Customer service is an aspect which you will need to consider whatever the size of your business. Even small, home run businesses will need to take this into consideration, as it is the customers who are the lifeblood of the business and responsible for its success or failure. Even if there are other issues with the business, being able to deal with them and deal with customers who have difficulties or problems effectively will in many cases allow you to overcome hurdles in a way which will not lose you the loyalty you have worked so hard to create.

But when people think of customer service it is easy to imagine the kind of department which many large businesses end up creating, with rows and rows of telephone operators who have a sketchy understanding of the business, trying to pacify customers as quickly as possible. For most small business set-ups, this scenario will not occur, and this in part provides you with an advantage. The advantage which small businesses have over their larger counterparts is the personal, more direct and more responsive nature of their customer services.

It stands to reason that the smaller your business, the smaller the number of customers and the less the amount of peripheral work which could detract from dealing with customers effectively. There's another aspect to consider as well, and that's pride. Working for a large corporation rarely imbues customer service individuals with pride, but if you're working as part of a very small business, perhaps a fledgling business or even your own business, then the chances are much higher that you will deal with customers in a way which reflects the personal pride and investment you have in the company.

However, while this is all well and good it misses an important aspect, and that is what happens to the customer service as the business starts to grow. At some point, it is possible, perhaps even probable, that the business will take off and begin to grow at a fantastic rate. What happens to your consumer service then? Typically, one of two things happens. Either you hold the business back in order to make sure you can still deal with existing customers in a satisfactory way, or you end up shelving some queries for too long, and providing customers with a level of service which deteriorates rapidly.

Neither of these outcomes is good, and so this is why it is important to think big from the very start. If you have a customer service facility or system which can be expanded to grow with your business then you will be able to provide a level of service which grows with you, rather than either restricting you, or being left to fall by the wayside as you outgrow your existing strategies.

So what kind of service or facility can grow organically with your business? There are several options, and depending on the nature of your business, you may choose a combination of solutions. For example, you may find in the early days that a number of your customers are asking the same things. Typing out individual answers can often be very time consuming and is an inefficient way of handling this kind of inquiry. As far as possible, you should limit your responses to customers to those which actually require a personal, customized response.

Frequently asked questions should be dealt with separately, and building up a frequently asked questions section can be extremely handy. To begin with, you might simply use this as a resource for you to use, copying and pasting answers and responses from a central database of responses you have provided to questions previously. As you are asked more questions and create more responses these can be filed away and the frequently asked questions database grows with you. Simply copying and pasting these answers will save you time in the early days, whilst still allowing you time to personalise them should you wish.

However, as your business grows you can then provide this database to customers for them to search themselves. Many businesses have an auto responder email set up so that if a customer submits a query they quickly receive a reply suggesting a quick search through your frequently asked questions section may help, and that if it doesn't they should reply with their query. Be careful with this kind of solution, but if implemented thoughtfully it's amazing how many queries can be handled automatically for you in a way which is fast, and helpful.

Another possible customer service solution is to use a ticket system, so that customers can open a ticket through your website. This is a little like creating a private thread in a discussion forum, and helps you by including a record of all previous responses and questions with the customer, and allows the customer to have a personal discussion with you as well. Both of these options can help you to provide a more effective level of customer service which will grow with you and with your business rather than restricting you or your success.