Websites without telephone support

[luckyg]

Does anyone know of any websites/businesses who have success without telephone support?

I have built up a reasonably successfull online retail business over last 5 years. One of the reasons is great customer service and telephone support.

But I've worked so hard building it up I have left my late twenties/early thirties pass me by!!! So I would like to travel. live and work in canada for a year at least.

I could take someone on to run the business for me but sadly after a certain period of time they would probably say why dont i do this myself as they will be fully trained up etc and althought there will be barriers, they can be overcome. I guess this is a fear many businesses have and have to live with it.


But I want to explore the idea of running the business through email and having the stock despatched by virtual warehousing.

What are your thoughts? Can a business be run successfully without telephone support?

 

[peterjhale]

You could outsource the telephone support to a third party agency rather than an individual

 

[luckyg]

You could outsource the telephone support to a third party agency rather than an individual

Good suggestion. It is a niche area. Most of the customers call to ask advice on which product to buy, and soem call to put order through on phone coz they dont trust online ordering!

I dont know much about outsourced telephone support but do you think they could handle the advice part?

 

[sysops]

I have built up a reasonably successfull online retail business over last 5 years. One of the reasons is great customer service and telephone support.

But I've worked so hard building it up I have left my late twenties/early thirties pass me by!!! So I would like to travel. live and work in canada for a year at least.

If it's successful, sell it, take a year or two off, then come back and build another one! That's most of the fun anyway, the excitement of building something new.

 

[luckyg]

If it's successful, sell it,.

not part of the grand plan!. at least i hadnt thought about it. All the profits have been ploughed back into stock so there hasnt been much profit showing.

I presume the sale price of a business woudl depend largely on the profits?

 

[Smallb]

I presume the sale price of a business woudl depend largely on the profits?

Its normally 3years profit + stock etc It doesnt matter if the profit has been put back into the business, just as long as its made a profit

Simon

 

[sysops]

I presume the sale price of a business woudl depend largely on the profits?

Not necessarily - if you've ploughed a lot of the profits back into the business, this will show on the books and definitely contribute to the sale price.

 

[deniser]

Asos is the classic example of a site that operates without telephone support. Their website states:

"Can I contact you by phone?

Because we are an online retailer, we find it more efficient to answer your queries via email rather than phone. In fact, with our aim to respond to all email queries within 1 working hour we feel confident that you would get a better service via email than you would by phone.
You will most likely be able to find the answer to your question in one of the entries on this page. "

Something I am keen to emulate but don't have the nerve to just yet.

Mine runs nicely without telephone support when I am on holiday but I guess I pick up a few extra sales by having the telephone support the rest of the time but no more than 5%. People can usually manage if they have to!

 

[luckyg]

Asos is the classic example of a site that operates without telephone support. Their website states:

"Can I contact you by phone?

Because we are an online retailer, we find it more efficient to answer your queries via email rather than phone. In fact, with our aim to respond to all email queries within 1 working hour we feel confident that you would get a better service via email than you would by phone.
You will most likely be able to find the answer to your question in one of the entries on this page. "

Something I am keen to emulate but don't have the nerve to just yet.

Mine runs nicely without telephone support when I am on holiday but I guess I pick up a few extra sales by having the telephone support the rest of the time but no more than 5%. People can usually manage if they have to!

thanks for the post. gives me a bit of confidence although customers dont need advice on what to buy, i imagine most of their calls would be for returns/delayed parcels.

my products need advice given but perhaps i will have to forgo the telephoen converted sales.

 

[a-okadmin]

Another option would be to have someone, such as a VA, answering your calls with a clause in the contract about non-competition etc. If the VA did not know the answer, they could contact you via email and you could either call or email the client back or you could ask the VA to do it for you. A VA could also help with order processing. I am trying to work out a solution for another client in a similar position so if you would like to discuss further then please get in touch.

 

[eukhost]

my products need advice given but perhaps i will have to forgo the telephoen converted sales.

You can even consider chat option on your website.Chat based support makes it possible for people all over the world to interact freely. It does not impose any accent barriers in the communication.A chat conversation enables a customer agent to send links, images and other digital information which assists him in providing customer support. For e.g. If an agent is explaining something about a Television to the customer, he can send some pictorial aids and links through the chat to make it easy for the customer to understand.

 

[luckyg]

You can even consider chat option on your website.Chat based support makes it possible for people all over the world to interact freely. It does not impose any accent barriers in the communication.A chat conversation enables a customer agent to send links, images and other digital information which assists him in providing customer support. For e.g. If an agent is explaining something about a Television to the customer, he can send some pictorial aids and links through the chat to make it easy for the customer to understand.

aii, good idea. Not suitable for me though as I want to work another job while i am abroad.
thanks for reply.

 

[luckyg]

Another option would be to have someone, such as a VA, answering your calls with a clause in the contract about non-competition etc. If the VA did not know the answer, they could contact you via email and you could either call or email the client back or you could ask the VA to do it for you. A VA could also help with order processing. I am trying to work out a solution for another client in a similar position so if you would like to discuss further then please get in touch.

somethign to consider, thanks.

 

[F1SEO]

I know somebody who hasn't got time to run a dropship site so there's no phone number or address. I think he makes £100 a month from it.

On the other hand there's another guy with exactly the same products (niche, health related) getting a nice £2K a month from doing exactly the same thing but he's got the phone and address. In fact he just sits at home watching daytime tele, answers a few queries, and puts the orders through quickly.

 

[luckyg]

I know somebody who hasn't got time to run a dropship site so there's no phone number or address. I think he makes £100 a month from it.

On the other hand there's another guy with exactly the same products (niche, health related) getting a nice £2K a month from doing exactly the same thing but he's got the phone and address. In fact he just sits at home watching daytime tele, answers a few queries, and puts the orders through quickly.

so the morale of your story is............................you cant do it without a phone number?

 

[F1SEO]

I think so. The guy earning a bit of nice money had quite a few daily customers wanting advice before they purchased, or they wanted to be sure that payment had got through. And he gets repeat customers because they have confidence he can deliver.

The other guy has a day job and kept his day job, choosing to attend to the orders late at night- took his number off his site to stop people calling him at home, where there was noone, or at work.

I hope it doesn't read like a parable or something because it's real life example.

 

[cjd]

I really don't think you can be a serious company without a telephone.

I also don't think you can b*gger off for a year and expect your business to survive.

Bit of wishful thinking perhaps?

 

[luckyg]

I really don't think you can be a serious company without a telephone.

I also don't think you can b*gger off for a year and expect your business to survive.

Bit of wishful thinking perhaps?

lol.........perhaps!!

 

[sysops]

I really don't think you can be a serious company without a telephone.

I dunno. ASOS are a pretty serious company.

http://www.asos.com/infopages/pgehelpdesk.aspx#phonecontact

I also don't think you can b*gger off for a year and expect your business to survive.

That bit I definitely agree with.

If the OP has itchy feet, sell up, go travelling, and build something new when you get back.

 

[cjd]

I dunno. ASOS are a pretty serious company.

http://www.asos.com/infopages/pgehelpdesk.aspx#phonecontact

Yes, they seem to be.

When our poster has the credibility of Asos and can also provides 1 hour email support maybe he can get away with it; in the meantime, no telephone = crap, tiny business that can't provide telephone support ;-)

 

[cbpword]

Truthfully? No! I personally would not buy off a website I could not contact by telephone.

Many do though, but be prepared for it to reflect on your sales.

I think I would be tempted to do as someone else suggested and close down and come back and start again.

Can i also say that fully trained up or not, whilst the cats away etc.... you are unlikely to train someone up to run it for you and they do a great job. In the meantime they get to know your suppliers etc and as you fear, just may neglect your business whilst they build theirs, in your paid time. Its possible!

I am sure most people here would agree that no-one ever stands in and does a good enough job as we all perfectionists when it comes to running our businesses too.

Seriously consider all this a bit more - it could cost you more than just money. Your current business reputation is worth something to you.

Is there perhaps an options for just selling say drop-shipped items for a while that you can run 1 hour a day whilst abroad. No hard marketing - just keep it ticking over with a 'Let us call you back' option maybe - which personally I still am not that keen on to be honest. I like to see a telephone number, but with an established business it could probably survive a rethink for a year or two if you really think it through.

Leaving it in someone elses hands completely is probably going to end up being your worst nightmare I suspect.

 

[Billy_Ben]

well i agree with outsourcing your telephone support as this is very important to almost every business.

 

[luckyg]

Truthfully? No! I personally would not buy off a website I could not contact by telephone.

Many do though, but be prepared for it to reflect on your sales.

I think I would be tempted to do as someone else suggested and close down and come back and start again.

Can i also say that fully trained up or not, whilst the cats away etc.... you are unlikely to train someone up to run it for you and they do a great job. In the meantime they get to know your suppliers etc and as you fear, just may neglect your business whilst they build theirs, in your paid time. Its possible!

I am sure most people here would agree that no-one ever stands in and does a good enough job as we all perfectionists when it comes to running our businesses too.

Seriously consider all this a bit more - it could cost you more than just money. Your current business reputation is worth something to you.

Is there perhaps an options for just selling say drop-shipped items for a while that you can run 1 hour a day whilst abroad. No hard marketing - just keep it ticking over with a 'Let us call you back' option maybe - which personally I still am not that keen on to be honest. I like to see a telephone number, but with an established business it could probably survive a rethink for a year or two if you really think it through.

Leaving it in someone elses hands completely is probably going to end up being your worst nightmare I suspect.

great post, thanks. you echo my own thoughts and fears.

 

[TotallySport]

www.wiggle.co.uk is a massive company and they don't have telephone support.

 

[Bruce_Andrews]

Analyse your calls for a month.
You can then decide what level of expertise you need to support your customers.
And then write scripts to cover the common questions that only you can answer.

But I'd go with many of the others - you need to offer telephone support, especially if you are in a niche market, and every order counts.