In the modern world, 24/7 businesses are now the norm. Customers expect it, suppliers expect it. But, for the new entrepreneur, this is a tricky dilemma. How exactly do you provide a 24-hour service when you can only work during the day? What if you’re still plugging away at the day job? How do you make sure your business functions and responds while you’re asleep? How do you keep selling, and supporting customers at 4 am? Well, it’s not easy. But, it is possible. Here’s how.
Get a website that performs while you sleep
The trick to 24/7 business operations is automation. Make sure everything works hard, even when you’re not. That means covering all bases with your website. Your site is the main port of call for customers and clients. Make sure it’s open and functional at all times of the day. If you’re an online shop owner, make sure your automated system processes orders (and prepares them) instantly. You can do the same with blog content and videos by scheduling the release (more on this later). Make sure potential clients can leave an enquiry or email at any time of the day.
Interactive customer service
One of the hardest things about modern business is providing round-the-clock customer service. Your customers are often in different parts of the world, which makes things tricky. Luckily, there are some measures you can take. Interactive customer service can help immensely. Usually, this takes the form of FAQs, and support answer pages. If customers can’t find their answer, they can at least leave an email.
Scheduling
As a 24 hour business, scheduling is something you need to get familiar with. First of all, you can schedule blog content and video uploads throughout the day. This is fantastic, because you can optimise the release for a time best suited to your audience. If you have a big following on the west coast of America, schedule your content and tweets to coincide with their most active period. It means your content can go live and spread through social media while you’re sound asleep!
Hire global staff
If you’ve got a global audience, consider hiring someone on a freelance basis. They can take care of business while you catch up on your beauty sleep. It means your business can operate in the most important territories, at the most effective times.
Backup and protection
Imagine if your server suddenly crashed in the middle of the night. You could lose hundreds of customers while your website is down. If you run a database from home, make sure it stays online by using a power sonic battery. Even if the power cuts out, the backup battery will keep your business running through the night. You don’t realise you need this until the worst happens!
Our final piece of advice is this: take a break! Running a 24-hour business is hard. We instinctively think we must be accessible at all hours. We check emails at midnight before going to sleep. We update Twitter and Facebook, and have push notifications active all the time. Stop it! Learn to automate everything, and take a full break from work every day. You’ll come back refreshed and more productive.
