better customer service

The first year of your business is a critical time in which you will set up and refine a number of systems that will help you succeed, especially if your business involves estimating construction costs. Although you may have started out doing tasks a certain way, you may discover the need to adjust your operation for greater efficiency and better customer service. Whatever your business, you can ensure better management of your finances if you pay attention to these four areas.

Ensure Invoices Are Paid in a Timely Manner

Not all businesses receive payment at the time of service. If you create invoices that are to be paid at a later date, it’s important to ensure that these receivables don’t linger on the books as “unpaid” for long periods of time. Keep an eye on your accounts receivable figures and aggressively collect on unpaid invoices when past due. This action will help you to maintain usable capital for your business.

Review Vendor Prices Periodically

You may receive a variety of products and services from vendors that are necessary for the operation of your business. These regular expenses can sometimes increase without your being aware of it. It’s a good idea to review the prices of vendors on a quarterly basis to ensure prices are stable. And if they aren’t, it might be time to negotiate with the vendor for a more favorable price.

Reconcile Business Checking Accounts Promptly

The hectic pace of a new business can often hamper taking care of routine tasks like reconciling your business checking account. This omission can lead to problems when payments to your business don’t clear the bank, and you think you have more money in your account then you have. Put aside time to focus on your business account to ensure money has gone into the account as expected, and no unexplained withdrawals have taken place.

Adjust Your Tax Payments As Needed

A thorough review of your company’s income, expenses and payroll will provide information on whether you are making tax payments correctly. Small business software makes this task easy and allows you to increase your tax payments, so you are not hit with a large tax bill at the end of the year. Your accountant can provide additional information on taxes as your company grows.

The best financial management of a business involves regular attention to the data from your daily operations. When put together, this information can tell you where your company is doing well and where adjustments are needed. In this way, you can resolve problems immediately to ensure your company stays on profitable footing.

Are you asking “Why have a website?” because you aren’t sure if you need one? Read this article and learn the top reasons your business needs a website.

Why have a website?

Aren’t websites a hassle to build and time-consuming to maintain? Do you need one when your physical store already gets customers?

Consider the fact you’re reading this on the Internet, through a computer or phone, right this very moment. You’re looking up information on a website. But how does this translate to your business?

Don’t worry, we’re going to lay it out for you. Read on below to discover 10 reasons why you should have a website now:

1. Gain Credibility and Build Trust

Businesses without a website these days look like amateurs. People expect establishments to have a basic website, even if it only contains enough pages for a basic blog, contact information, and a gallery of products or services.

Without a website, you have no credibility. People won’t see you as an authority for your niche and therefore you can’t build trust with consumers. Don’t wait anymore, just hire a good Web Design Dallas company and get your website ready in a short time.

2. 24/7 Access to Valuable Information

We live in a digital age and people don’t sleep on a regular schedule. A lot of folks work two or three jobs. Others work at night.

Yes, having a physical location helps but how will you cater to people only free at night? One of the reasons you need a website is to make your business available 24/7. With a site, people can still window shop, check product details, or get your contact information even during the hours your store closes down.

3. Better Customer Service

Having a website also gives you the tools to improve customer service. For one thing, you can now cater to hundreds or thousands of people simultaneously.

If you only had a physical store, you can only have a few people dedicated to customer service. You can’t have a hundred people in a tiny store walking around answering questions for walk-in customers and you won’t fit a hundred more to answer phone calls.

Using AI chatbots, you can automatically address thousands of inquiries at once. The only time people will need to talk to a human employee is when they have major concerns.

4. Why Have a Website? It Increases Walk-In Customers

Did you know about 91% of people rely on the Internet to get information about a product or service? Also, 90% look up businesses online before visiting. If you don’t have a website, you could lose out on all these potential customers!

It makes sense when you stop and think about it. Someone might come across your shop while commuting around town but they normally won’t walk right in. They’ll want to look up reviews, comments, and details online to make sure they won’t waste time and money.

Now imagine a situation without a website. They can’t conduct research, meaning they may lose interest and try another establishment.

5. Advertising Venue

Without a website, you have limited venues for advertising. When you only have a brick-and-mortar shop, you’ll have to rely on newspaper advertising, flyers, business cards, magazine ads, and TV or radio ads.

However, with a website, the sky is the limit. Now you can use paid ads on Google and run an efficient PPC campaign. Now you can conduct a proper SEO strategy to spread brand awareness, boost reviews, and create some buzz about your business on social media.

Over half the population of the planet uses the Internet. Why lock those people out of reach when you can design a website now and start advertising to them all?

6. Expand Your Business

Without a site, the only people who will know your business exists are the locals and the people passing by. The moment you launch your website, more people will know about your establishment.

Even people from other cities and states can come across your website whenever they look up tour destinations and high-rated establishments in the area.

Once you have a website running, you can accept orders from other places. Of course, you’ll need to communicate with logistics companies to deliver products but it’s still a great expansion.

7. Rivaling the Competition

Businesses live and die by beating the competition. You have to get ahead of your local rivals and you have to do better than they can.

If they have a website and you don’t, you’re already miles behind. Take all the benefits of having a website and then dump them on your competitors because they’re that far ahead unless you take action now.

Having a website also gives you more opportunities to spy on your competitors. Tools like SpyFu allow you to check with keywords they rank high on and you can always check the prices of their products or the website design denton trends implemented on their site.

8. Showcase Your Products

Imagine a physical store that can only welcome 50 customers at a time, limited by the space available. You won’t be able to showcase your products to thousands of people because of these physical restrictions.

Why have a website? That website can allow thousands of people to simultaneously check out what you offer. There’s no physical space to worry about.

9. Building Brand Identity

With effective web design, people can instantly tell what kind of business you run the moment they visit your homepage. If it’s sleek and monochrome and minimalist then people might take your business as a formal, professional establishment. If you feature wacky colors, askew designs, and bold font then they might associate you with geek culture, like a site selling board games, comic books, or video games.

10. Educate and Entertain

The main purpose of a website is to expand your retail operations. It should exist to allow people to shop even when your physical store closes for the night. However, that’s not its only function.

It should also educate and entertain visitors. Your website can provide information about your services or products. It can provide blog posts that people can read and share.

By educating and entertaining, you’ll become the trusted authority for that specific niche. Your target audience will learn to trust you and this builds your credibility as a business.

Don’t Waste Time, Launch a Website Today!

Why have a website? Without one, it’s like running a business in the Stone Age! There are too many benefits of having one and your competitors likely already have a website of their own.

Don’t let them get too far ahead! Compete by designing and launching your website today!

Don’t panic if you don’t know the first step to build a website. We’ve got more guides for you to check out. Read them here to continue learning how to build a site, how to market it, and more!

Tag: better customer service

How to Keep Track of Your Finances During Your First Year of Business