Learning to run a Business from home or remotely from anywhere but a fixed office is a skill in itself. Many of our housesitters are digital nomads and have perfected the art of working remotely and running a home based business from anywhere. In fact most of the team of HouseSit Match work remotely and run a successful business that way. Read on to learn more.

Do you run a business from home?

Feeling overwhelmed? Some communications strategies for success

If you run a business from home can be a huge challenge, and the multitude of tasks to complete each day can be overwhelming. Whether you offer a home/pet sitting service or any other business model, managing your customer communications can take a lot of time.

To stay professional and timely with your customer communications, it can be helpful to reconsider your strategies – from tweaking your language to automating repetitive tasks such as replying to generic queries or messages.

If you’re finding yourself becoming frustrated when conversing with your customers, try these strategies to regain some clarity in this area when you run a business from home.

Tweak your language

Every business has its own niche of customers, and these people tend to share common traits. Before you decide to start a small business ask yourself what your target audience has in common, and use that information to tailor your speech and communication to their expectations and needs.

For example, if your customers are typically older people, they are unlikely to be using social media platforms to stay up to date with your services, and may favour emails.

It’s well known that using positive language has a much better impact on customers, so be sure to phrase all of your responses both professionally and positively. Instead of using, ‘don’t’ or ‘no’, try to focus on what your customers can do and what they can expect from you. This can be a critical factor for success when you run a business from home.

Listening is key when you run your own business

Try also to be a good listener, and avoid dominating the conversation. These techniques can help reduce feelings of stress and frustration on both sides, so this strategy is sure to help eliminate any issues when communicating with your customers.

It’s important for your customers to know when they can contact you, and which platform they ought to use for specific issues or information. Clear communication helps build the integrity of your business, and builds a trusting relationship with your customers.

Setting automatic responses across your social media platforms, which thank someone for their message and let them know when you will reply, are useful tools which can help ease your anxiety around staying on top of your customer communications.

Outsource call services

If you find yourself always checking your work messages and answering calls out of hours, it may be worth considering outsourcing your customer call services.

Working from home can often make it difficult to detach from work, but just because you aren’t in an office doesn’t mean you need to reply to your customers during your downtime.

Call handling services can be a great way to give your customers the answers they need whilst also protecting yourself from being overburdened with queries. You can customise your services to ensure the responses are business-specific for your customers.

From taking orders to answering FAQs, this can free up your time and headspace considerably without compromising the high level of customer experience you offer.

Welcome feedback

Especially as an entrepreneur who wants to run a business from home, it can feel personal and demotivating when a customer is unhappy with your services. But whilst it can be tempting to ignore negative reviews, messages or social media posts, research shows that responding appropriately can actually improve your business’ reputation.

Not only does a professional and caring reply help improve the customer experience for the recipient, but it shows your human and compassionate side to potential customers who may be watching.

Welcoming feedback, both positive and negative, from your customers is a powerful tool in business. It allows you to show the tangible ways in which you’re working to avoid any further issues, and proves your dedication to providing optimum customer service.

Avoid burnout

While if you run a business from home you know it can be a wonderful endeavour, it is really important to set boundaries to protect yourself from becoming overwhelmed. Be sure to take enough time away from your desk to relax, and consider utilising these helpful strategies to better manage your customer communications.

Summary of success strategies for how to run a business from home

Whether you run a business from home from your own home or you are a digital nomad working from other locations and other homes you know communications matter. In fact planning your customer and prospect communications can help you maintain your business and build your business more effectively.

You should also plan in time to take time out and review your progress for maximum effectiveness.

FURTHER READING ON RUNNING A BUSINESS FROM HOME

Beginners guide to starting an online business

Dog walking business essential software to consider

Running an international business – A note about debtors

What is House Sitting: Everything You Need to Know

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