Published on February 17th, 2017 | by Sunit Nandi

Five Services No Business Can Succeed Without

Businesses succeed by working with other businesses (even if they’re within the same industry and direct competition). There is a large marketplace to be successful. Being stubborn and refusing resources from other areas of business is like shooting yourself in the foot: it won’t go well.

This tandem reliance comes through in many forms:

Internet services
Customer relations
Referrals and sales
Industry & market research
Social marketing & advertising

The following will delve into these areas along with suggestions for services which will help your business grow, make more sales, have a greater customer satisfaction, and place it on the path toward long-term success.

#1: Internet Services

A business not operating through the Web is doomed. Plain and simple.

A website can be created for free and even if you choose to hire a developer you’re still able to find it to be very inexpensive. Once online you can advertise and market your products 24 hours a day, process orders, and handle customer interactions.

The foundation to this is ensuring you’ve chosen internet plans which support your need for bandwidth.

Account for using VOIP for customer service, accessing SaaS services, and site uptime. Make the investment into a business internet plan.

Suggestion: Suddenlink

#2: Customer Relations

A phone bank doesn’t cut it with customer relations.

Today you need:

Live chat
CRM services
Social media monitoring tools
Review and feedback engines

People have preferences on how they reach customer service. Don’t limit these customers to a single channel else you may find them to become upset or never inquire about future business!

Suggestion: SalesForce

#3: Referrals and Sales

A great sales page can make all the difference.

Chances are that competitors offer a similar product but it’s all about how it’s presented, how easy it is to purchase, and the overall customer satisfaction.

Marketing and advertising go together with presenting the offer but also in developing an emotional connection to satisfy a need or desire in the customer.

Use Google AdWords
Try Facebook Advertising
Develop lead pages and funnels
Implement an email marketing campaign
Product great content to attract Web users
Get active with socializing on social media

There are plenty of ways to market your business online without breaking the bank.

Suggestion: Lead Pages

#4: Industry & Market Research

How well do you know your competition?

It’s time to spy on them:

Call their customer service and take notes on how they interact
Go through the sales process and learn how they’ve streamlined
Monitor their social interactions and replicate the experience
Swipe their email and ad copy to be reused in your campaigns
Research where they’re sourcing their products

There are many competitor research tools to learn everything from how they’re ranking in search to finding suppliers overseas. Competition breeds on doing one better – they’ve already done the research so why not take it and run with it?

Suggestion: TradeKey

#5: Social Marketing & Advertising

An ad in the Yellow Pages or a few billboards doesn’t cut it. You need to be using the Web (especially social media) to connect with your audience.

More than 79% of Americans use Facebook; plus, 24% – 32% are using Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, too!

Your business needs to experiment with new content creation, social interactions, customer service, paid campaigns, contests, polling, and using social analytics to improve your research and opportunity.

Suggestion: HootSuite

Conclusion

Entire industries have been built to facilitate the need for business services. A modern business cannot operate in today’s increasingly cut-throat marketplace on their own. Don’t take these services for granted as they are the resources to help fill the gaps in your business and endeavors.

Over to you: What business services can you not live without?

Tags: business, five, services, succeed, without

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.