Management

Reasons to Outsource Your External Communications Department

There is no shortage of challenges that small business owners have to face in the early years of their entrepreneurial endeavours. The biggest problem faced by most small business owners is to make sure they stay competitive in a field that’s crowded with multinational corporations and large firms with seemingly endless pockets of cash. As a result of this, most business owners have to figure out how to prioritise their spending. Setting up departments that do not directly contribute to the supply or quality of your product isn’t really a wise move.

Most of the money that you generate from sales in your business will likely be reinvested back into fulfilling clients’ orders. This leaves most business owners with very little money to spend on administration and business upkeep. It’s one of the reasons why most startups can’t afford to spend a lot of money on setting up departments that will help improve business operations in their early stages.

The Importance of Support

One of the most important things you should know as a business owner is that customer support is everything in this day and age. There’s likely to be a considerable amount of competition in the industry where your business operates. If a customer isn’t satisfied with the support they are getting, it won’t take long for them to take their business somewhere else.

However, even if you sell a standardised product, people will continue to buy it as long as you offer quality support. In today’s competitive world, the one thing most people only care about is after-sales service. If they have an issue with their product, who do they reach? Are your helplines available round the clock? Do you have a live chat service so customers can contact you whenever?

One of the things you can do is set up an external communications department through which you can correspond and connect with customers. People who have a query about your product should be able to call you directly, and those who want to lodge a complaint should find it easy to reach you.

The Challenges

Setting up an external communications department is certainly not as easy as you might think. There are a number of different things you have to take into account, such as the amount of space available in your office, the number of people you can afford to hire on a regular basis, as well as the initial costs of setting up a new department. After all, you will need to invest in a considerable amount of equipment and furniture if you are going to set up a fully-functional external communications department. Needless to say, the challenges faced by most businesses are insurmountable, so it’s better if they start looking at other alternatives.

One of the best things you can do is outsource your external communications to another company such as Message-Direct. A number of companies have now begun to outsource their external communications to other companies, and that’s simply because of the many advantages you get for it. Here are just a few reasons why you should consider outsourcing all external communications to another company.

Reduces Operational Costs

One of the biggest reasons why you should consider outsourcing your customer support department to another company is simply because it helps reduce expenditure by a significant margin. You simply have to pay a small monthly fee to the company for handling all external communications. Whenever an interested party calls your company, the call will be received by trained professionals, who will take down the message and then relay them to your offices. When you hire a reputable message taking company, you can just browse through the different packages they have to offer and make your decision. It’s a small monthly payment compared to a significant outlay on setting up an entire department and hiring more employees.

Frees Up Staff

In many small businesses that don’t have separate communications department, the staff has to deal with phone calls. However, if there’s an important meeting or a company trip, there would be no one left to attend the phones. Not only will this paint a bad picture of your company, it can also turn potential customers away.

However, if you outsource the department to another company, you don’t have to worry about assigning roles for taking telephone calls. Employees can focus on their jobs without having to worry about the telephone ringing all the time. It’s a great choice for small businesses that have limited staff, and everyone has to work hard to keep the business running.

Professionally Trained Individuals

If you were to set up a communications department in-house, you will also need to worry about training the employees carefully. Proper training is essential so that employees know how to deal with disgruntled customers and answer their complaints in a cordial, professional manner. Needless to say, you will have to spend a considerable amount of money on simply training the employees every few months.

Different Packages

Apart from this, many companies now offer a series of different packages designed for businesses of varying sizes. If you are looking for a communications package that is designed to meet the needs of your company, you can also sit down with the account manager and discuss your needs. They will be able to come up with a dedicated plan to cater to your company’s needs. As you can see, outsourcing the communications department to another company is generally the preferred choice by most companies due to a number of reasons. You should do the same to allow your business to grow quickly!