Even though any business should be “customer-centric,” the term takes on whole new levels of meaning when you will be meeting with clients and customers in your office. In this case, it would be your home office because that’s how you’ve decided to establish your business. Maybe you’ve set up a small-scale retail DTC, Direct to Consumer, business or maybe you provide a service such as web development where you cater to a local clientele. For whatever reason, you’ve decided that you want a face-to-face whenever possible, and here is where those challenges arrive.
1. A Comfortable Place to Meet with Customers
If you were in a corporate setting, there would most likely be board rooms where you could take your customers or prospective clients to lay out your presentation. You’d probably have AV with speakers inset in the ceiling and a coffee and water station for their convenience. However, you are bringing them to your home office, so keeping the setting business-like and comfortable is essential.
That may not be a problem if you’ve set up your home office in an outbuilding you’ve furnished and decorated for just this reason. Nevertheless, what if it’s freezing outside and there is no one to turn up the thermostat to provide a comfortable temperature for them to arrive in and you are on your way home as well? With a Smart Wi-Fi remote-controlled thermostat, you can set the temperature from wherever you happen to be on your mobile device. By the time everyone arrives, it will be easy to stay comfortable in the warmth.
2. Managing without a Support Staff
Setting the room temperature and having coffee and refreshments ready is only part of what you need to consider. Without a secretary or general office staff, it might be extremely difficult to keep track of all your customers’ contact information and times when you’ve set a meeting with them.
A good CRM platform can help you manage that and so much more with a user-friendly interface that also syncs with your mobile devices. With the right CRM, Customer Relationship Management platform, you don’t need a support staff. You need that software!
3. Warehousing and Shipping
This might be something else that is difficult to manage from a home-based business, especially if you are producing your products there as well. Unless you have a garage or another outbuilding with sufficient space to store products and materials, you might want to partner with a local shipping company. Most are happy to set up an account with you because partnering benefits them as well.
One of the main benefits of partnering with other businesses in your community is that you will notice immediate trust being established from prospective customers. If you are partnering with another local company that has been around longer than you have and they have earned trust in the community, you can ride in on their coattails, as the saying goes. If you can meet these three challenges, you can expect to see your new company grow by leaps and bounds. It only takes knowing what those challenges are and then meeting them squarely in the face.