Head Wize, a new concept in Industry Specific Customer service.

Recently I lost a pretty sweet job due to reasons beyond my control.

I have been thinking for awhile on starting a call center that is industry specific. Recent events have gotten me past the thinking stage into the action stage. I think that there are , within the contemporary tobacco accessory industry ( yea it is better than saying Head-Shops and Manufacturers) a lot of small business that simply do not have the resources to answer every call / email that comes across their line. I think some business owners don't have the time, some don't have the ability and other don't have the desire to quickly take care of their phones and customer support issues. Every missed call is a missed potential sale or missed opportunity to take care of a customers needs. I can speak from experience that customers who feel that they are not attended to properly will go somewhere else. A call center that understands the market, the nuances of the demographic and the federal intent laws could be very beneficial to a small business within this industry.

So,.... I have decided to create Head Wize to answer incoming calls, deal with customer support issues, take care of incoming sales and emails. Head Wize will be complete office solutions and I plan on charging customers only for the time and services they use.

I put this up on FC because you folks are great when it comes to picking an idea apart, finding flaws and asking the tough questions. I figure if I can flesh the concept out in here, it's golden and I can go full bore Feb 1.

Kh

as someone who has been burned by trying to be a boss, and utterly failing at it, if i could outsource to such a 3rd party entity (without going to India/China/etc) i would be interested.

throw in a shipping service, so i could just send a crate of BTs to one location and i think i'd be in love ... and if you handled international shipping, well, uh, um, i'd have your baby. j/k ... i'm not THAT easy.

An interesting concept, but not one that I would pay money for I'm afraid. I can either answer my own questions, or research and come up with an answer.

If by customers you mean the head shops, vendors and various manufacturers, you might have something. But if you mean us, well....uh.

It's one thing to come here and say 'wtf, I'm not getting as high as I used to. Same weed, same vape, and everything'. I really wouldn't feel comfortable talking to an anonymous voice saying the same thing. You would have to build up one hell of a rep of trustworthiness.

Good luck.

Tom

Maybe I'm missing something, but I get the impression that this would be more of a "one stop service center," fielding inquiries on trouble shooting problems, the possible purchase of vapes, and servicing of vapes, rather than an advice hotline/site. The part that I'm unclear about is whether or not the actual servicing would be handled there, or if it would just be the place everything is sent to be forwarded to the correct place for service while handling the customer service end of it and ensuring that the vape gets back to the customer and that the customer is well informed on the progress. Am I in the right ball park?

edited for typo

Wow, I may have been a bit unclear but I think Hippie Dickie and momofthegoons has the nearest approximation to what I am going for.

By customer I mean head shop, manufacturer, distribution company, online reseller,... I should call them client instead of customer.

The end user would never know the service is being used. It would work something like this...

The customer (end user) has a question, customer support issue or is ready to purchase their item, they call Widget Inc's (example Head Wize customer) customer support line.

The call is routed to Head Wize seamlessly

Head Wize account reps answer the call as though they are Widget Inc.

The customer question is answered, their issue is taken care of or the sale is entered into Widget Inc's database

If Widget Inc subscribes to the shipping and warehousing service, Head Wize then also ships the product to the customer. ( yes even worldwide)

Every 4 hours Widget Inc is sent a Log of current activity. ( Sales, shipments, minutes used for calls, unresolved customer issues)

The end user, would never know that they didn't call right to Widget Inc and they would get their issue dealt with.

Widget Inc would get their customer support taken care and not have to pay for all the time someone is not on the phone. Widget Inc would pay Head Wize only per minute for time used on phones and per unit for package shipped.

This should make Widget Inc appear as though they are a larger company or at the very least help them to appear professional.

Widget Inc could contract Head Wize to take care of any and all back or front office needs.
As the mighty Frank Zappa once said "Anything is possible given budget...."

*edit* typo

it's going to take about 6 months (estimated) for me to get the results i need from beta testers ... then we should talk.

I understood where you were going with the idea Bruce and I do think some companies would benefit from a service like yours. I know you're focusing on the vape related businesses but if you need additional clients you might look at some of the ecig vendors. Some of them could also use a hand in the customer service dept.

I love good customer service

On top of that, sometimes people can be inept with search engines and the interwebs as a whole.

Lo said:

I understood where you were going with the idea Bruce and I do think some companies would benefit from a service like yours. I know you're focusing on the vape related businesses but if you need additional clients you might look at some of the ecig vendors. Some of them could also use a hand in the customer service dept.

I love good customer service

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Thanks Lo, I love good customer service as well and there seems to be a lot of that lacking lately. I would open my business to the entire industry not just vapes, as much as there is a market in the vape only field, I think an industry wide service would do better. Everyone from manufacturers to retail outlets could stand a little back office support.

Honestly, If I could I would be a door to door vape salesman. That would be the perfect job IMO - Ill hire you as my driver Bruce!

AGBeer said:

Honestly, If I could I would be a door to door vape salesman. That would be the perfect job IMO - Ill hire you as my driver Bruce!

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Funny thing,.. I was once a taxi driver. Still have a copy of my chauffeurs license around here somewhere but the guy on it looks like some kid and nothing like me hahahah

Basically be a call center for the industry. I like it. Finding a way to make it affordable and profitable will be unique I think.

I will vape with the Zephyr and see what I can brain storm. I would also try to add in representing them at shows and whatnot is possible as well. Sorta like a customer service meets public relations kind of thing.

So after a bit this is what I tossed around.

Services
Manage orders/returns
General customers service
Basic troubleshooting of specific vaporizer issues you represent
General public relations
o Trade shows, talks and the like.

Potential customers
Vape manufacturers
Vape distributors
Headshops
Glass shops
Any industry related business

Needs
Standard billing and record keeping systems to manage different sized clients.
Employees (?)
Phone/computer systems
Licenses, permits, tax etc.

Bruce, i really think you have something here. You are dead on when you say that a customer will go elsewhere if the customer service is less than adequate.

a service like this would allow vape makers to focus on making vapes, not the minutia of running a business.
Perhaps you could add industry specific legal services (vetting of print material maybe), advertising & marketing stuff too. you have experience at trade shows and could either do them for the client or provide consulting services for such - all vape industry specific.
definitely include e-cigs as they are becoming more popular. and perhaps a vaporpedia of sorts with all the vape info that one could ever need at the representatives fingetips.

I think as the vape industry continues to grow, this type of customer service "hub" could be a great tool for manufacturers and distributors. It's sort of like the companies that answer the phone (as a receptionist) for many different companies through one "switchboard" and put them through to the correct company/employee. It's cost effective for the companies enrolled. I like the idea.

Thanks Momofthegoons and Herbgirl... I think you have pegged exactly what I am shooting for. Beezleb,... you hit the nail on the head as well. A lot of that stuff I have worked out but some is still being worked on. I just got my phone system today and am learning how to use it. Amazing what can be done with the internet now.

I think the best part of the service is folks won't know they are using it. End Users that is,.. all they will know is that their needs are met.

everybody happy

Including you, hopefully!!

I love that you had/have the ability to bounce back, Bruce. Good on you. I wish you much success in your new venture.

pic several companys you really like and be their rep. disturb. center. with service to all

I believe you are offering a service that is dearly needed. Just do me a favor. Please for the love of god do not relocate to India

Beezleb said:

I believe you are offering a service that is dearly needed. Just do me a favor. Please for the love of god do not relocate to India

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hey man, I appreciate you broaching this topic, I had been wary of saying anything as I do not want to come off as a bigot or ethnocentric. I think a lot of people are turned off ( in America, North America as Head Wize will be based here ) when they place a call and the answering party has a thick Indian accent yet refers to themselves with an American sounding name.

In this specific industry ( all accessories not just vape) people want to feel that the person on the other end of the phone understands them, speaks their language( not just American English, but understands the vernacular specific to this industry) and will be able to help them out based on their ( the end users) terms.

For most people, the only way they will be able to tell they are talking to a head wize rep and not directly to the business they called will be the excelent level of service. Hehe. I imagine that as time goes on and the proper reputation is built, savy clients will advertise that their customer service is handled by head wize. Should be a consistant level of service that end users will recognize and come to demand. Why not demand good service when spending or even thinking of spending hard earned cash?

I see no issue with hiding your service from the user as if you was the merchant. By creating and maintaining a high quality name you can potentially became the "gold standard" in what is seen as customer services and other services offered by you. The more people who know and associate your business name the more potential interested clients you will have. It also gives you a potential foothold when and if competition becomes and issue.

I would see it/illustrate it as more as a premier service and not as a background hand off transaction.

what's the pricing model ... how much do i have to add to the retail price to cover your service?

Hippie Dickie said:

what's the pricing model ... how much do i have to add to the retail price to cover your service?

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You may not have to add anything to the retail price if you put an operating cost on the internal time spent in dealing with potential customer service issues offset by the price of Bruce's service, eh?

even that ("internal time spent") adds to the retail price --- i expect it to be a premium over inhouse, but it's a tradeoff i'm willing to make.

Hippie Dickie said:

what's the pricing model ... how much do i have to add to the retail price to cover your service?

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I would hate to get into actual pricing right here out in the open and all but I will say it will cost less than having an employee. If you only count not having to deal with payroll taxes. The Head Wize model does costs on average 20% less than similar services I have researched and a client gets American English accent, and knowledgeable service reps.

A Potential Head Wize Client has an infinite amount of options available to them. Head Wize would be able to handle any office needs a client could have but, lets start with just incoming calls,.. for example purposes

Scenario A: Widget Inc has no problem handling their own calls,.. but,.. twice a year they head to the big trade show in Las Vegas,.. Since widget inc is only 3 guys and they all want to go to the trade show they hire Head Wize on a per minute basis, sure they pay a premium but it is for a specific reason and worthwhile to their company as a whole.

Scenario B: Widget Inc is a small company and only fields 15-20 calls / emails a week, the calls come in at random times and all hours. The owner of Widget Inc is just one person and has another job besides Widget Inc. The owner of Widget Inc can not be bothered to answer BS calls at all hours while he is busy making the widgets. Widget Inc buys a weekly package from Head Wize, gets a discount if he goes over minutes and unused minutes are rolled over.

Scenario C: Widget Inc has a hot product but needs to bring it to market. Widget Inc Contracts Head Wize to be their sales force, front and back office and marketing team.

Since everything is customizable, the services of Head Wize should work with any size company and on pretty much any budget. I think a service like this would pay for itself with just a couple inbound calls. Missing an opportunity for a sale, a long term customer or repeat business is a larger expense in the long run.