Hi fellow WHT'ers

I am at a time of " evolution " of my business, at the current time i have more work coming in than I can handle and currently
I have two part time techs that are pretty much booked up to there eye balls also..

I am scared of becoming a robotic support service, I see so many companies out there that have such
robotic answers/communications that it scares me...

I cannot have a friendly chat with the sales rep regarding the
business that im about to purchase a server from because the guy speaks hardly any english or is not allowed to " chat " with clients.

Business paths I can see ::

* Restrict incoming jobs
* Take on more technicians/engineers
* Outsource overflow - Queued clients are passed onto 3rd party.
* Refer all new clients to 3rd party Sysadmin company
* JUST HANDLE IT.

Im young & dumb, This work is getting too much for me and I don't exactly know how to proceed with my Business ( don't want to kill it either ), I would like to go large for the profit but I don't want to be a " robotic " support company that is not personal with there customers...

Any business mentors out there :) ?

Best Regards,
Logan

Hi fellow WHT'ers


I cannot have a friendly chat with the sales rep regarding the
business that im about to purchase a server from because the guy speaks hardly any english or is not allowed to " chat " with clients.


Best Regards,
Logan

I'd reccomend not buying from that company then !

Not speaking english can be a little bit of a barrier...

I'm afraid though no one can tell you how to run or what direction to take your business.

However my advise is to sit down in a quiet room with a pen and a piece of paper and think long and hard about your options, follow each one through to where it could end up and what could go wrong.

Find the one that works best and do it.

I know it sounds simplistic but you need to come to your own conclusion.

If you can't afford to hire more help/handle the existing workload, then you're probably doing something wrong. Try adjusting your prices... you need to reach a point where you have enough business coming in that's enabling you to sustain your business, and still hit your targeted profit levels.

* Restrict incoming jobs
* Take on more technicians/engineers
* Outsource overflow - Queued clients are passed onto 3rd party.
* Refer all new clients to 3rd party Sysadmin company
* JUST HANDLE IT.


Another option - build systems and put processes in place.

Look at the aspects of the work put in that take the most time, and automate those, or automate them to the extent that those tasks flow smoothly.

Figure out how to incentivise every single one of your employees/partners to perform - and to reflect your own customer support approach/attitude.

As a final step, decide if you are getting overloaded after taking all of the above action, and try to hire - subject to the above incentivisation. And use this as a lesson - it makes sense to control the flood of incoming business to allow you to grow harmoniously.

To be able to make a business succeed, you have to rise above yourself (young, dumb, old, wise, whatever) and provide leadership - which can only be provided if you have vision - and yet can identify yourself with both your employees and your customers, and see their view. And then work very hard to translate that vision into reality by filling in the details.

Sit down and look at all aspects of your business. There are probably a few different things that could be made to run more efficiently. What are the biggest time-wasters each day? Figure out a way to make those tasks handled more efficiently. You'd be surprised once you sit down and seriously organize the work flow, how much you can smooth out.

Next, decide if your current staff is being used efficiently and if everyone is working to their full potential.

Once you have a clear picture of the efficiency of your team and the work-flow, you can decide if you need to hire another person. As someone else pointed out, if you need more help but can't afford it...its time to raise pricing and re-write your business model. Your business should be scalable and planned out for long-term growth. That is, each time you move to the next level...you should already have a plan in place for how you're going to handle that growth. With a solid plan in place, the growth spurts shouldn't overwhelm you.

I'm speaking from experience. I totally burnt myself out many years ago by trying to handle too much and not having a good plan in place for long-term growth. A scalable business plan is like a road map and keeps you on the path of sanity! :D

--Tina

Have you considered raising your prices? This way, if you get the job, it is worth your time...

If it were me I will try to automate as much of my business as possible. But since in your case you want to be more personal in your customer support. So what I would suggest is that you use bots for any process that is not related to customer support. Next you focus all your existing staff on customer support. That way you can increase customer support even if you don't increase your number of sales.