There is something to be said for doing it yourself. But you’re only one person. If you find yourself working 90 hours a week to do a bunch of jobs, you’re doing it wrong. Your efficiency will crumble, and you’ll begin compensating for your lack of sleep and social life in the ways that are common to people addicted to workahol. The fact is, someone can do some of this stuff a lot better than you can, leaving you time to do your best work, spend time with the family, and take a nap or something. You will feel better, and your customers will too. Here are three times when it is best to pass off the reins to someone else. These methods can usually make your business run better, anyway.
- Hire an Awesome Accountant. Hire the best and pay him or her handsomely. This person can handle all your accounts, payroll, payments, and your taxes. This person will also know exactly where you money is at all times. By employing an outside firm to accomplish this task, you’ll also insulate your finances from mistakes. Should the IRS come calling, your accountant is responsible for problems that they caused. Accounting is complicated and it takes a lot of time to do right. If you are carrying this burden yourself, and not doing it exactly right, it is definitely worth it to hire someone else to do it for you. By stopping financial waste, you can pass on the savings to your customers, and keep them from frustrating financial oversights.
- Hire People to Run Your Social Media. Social Media is almost always a waste of time, except in specific circumstances. A lot of small business people take many minutes, or even hours, a day, just dealing with customer interactions on Facebook. You can’t afford to do this. Treat this just like you would phone calls. You can’t answer the phone every five minutes. A dedicated brand care specialist, like the service offered by Global Response, can talk to your customers just like you would, at your best moment on your best day. They are trained in your company culture; your customers will never know they are talking to someone who doesn’t work within the walls of your primary business space.
- Hire an Efficiency Expert. If all else fails, bring in someone from the outside who can give you some perspective. Sometimes, you’re too close to your business. You can’t see the forest for the trees, or why it is that your customers are unhappy and cutting accounts short. By hiring a consultant, you can amp up your customer service, your basic operations, and learn ways that you can make everything you do more efficient. I say hire someone from the outside, because bad practices get ingrained in company culture. Have you ever watched “Kitchen Nightmares”? If not, do. It’s kind of like that. Sometimes, we simply can’t see what’s wrong, without getting outside eyes to take a look.
These are just three ways, but with these simple applications, your customer service should improve and your basic efficiency should as well. Your business will work better and last longer. In the end, you’ll be thankful you made these changes. And so will your loyal customer base.