From time to time, we like to share insights from some of our amazing partners on the tools they offer to help our customers get the most out of their internet service. Today, we’re featuring a blog post from Dan O’Connell, Chief Strategy Officer at Dialpad detailing his recommendation on how to make your business ready for the internet age. The views and opinions expressed in this blog post belong only to Dan O’Connell, and do not necessarily reflect that of Google Fiber.
Whether you’re a first-time small business owner (in which case, congratulations on getting it off the ground!), an experienced professional, or just trying to help someone get their small business started, know there are certain things that no business should be without. Some may be obvious, while others are often (tragically) overlooked.
Let’s take a look at four essentials that no small business should be without (and why).
1. A website
Let’s be real: we’re living in a digital world, and if you don’t have an online presence, you might as well be a ghost. No matter what kind of business you run, customers will still want to check out your website.
Depending on your business, customers could go to your site for basic information, to place orders, see what you have to offer, or any number of other reasons.
I recommend creating a website where your potential customers can find that info quickly. Fortunately, it’s easy to get started—the first step is to buy a domain which you can do from a number of services. From there, it’s time to build your website, create a web presence (time to brush up on search engine optimization), and make sure your site has all the information your customers will need.
Oh, and don’t forget about social media! Having a Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn page can help build a customer base, get information out, and give your customers a way to contact you directly.
2. Fast, reliable internet
What good is a website if it takes ages to load? You need a fast internet connection (that’s not going to glitch) to properly reply to customer queries, receive orders, and manage your online presence.
This is especially true if you use the internet for VoIP calls, video meetings, messaging, and so on. (You don’t want your video or audio cutting out mid-call!)
Thankfully, there are some fast and affordable internet service providers out there.
3. A unified communications platform
This is where we start getting into the technology that can make or break your business.
When your customers need to contact you, how do they do that? Do they call? Send an email? Text message you? What about your sales team or contact center—what do they use?
This is where a good unified communications (UC) system is vital. A proper UC platform, like Dialpad, seamlessly combines all your communications channels into a single solution.
What, exactly, does that mean for your business? With Dialpad, for instance, you’ll get:
Voice, video, messaging, and contact center, all on a single app
The ability to take business calls on your computer or mobile device, all from the same number (so you can take calls anywhere without giving out your personal cell phone number)
The ability to set up a contact center and add agents in literally minutes
Insights and analytics into all your business’s calls
AI support for your contact center agents and sales reps
And a whole lot more!
For most businesses, a mix (or all) of these things is essential for growing your customer base and working from anywhere.
4. Customer relationship management
What’s a business without its customers? It’s not.
That’s why you need a good customer relationship management (CRM) system to help with your business’ relationships and interactions with customers.
CRM systems help manage contacts, sales, agent productivity, and of course, individual customer relationships. They do this by saving customer and prospect information (including past topics they’ve called in about), finding sales opportunities, and managing marketing campaigns.
In short, they’re essential tools for keeping customers satisfied and bringing them back by providing personalized experiences and keeping agents and reps informed.
Best of all? You can even integrate unified communications platforms with your CRM—like how Dialpad can integrate with Salesforce, Kustomer, or Hubspot to let agents launch calls with a click from within the CRM, and then automatically log the call details when they’re done.
Remember…
The saying “if you build it, they will come” isn’t necessarily true anymore. Building the business is the first step, but you also need to build an online presence (with a speedy internet connection), reliable service and support (from a great unified communications platform), and good customer relationships.
The good news is: all of those are within your reach. All you have to do is find the right services for your business, and you’ll see the difference that they can make.
Posted by Dan O’Connell, Chief Strategy Officer, Dialpad
