The majority of business owners will agree that agility and flexibility are essential when it comes to success. If your flexibility is able to help you to meet the ever-changing requirements of your customers, you are able to gain a competitive edge against your competition. Agility can also be seen as a burden when it results in a lack of resources, quality, and missed deadlines.
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Flexibility means that you need to plan. So, here are five ways that you can meet the needs of your customers without feeling like your business is out of control.
Identify The True Needs Of Your Customers
If you are able to pinpoint the needs of your customers, and when they need it, there are no reasons for you to say “no” to their last-minute requests. For example, your customer needs to increase their stock of your product last minute because there has been a surge in customer demand. With one quick phone call, you may be able to identify the true requirement of that last-minute request. You may find that it’s actually better for them to split the stock across several deliveries, meaning, less last-minute rushing for you, and fewer storage needs for them. You should also think about areas such as payment. It’s a good idea to supply many options for payment processing, especially as people now use a wide variety of payment methods including Google pay, SamsungPay, Paypal, Debit Card, etc.
Bending with customers over payment options is beneficial; however, that doesn’t mean breaking payment options. Finding an acceptable middle ground with your customers will allow for strong relationships to form while creating an advantageous situation for all involved. But you should also know when it is appropriate to play hard ball when it comes to payment terms and payment collection. From time to time, consider working with a debt collection agency as part of your strategy. This may give you insight into the activity behind-the-scenes of your customers, and may help prepare for potential cash flow issues that could occur later. Jefferson Capital Systems reviews can give you more insight into how to successfully manage debt collection and maintain a healthy cash flow. Overall, flexibility while setting clear boundaries are keys to creating positive customer relations and maintaining healthy cash flows.
Have A System In Place For Emergencies
For the majority of businesses, simple forms of emergency will crop up time and time again. While you may not be able to predict every specific issue, you are able to have a system in place to help you retain high quality, and get back to normality quicker. This is often referred to as having a back-up plan. For example, you may rely on a specific part for production, but what if that supplier couldn’t deliver? You should think about having another supplier waiting in the wing. Even if at the time, you have to pay a little more, it can be worth it keep your customers happy.
Another way to prepare for emergency situations is to invest in a mass texting service. It can be used to quickly alert your customers of any changes and updates and provide them with helpful information. Mass texting services also help you save time by providing a quick update on the status of orders, deliveries, customer queries etc. This saves you from having to manually contact each individual customer when there’s an emergency. Ultimately, this can be a great way to keep communication between you and your customers flowing smoothly during times of stress or crisis.
Empower Team Members
Flexibility is definitely a tea effort, you can’t really take charge of everything yourself. However, as a business owner, you will have the power to hire staff members who have the skills to make good decisions. Many of them may be natural decision-makers and actually be an asset to your business. Each time your employees comes ot you to solve an issue, it’s a learning curve, and many of them take it on board. If you start to notice that your staff are coming to you with the right answer but are just checking that it’s OK, maybe you should consider giving them a little power to make their own decisions. Just make sure you are always there for anything they’re unsure of.
Delivery Options
Another thing you can offer your customers is flexibility on delivery options. Customers love choices and being able to pick delivery options will go in your favor as a business. You could have a cheap, mid range, and expensive delivery option. These will all be different times, so the cheapest one might take a few days and the most expensive one will be overnight or next day delivery. Work out the best options for you, your company, and your customers.
As your business grows it can become incredibly difficult taking parcels and packages to the post office. You might want to look into working with a merchandise fulfillment center who will do all the picking, packing, and shipping for you.
With practice, business owners are able to accomplish amazing things by being flexible. How are you flexible as a business? Share some of your tips in the comments below.