Does it line with your company’s goal? Whatever the reasons are or how many answers you can think of, it all comes down to one ultimate goal, which is to GROW your business by utilizing all business methods and avenues available within reach.

So if you think about it again, is IT outsourcing a necessity? If growing your business is more of a necessity than a need, then it is more certainly not a luxury.

What Does IT Outsourcing Really Offer?

IT outsourcing also has an impact on consumers, not just entrepreneurs. For example, many IT companies today are outsourcing some parts of their devices and then build everything in-house, rather than make all the parts themselves. If they do create everything in-house, the materials will more expensive, more machines will be needed and more employees will be required. The end product will then be too expensive for an average earning person to purchase.

Aside from cost cutting and time saving, to outsource IT services brings new opportunities and build new ways for all types of business, big and small, to grow and expand to uncharted territories.

  • Business innovation is possible through outsourcing. It provides new methods, ideas and revision of the entrepreneur’s original goal, both for the client and the service provider, for the betterment of the company.
  • Even with just a small budget, start up businesses can enjoy some of the benefits of a business tycoon.
  • You will never be outdated with technologies.
  • Office expansion and manpower costs less, even lesser for tasks that do not really require physical presence of employees.
  • With outsourcing, finding skilled professionals is no longer limited to just your local area. You can find a handful of IT experts from different outsourcing destinations.
  • An outsourced employee can demonstrate more skills and knowledge to handle two or more tasks that you usually assign to two or three local employees.

To outsource IT services does not mean that your business is earning very well that you’ve decided to outsource just for the fun of it, or your bottom line is too damaged that you need to cut costs on most of your company’s functions. It is a necessity for many, but not all, businesses.

5 Simple Ways You Can Help Improve Your Help Desk

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Not very often, but certainly one of the reasons some end users look out for before purchasing a product is the help desk support. And if it is not taken care of properly, it can also be one of the reasons for the decline of brand patrons and fans. When that happens, more expenses are made in order to recover loss trust and the process of strengthening that trust.

As an entrepreneur, there are simple ways you can do to help improve your tech support help desk without having to burn your profit to the ground.

Live Support

It does not always need to be a 24/7 live support, although it can be a good impression for the end users. Your live tech support help desk agents can be assigned to be active only during peak times, the times when more calls are expected to come in. When peak time is over, you can revert back to your basic tech support system or automated ticketing system if you have the software. It is also important that end users are well informed about your live support schedules to avoid misunderstanding and irate calls about it in the future. This technique is good for start up businesses and companies that struggle populating their bottom line.

Determining Priorities & Allocating

End user issues ranges from simple tech misuse to more advance IT problems that requires more attention of your most skilled help desk agent. When using a customer support software system, your agents should be knowledgeable enough to determine which are top priorities, depending on the severity of the issue, so it can be handled properly. Likewise when determining which should be prioritized; online tickets, phone calls or walk-ins.

Allocating tickets with severe tech issues is also important. Why let a junior help desk agent take an hour or two to resolve an advance tech problem when a senior agent can tackle it in only a few minutes?

Eliminate Minor Software Setting Issues

Make sure you double check your software settings to eliminate minor issues with automated email replies, setting and distribution of tickets and organization of reports. You wouldn’t want your help desk agent spend hours untangling software issues when he could have spend helping customers.

Prepare Training Modules

Some help desk agents learn on their own by reading or by asking a senior for help. This is okay, but it would be better if all of your tech support agents are a hundred percent ready to solve problems rather than have them research it first and then go back to the customer. Preparing a training module would be perfect, even if it is just a one page call guide for basic to advance tech issues.

Utilize Social Media

End users love it when you make it easier for them to reach you. Customers would want to purchase from brands that actually has active tech support, live and online preferably because most people now a days are always online whether they’re on their computer, laptop or mobile phone.