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Can Your Home Business Cope with Increased Demand?
Many businesses are currently experiencing a particularly busy time. The run-up to Christmas can be extraordinarily busy for retail companies, and even businesses in totally unrelated fields can be busier as they try to get enough done so that they can take a break to enjoy the holidays. Large enterprises are often equipped to cope with this kind of rush. They have the funds to hire extra help and support and have plenty of experience to draw from. Some spend the rest of the year preparing for this period.
But, for smaller and home businesses, it can be tough. We all want to be busy. We want our businesses to do well and to grow. But, sudden increased demand can be hard to cope with.
Minimize Downtime
When we’re busy, downtime is typical. You might find that your IT systems or connections are unable to cope with how busy you are, or that your website can’t handle extra visitors. This kind of downtime can mean that you can’t make as much money as you should and that you lose customers as they go elsewhere in their haste to complete their shopping. Valley Techlogic Inc. can help you to avoid any downtime, keeping your systems running efficiently, no matter how busy it gets.
Focus on Prep Work
Ask yourself what you can do now to make the next few weeks easier. But also what you can do each morning to make sure the day runs smoothly. You might want to start making to-do lists the night before so that you can hit the ground running. Even small things, like preparing packaging, or having supplies close to hand, can make a big difference when you are busy.
Hire Extra Help
As a home business owner, you might work alone most of the time. Even if you hire a VA or social media manager, your day to day work might be done alone. Ask yourself if an assistant could help? Do you have space in your home office for someone else? Could someone helping with packaging or other small tasks make a big difference?
Don’t Take on Too Much
Sometimes, the best way to maintain quality and a high level of service is to start saying no. If you’ve got too much on, stop accepting work. Turn down orders. It’s better to say no now than to let people down later on.
Update Delivery Information As Necessary
If you sell products, accurate delivery information is more important than ever at this time of the year. So, update your policies, and add a cut off date for festive orders. If you have to update again later, make sure you clearly communicate changes with your customers.
Don’t Neglect Customer Service
Customer service is absolutely vital to the success of any small business. Let this slide while you are busy, and it will be noticed. Take an extra few seconds to check that everyone is ok.
Build a FAQ Page
If you are wasting time answering the same questions, an easy way to save yourself time is adding a FAQ page to your website.
