One of the biggest changes to come from the connected nature of the modern world is the relative ease with which one can set up a small business and sell services and products to a global market.
As internet access levels continue to rise a website, marketed correctly, can reach an audience of billions and be ran with little expense even from a laptop on the kitchen table. Having said that, there are considerations if you are thinking of starting, or already have a small business, and whilst the kitchen table idea is the romantic ideal of a business start-up, if one is to project the most professional image and give the best customer service, always a good way to stand out in a given market, then it is wise to consider a few additional layers of contact beyond the website itself.
Ideas and enthusiasm
When starting out most entrepreneurs and business owners are full of ideas and enthusiasm in equal measure, ideas for the business, enthusiasm to make it all happen, and this can lead to a tendency to want to do it all, control every little thing and leave nothing to anyone else.
Whilst commendable, this can result in the business itself suffering as the owner is just not spending enough time on one thing to do it well, or even simply neglecting the ideas and reason for the business just to cope with the day to day administration that comes with operating a business, even a small one. A good first step to remedy this can be as simple as employing a third party phone answering service to field the daily enquiries and offers that come in. This gives more time to dedicate to the products and services that actually make the money whilst remaining cost effective.
Challenges
The crucial times for new businesses are in the first two years, this is where the likelihood of failure is highest, and so it is here when the decisions regarding operations and budget are the most vital. There is a balancing act for the business owner and staff of how much to take on themselves, and how much to pass over to specialists, and one of the biggest challenges for the entrepreneur can in fact be giving control of any aspect of the business over to an outside organisation, when they so often have invested hugely, both monetarily and emotionally, into the project.
Outsourcing
There are, however, valid reasons for outsourcing, not least, as outlined above, the fact that the business owner cannot do everything themselves no matter how much they want to. Beyond that though, there is the thought that often the outsourced work is simply done more efficiently and better that way, especially if it is skills that the owner just isn’t really trained in.
Office services, such as a third party phone answering service, can offer a much more professional point of contact for a business, as well as being efficient and freeing up time for other aspects of the business and are by far the most common form of outsourcing.
