Many small business owners dread holidays. What will happen if a client needs help and support, who will answer the phone, check their mails, keep their clients happy? The fact that they need a holiday, that it will refresh them, is something that is forgotten.
Having worked with many of my clients for years we have always offered holiday cover to them. One of them described it as ‘Business Babysitting’ which seemed to us the perfect title.
If you want to offer this service, the basics are:
Answering the phone, handling e-mails and faxes and dealing with clients directly. Your client can enjoy their holiday with complete peace of mind knowing you are in charge.
If you are wondering how to charge for this, this is what we did:
A weekly standing charge for the duration of the holiday if you are expected to be in the office at all times to take their calls, (a week being any 7 day period).
A per item charge if there is no telephone answering to cope with but just other administrative tasks. Also ancillary charges such as phone calls, postage etc are charged at cost.
Friday, 1 June 2007
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