Many business owners think that having a 24 hours business operation is essential for their business to grow strong and successful. Yes, it might be true at some point. But not all the time. Having a 24hours shift will be difficult if you have a small staff or a tight budget. But of course, there are advantages to doing so.
Let’s talk about the pros and cons of a 24 hours business operation.
Advantages of 24-Hr Business Operation
Addressing your Customer’s Requests Immediately
Most of the time, customers will have an issue with your business’s products. And it is better if you can face them or have someone to meet their concerns immediately. This is important to solve the concern quickly and effectively.
Having a staff for customer service is a good option because this will make your customers feel more confident when transacting with your business. They know that there will be someone to answer them anytime they need it.
Most of the time, your customers’ inquiries are simple, and you can easily solve them. Or you can have someone to operate it for you. You can hire operators and teach them the basic information that they must know to easily handle concerns or issues asked to them by customers.
There will be times that your customer will have a complicated problem, and your operator will transfer the concern to you. Just make sure that you can answer the concern regardless of time.
Your Business Will Always Be Updated
Having a business operation for 24 hours is an excellent way to be updated. If potential partners or clients cannot reach you at the time, your business will miss out on a big opportunity to grow.
Occasional missed calls do not seem to be a big problem. But if it happens frequently, this can lead to disgruntled customers, having a poor reputation, and loss of profits. It could be a reason to lose partnerships. Your clients will probably switch to other businesses or companies if you miss their calls frequently, especially if your competitors have 24hours business operation.
But if you have a 24 hours operation or service, missed calls will be lessened. You will have remote operators that will work diligently. You are sure that someone can answer those calls even though you are at home, resting, away from your phone, or on vacation. This is important so that your business won’t miss any opportunities that could help expand and grow your business.
Relatively, you may also want to consider building a reliable website where customers can get information about your business. Owning a website is also a great way to stay innovative. However, you need to work with an experienced SEO company to build your website’s traffic, ensuring that you are reaching your target customers any time of the day.
Improved Business Reputation
If your business has a reachable service anytime, your clients and customers will recognize your business, and your customer satisfaction rate will definitely grow. And as your business grows, your happy and satisfied customers will help create a good reputation for your business.
Disadvantages of 24-Hr. Business Operation
Can Affect your Professional Relationships
Working for 24hours can affect your relationships. It will hinder you from spending time with your friends and family and doing your hobbies. You might show disrespect and selfishness to your co-workers or staff if you send work-related messages or emails—especially those who can wait until Monday or tomorrow.
In some cases, it is necessary to send work-related messages or emails even after your working hours. If you have a team working on a certain project and you have an idea or something important to tell them, then it is definitely okay. If your business has a problem and your message needs to be addressed, grab the opportunity before your competitor grabs it.
Poor Employee Retention
Having a 24-hour business operation will force you to tell your employees that you control their time. This is particularly true if you have a small staff, which means that your staff will need to have more time on the job than free time. This will burn out your employees and force them to leave, leaving you with lesser employees or co-workers.
Lack of Sleep or Rest
Working on a 24/7 business will lead to a lack of rest or sleep. Just a simple sending of email past 9:00 pm will disturb your employees‘ free time. That email may worry them during bedtime and cause them to fall asleep longer than usual.
Getting less than 8 hours of sleep can affect your performance and the performance of your employees. It can also trigger other health problems.
Now that we know the pros and cons of 24 hours business operation assess yourself and your business. Do you or your business have what it takes to run a 24-hour operation?