Beginner’s Guide on Starting a Customer Service Business in the United Kingdom
Customer service is as important as the product for a customer to continue doing business with a company. According to studies, more than half of the customers would switch to a new brand if they have a bad experience. Seeing how important customer service is for businesses and how every company isn’t the master of the art, starting a customer service business in the United Kingdom can help you fill the needs of a large share of the market.
What Is a Customer Service Business?
A customer service business is a business that provides customer services for other businesses. They help their clients with customer service professionals and equipment to help the clients build good relationships with their customers. Traditionally, customer service consisted of phone service support personnel, but these days, other professionals, such as market experts, content creators, etc., can also be part of a customer service business.
Industry Practice: What Jobs Do Customer Service Businesses Do?
A customer service solution company can do various jobs. Some of them are:
Phone and Email Answering
Primarily, customer service companies allow other companies to outsource their customer support experts. They handle their client’s customers’ phone calls and help the customers with their inquiries and problems. At the same time, they can also help answer emails more effectively, for example, with better subject lines.
Research
These days, companies have been spending most of their budget on customer experience, and thus, they are looking for the most accurate engagement statistics. A customer service company provides various research services such as at-risk profiling, client exit interviews, customer satisfaction surveys, focus groups, etc.
Consulting
Consulting is another major service offering of a customer service business. Your clients will want your tips on how they can enhance their customer services. To be able to give meaningful insights, you should be able to analyze the clients’ situation accurately and research and find the methods that will work for them perfectly.
Social Media Handling
With social media being one of the most used ways that customers engage with sellers, your clients may ask you to help with their social media. Thus, you will need to know what to post and also how to analyze the results of the content that you have posted. Furthermore, you may also need to answer social media inquiries.
As a customer service business, based on your resources, you may have to do some of the tasks yourself for your client. On the other hand, you may also give them a direction of what to do, for example, with social media. The majority of your task consists of listening to what customers need to say, finding a solution for that problem by consulting the client, and solving the problem for the customer.
What Are the Different Revenue Models for a Customer Service Business?
You can decide to charge your clients on the following basis:
On the Basis of Commission
Many customer service companies work for commissions. You help your clients to sell their products or services and get paid based on how much you help to sell. Working on a commission usually works when your clients are bigger businesses, and they have products that have already been tried and tested.
A Fixed Rate
You can charge your clients a fixed rate based on how long you work for them. The fees also depend on the tasks you do for them. More responsibilities, more hours, so more the costs. For this model to work, you need to prove to be a reliable service provider for your clients.
Tailored for Specific Needs
Especially if your service offering is wide, custom tailoring your services for the clients’ specific needs can be beneficial for you. One of the main reasons businesses hire customer service companies is the flexibility of the pricing. Thus, you can create different plans depending on what you normally need to do for your clients and then charge only for the things you help them with.
Business Registration Process for Starting a Customer Service Business in the United Kingdom
Here is an overview of the process of starting a customer service business in the United Kingdom. For the complete guide, refer to United Kingdom company incorporation.
Decide What Type of Business to Start
You can start a company that only helps with telephone and email forwarding. You may also start a company that helps with telephone and email and des CRM analysis, and social media and digital platform handling to help companies understand their customer service goals and priorities. The company you open depends on your budget and your level of skills and understanding.
Choose a Company Type
The types of companies include sole proprietorship, partnership, and limited company. If you ask us, we would say a limited company would be better as you would need to hire employees and have a company structure. Furthermore, a limited company protects your personal funds from your company funds.
Get the Team Ready
In case you choose a limited liability company, you need at least one director and a shareholder. The director doesn’t necessarily need to be resident in the country, and the shareholder can be an individual or another company. Hiring a secretary isn’t mandatory in the United Kingdom, but it is highly recommended, as someone skillful needs to handle the secretarial tasks. Alternatively, you can hire secretarial services.
Decide on a Name
Deciding on a name seems straightforward, but many people are stuck in this process for a while. You see, the name you choose can’t be infringed upon with any trademark. Moreover, the name can’t be similar to existing companies or offensive to the general society. You also need a registered address for your company name.
Get All the Documents Ready
You need these documents to register a company in the United Kingdom:
- Memorandum of Association
- Articles of Association
- Share Certificates
- Statutory Registers
- Member’s Registers
- Director’s Register
- Secretaries’ Registers
- Charge’s Registers
- Register of Director’s Home Address
You may need additional documents based on the nature of your business.
Register Your Company
Registering a company will take you a lot of time if you are not experienced. Thus, it is better to hire a UK company for incorporation services. They will tell you the documents you need and as they provide you with the documents, will register your company for you. They can also help with registering for the licenses and the tax.
Register for the Taxes
After acquiring the certificate of incorporation, the next step is registering for Corporation Tax with HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs). You can register for the tax by post, a website, or an agent. Furthermore, the corporate tax rate in the United Kingdom is 19%.
SIC Code in the United Kingdom
Every company in the United Kingdom also needs a SIC CODE, which is for the classification of the company’s Standard Industrial Classification. It allows the authorities to know the nature and scope of your business in case of future disputes.
What Licences Do You Need for Starting a Customer Service Business?
Based on your activities, you may need the following licenses to run a Customer service business:
- Notification to process personal data the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) processes the personal data of customers in an automated form.
- Public space surveillance (CCTV) license to use CCTV equipment in your premises.
- Consumer Credit Licence for allowing credit facilities.
- Pavement or street display license if you want to put advertising signs of your company on the road or pavement.
- Permission to distribute leaflets if you want to print out leaflets or brochures to advertise your company.
It is always a good idea to talk to your corporate service provider before acquiring the licenses. They can help you ensure full compliance.
Conclusion
Customer service is important for every business, which makes the customer service business a lucrative venture in the United Kingdom. The process of starting a customer service business includes understanding the trends and the problems of different companies and customers and then trying to solve them with your skills and knowledge.
You can contact us if you have any questions regarding the article. You can also contact 3E Accounting if you are looking to register your company easily and quickly without any hassle.
