Although it is encouraging for a business to grow quickly, sometimes a rapid increase in business can become overwhelming. One of the first parts of a growing business to suffer is customer service. Sometimes, more business becomes taxing to existing processes which can be hard on staff and difficult for customers to understand. This is why it is vital to have a game plan created in advance to deal with such a situation without having to slip into panic mode. Here is a closer look at several customer service challenges that can develop with rapid growth along with some solutions to help you deal with them.
Not Planning Ahead
This is probably one of the biggest mistakes businesses face. If you have enough resources to implement a marketing campaign that generates an increase in traffic, you should have the resources to manage that additional traffic. The best solution for this challenge is to hire accordingly and to have it pre-planned to meet
the increase in demand. By keeping track of staff performance, you will be able to identify when and where additional staff is needed to help lighten the load and provide balance throughout the process.
A Decrease In Productivity
When a business experiences uncontrollable growth, a lot of pressure ends up in the hands of employees. With more demand, they will be faced with more stress, more working hours, difficulties with co-workers, and a kick to morale. All of this can lead to a drop in productivity. One way to combat staff turnover resulting from a higher workload is to introduce an employee motivation program. With a team atmosphere and a culture of working together to meet goals, the staff becomes motivated and looks forward to working rather than dreading another long shift.
Reducing Customer Complaints
An increase in business is going to contribute to an increase in customer complaints. It is inevitable. Typically, when a business experiences rapid growth, back-end services such as delivery and order fulfillment take a little longer to reach the same speed. This can impact customer satisfaction. The best way to meet this challenge is to focus on improving communication within each department to maintain a better flow. Plus, communicating with customers will help them understand delays and issues and put their minds at ease.
Creating An Effective Service Model
Automation can be your best friend when your business grows a little faster than expected. It can reduce manual tasks and allow performance of them to be consistent and reliable. One of the challenges of automation is to have processes in use that are customer-friendly but still get the job done. This is possible through careful monitoring of current processes and expanding on them before they are needed. In other words, growing the service model in advance puts your business in a position to meet growing demand sooner than later which gives you a competitive edge.
Managing Customer Expectations
Customers demand certain things from businesses they support. If your business has a large customer base, and one that is global, the expectations of your customers will vary considerably. If your business goes through a serious growth spurt, it can result in unrealistic expectations from customers. To avoid this from happening, you can use appropriate messaging
to keep expectations reasonable and not make promises that are difficult to keep. Over deliver on the simple stuff and keep your customers happy with that.
Facing Challenges With Scaling Up? Maybe You Need The Help Of A Business Coach
Business growth is a good thing, but sometimes it can be uncontrollable. To reach your business goals without a lot of issues, turn to the top business coaching service in Brisbane – Action Coach Business Coaching. Call them today to discuss your business plan. Let ACBC be your small business coach in Brisbane.
Conclusion
Scaling up is an important step for any business. However, if you are not ready with all the elements required, something may fail. It happens in these circumstances. In many cases, it is the challenge of maintaining customer service during an increase in business that becomes a hurdle. Fortunately, there are ways to combat this and maintain a healthy balance that does not wear out your existing staff. Scaling a business is exciting and should be one of your main business goals. But if you are not prepared, scaling may become an issue. Working with a business coach can help iron out some of the potential problems before they can occur.