| Providing Support For A Startup
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murmy
msg:3993611 | 5:52 pm on Sep 22, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Providing an online support manager to handle payments and ensure things go smoothly is quite costly (especially in my area of online gaming). I was wondering, how are other startups handling this? I was thinking the other day that if you promise a response within two working days, then potentially you could only need to hire someone to manage support on a Tuesday and a Friday because not all queries will fall right outside of hours on the Tuesday night. Okay its not exactly as promised but its close enough and as a startup, in your first year while you have a very slow volume of business, perhaps its sensible to spend only on 2 days rather than a full 5 day week. Any views on this would certainly be appreciated.
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httpwebwitch
msg:3993626 | 6:12 pm on Sep 22, 2009 (gmt 0) |
For one of my startups (I am running several! - ugh) I'm handing everything myself. It's a big job but if I stay focused it takes no more than 45 minutes per day. Some days I also need to do some maintenance work or bug fixing (rarely), and if that's the case then that can add hours to my workload. I check that email box at least twice a day, and respond as promptly as I can. Some day I would like to hire someone to take over those tasks, but I can't afford that until the client base grows and some money starts trickling in. Quick support reaction breeds happy customers, and when you're a startup you need happy customers - early adopters who rave about your product and do your word-of-mouth advertising. It would be better to have someone in for two hours per day, rather than sporadic full days spaced out. IMO.
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LifeinAsia
msg:3993628 | 6:21 pm on Sep 22, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Well, online gamers aren't exactly known for their patience or long attention spans... If you're not expecting that much support initially anyway, why do you even need to hire a support person?
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murmy
msg:3993815 | 11:26 pm on Sep 22, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Its online gaming (as in gambling) and its a heavily regulated industry. I absolutely have to hire someone to manage the day to day operations as I dont have the time (as im focussing on marketing) and I dont mind spending the money. It just seems sensible to build up to full time support rather than offer it right away.
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