Strategic Decisions to Make Before Considering Hiring an Online IT Support Team

It’s obvious that when you’re running a small to medium sized business – whether product or service based – you don’t have enough overhead and aren’t big enough to have your own IT department to take care of your IT needs for computer maintenance and support. But having IT support is necessary because should any breakdowns occur with your desktops and devices, these problems can be immediately addressed.

The best solution here is to get an outside online IT support company. It makes sense because all you need to do is to subscribe to them (usually paying just an annual fee) and all you need to do is call or message them should a problem arise with your IT infrastructure. However, before you go registering with just any IT support company, be sure to strategically research the company and consider the following:

Consider how long the company has been in business

According to the latest research by the US government, roughly 50% of startup businesses closed down within the first 5 years. Thus, you need to strategically research for an IT support company that has been in the business for at least 5 years, and the more years, the better.

Strategically research the number of employees

A very stable IT support company will have a lot of employees, and we mean a lot, probably not lower than 500 in several locations in different cities or states. They may also have several overseas locations that may also serve as their technical or call center hub in good English-speaking countries like Canada or the Philippines.

Ask about their engineers and technical staff

You need to strategically research for an IT support company with many engineers and technical staff that specialize in different technologies that are either licensed, well-trained, or are professional graduates of their specialized course. Be aware that there are IT support companies that have “jack of all trades” staff that are good, but don’t specialize in anything. Beware of companies that have negative comments or complaints in their reviews pertaining to complex projects, overruns, and overall bad service. Their helpdesk staff (made up of the same engineers and technical staff) should all be dedicated and are not field technicians that are merely called when not busy.

Ask how many clients they service for IT support

Strategically search for an IT support company that services a lot of clients on a daily basis. Ask about their success rate since established IT support companies share their success rates to inquiring customers. A 90% average success rate is good enough. Their IT and helpdesk support are also onsite in their company locations or branches and not outsourced to outside merchants. This means their helpdesk engineers and technical staff are trained by the company itself and their certifications updated.

Onsite calls must always be part of their managed IT services solution

Look for an IT support company that is a permanent managed services provider that provides onsite support as part of their monthly price subscription.

Using Social Media for Customer Service in Any Small Business

Social media is an important tool for marketing in any business, especially for small businesses. Aside from posting photos and other business updates, using social media for customer service can level up any small business and increase sales.

Any small business should have specific strategies in place for handling customer service issues through social media as this will also improve getting in touch with customers as well as customers inquiring about your product/service.

Social media is now the accepted leader in the mode of communications that customers are now choosing when inquiring about brands or sharing customer service issues. What also makes social media a viable marketing tool for small businesses is that it levels the marketing playing field since a small business can have just as large social media presence as a large corporation. The usual top social media sites that businesses can utilize for their customer service are:

§  Facebook

§  Twitter

§  Instagram

§  LinkedIn

§  Pinterest

Social media builds real customer relationships

Any small business can use social media as one of its main channels for both self-promotion and to respond to customer inquiries and comments. In this way, real relationships are built with customers since conversation is engaged.

Using a hashtag

In simple terms, using a specific hashtag helps to search concerns under the hashtag, making everything organized and easy to navigate. Original information and accurate content can be added to the hashtag as the business sees fit.

You can focus on creating a strong customer base

If a customer has a bad experience with the small business, one of the first things that customers is likely to do is to write about it on social media. Instead of trying to find ways on how to manage and respond to any negative comments, businesses should focus on providing such excellent customer service that they create a strong and loyal customer base that will advocate on behalf of the business if anyone has some negative comments to say.

Always present

Some small businesses fall short on social customer service because they simply are not active in listening and engaging with customers on social media. Companies that want to deliver effective customer service on social media should realize that all messages, inquiries, and comments must be flagged especially when it relates to the product or service.

Train your staff on social media

If your small business has all its employees handling customer service, then the company should have a clear understanding with everyone in handling customers, guiding principles, and protocols. Train the staff or employees by reviewing your social media strategy and product/service positioning and the types of social media tools the business uses. Walk everyone through the process for managing customer service, stress the importance of customer sentiment, and explain how positive and negative reviews can impact the business. You can also provide a list of potential questions employees need to respond to, including examples of negative feedback.

5 Easy and Free Tools to Help You Grow Your Business Online

Growing businesses need a fairly large amount of software to conduct operations, but it’s not necessary for the business owner to spend a fortune on commercial programs and applications. In terms of business and consumer software, there are literally hundreds of incredible and free solutions that can help get the job done for the business. The 5 free and easy tools listed below for all facets of business have been tried and tested and have received good reviews especially for startups and small businesses, handling everything from email marketing to endpoint protection.

You can also consult your IT support company to consult on the tools listed below or find something else that suits your specific business.

Don’t forget the basics – Antivirus protection

What’s the point of growing a business if it can be attacked and hacked by viruses or hackers? Endpoint protection from Avast comes in both a free and premium version, both of which offer good protection. If you opt for the free version, keep in mind that you won’t have access to proactive controls, a firewall, or data shredding. You’ll still get access to solid malware blocking, security scanning, and rescue disk functionality. If using Windows, make sure to keep its firewall activated to support Avast.

Join.me Videoconferencing

If you’re looking to connect with clients, prospects, remote workers, or your sales people in the field, you’ll need a reliable video conferencing solution to help you get the job done. Join.me offers a free plan that lets you invite up to 10 video participants, share screens, and supports up to five video feeds.

Wave accounting

To keep your financial books balanced, you can use Wave. With the free version of Wave, you’ll receive accounting and reports functionality, you’ll be able to create and scan invoices, and you’ll be able to scan receipts directly into the system. Although far from being a one-stop accounting application, if you keep things simple you can go far just by using its basic service. If you need anything heavier, go for the premium version.

HootSuite Social Media Listening

Small businesses simply don’t need a large social listening platform. A free, easy-to-use dashboard that lets you stay up-to-date on what your customers are saying should be enough, and Hootsuite Free offers a free version that’s good enough to do the trick. With HootSuite, you’ll be able to manage multiple social networks, schedule posts, and interact with your followers. You'll also be able to track how many followers you have on each of your social networks and monitor which posts are generating the most clicks.

MailChimp e-mail marketing

MailChimp is one of the best and most popular e-mail marketing platforms on the market. If your company sends fewer than 12,000 e-mail messages per month to fewer than 2,000 subscribers, you can use MailChimp’s Forever Free plan. This lets you use built-in signup forms to gather subscribers from across the web. You can use MailChimp’s drag-and-drop designer and e-mail templates to craft the perfect message.