This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Oh, hey there. Today's caller is a new side hustler. They are looking for help with customer support. And when your time is limited, such as it probably is for you, right? You have to be careful in spreading yourself too thin.
Like you wanna make sure you're starting this side hustle, you're spending time on business development, you actually want to grow the business instead of ending up in a situation where that limited time is spent only doing support. But of course you need to also do customer support or at least figure it out somehow. So how do you do it? Practically speaking, that's what we're gonna talk about today. By the way, welcome to Side Hustle School.
My name is Chris Guillebeau, your host of this daily podcast, the only daily podcast in fact, providing tips, case studies, ideas, support for you in fact, and helping you make extra money without quitting your job. So tips for handling customer service and support, that's our topic for today. It's coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hello, my name is Emily and I'm calling from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I've just started a side hustle selling organic skincare products and I'm eager to learn more about how to succeed.
One of the things that concerns me is how to handle customer service and support. Can you share some best practices for managing these tasks in a way that is both effective and manageable? I'm pretty busy and want to build this business in a way that doesn't become super overwhelming. [Music]
Hey Emily, thanks for the call. I totally hear you.
And thanks for calling in from Ann Arbor. I have fond memories of doing a book event there at Borders, which sadly no longer exists. But thankfully Ann Arbor still exists. Maybe you got some new bookstores there. Anyway, to the point, handling customer service and support can definitely be a challenge, especially when you're busy.
I've kind of run into this where I'm really good at starting a business and growing it to a certain point. But then when it takes off, I end up spending all my time either putting out fires or just kind of maintaining or operating the business as opposed to doing the creative stuff that was really fun in the beginning. So a couple of practical tips that can help. First of all, plan ahead. So take the time to create a support plan that outlines how you're going to handle inquiries complaints.
Well, you're not gonna have any complaints, but just in case something happens, how are you gonna just handle the ongoing communication? What is the flow of that? What is the form on the website that people send inquiries from? What is the email address? Where does all that stuff go?
Are there other channels? This is just gonna help you be better prepared and more confident when dealing with customers. Now technology can be a big help here. There are a number of tools available that can streamline this process. I use HelpScout.
So shout out to HelpScout. I don't know if they've been a sponsor or not, but I'm a paying customer. So check out HelpScout. There's a few others like this that basically allow you to manage all of your communication in one interface. If you have virtual assistants or anybody else who's working on stuff, you can send notes, along with the communications that everything is kind of organized.
I don't know if HelpScout has a live chat tool, but we've used some of those before as well. Basically technology or tools can help you through this process. And of course you want to stay organized. So those same kinds of tools can help with that. Maybe a customer relationship management system, CRM, that just tracks all everything, makes sure that nothing falls through the cracks.
You also wanna be proactive. You wanna encourage customers to provide feedback and address any issues that arise. Try to cut things off so that you avoid some of those support questions or support issues. Some businesses just kind of flow right along and there's no need for much support at all because of how it's designed. So maybe designing from the outset to minimize support while still, of course, providing a great service.
I mean, I think that's the best approach that can give you time to focus on growing your business. So Emily, and of course, everybody else out there, good luck, I am cheering for you. If you've got a question, something you're dealing with, sidehustleschool.com/questions, you can also access the entire archive history of Side Hustle School completely free on the website. It's such a joy to make this program for you every day. I hope you'll subscribe, follow, come back for more.
My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
