Don’t overlook support departments in your business

Every company needs a little bit of help every once in a while. As much as we’d all like to avoid every possible problem we might conceivably come across, the truth is that we can’t always dance out of the way of misfortune 100% of the time. Thankfully, that’s what the support department is there for. Whether you need a little help with a confused customer or whether your order management system has gone on the fritz, support departments can help walk you through what needs to be done not only to solve the problem in the moment, but prevent it from happening again.

What is a support team?

A support department is usually broken up into two distinct wings. First, you have the customer service branch, which is a way to simplify your customers’ shopping journeys, solve problems, and answer any questions they might have. It’s a way to support the people most responsible for and invested in the success of your business. Since customers differentiate between brands by their mastery of customer service, it’s important to have a crackerjack team that can help you with customer relations.

Secondly, for any mature company IT support is a must-have. If your website starts delivering a 404 error when customers try to navigate around, or your order management system begins experiencing bugs, you can contact IT service meaning you shouldn’t have to deal with these issues for much longer.

What is the IT department’s utility to your company?

Let’s say that you’ve thought ahead and outsourced your IT capabilities to an external company, or perhaps hired someone to have on hand. Instead of panicking when your website goes down, it’s a snap to call up your handy IT department meaning that there’s no need to wrestle with it yourself. This gives you not only peace of mind, but leaves you the valuable time you need to spend on the parts of your business that really matter, as opposed to wrestling around with an unruly piece of software. Having a robust technical department shows the world and your competitors that you have a healthy grasp on the definition of business service.

How do you build these departments in your company?

For most sellers, you won’t need to build dedicated support or IT departments from the ground up. If you’re working with a dedicated ecommerce marketplace such as Amazon or Shopify, these platforms already have departments of hundreds of dedicated professionals that handle things before you even notice that something is amiss. If you’re looking to strike out on your own, though, no worries. There are dozens of quality companies you can outsource to that offer 24/7 support to yourself and your customers.

In conclusion

Customer service and IT support are two of the most important allies you can have in your back pocket, but this doesn’t mean you need to shell out the big bucks building departments from the ground up. Check out P2Pseller and some of our featured integration partners that seamlessly connect with your business and your fulfillment channels, heading off stress at the pass.