At the time of writing, England's second national lockdown has just begun – but the Billsby team are prepared! Here’s how we approach lockdown and ensure that our customers receive the best service, no matter the circumstances…
How We Work
Fortunately, though the prospect of another lockdown hasn’t filled anyone with glee, the Billsby Team are ready to meet the upcoming challenges. We moved to working fully from home earlier in the year, and all of our systems are set up to be accessed remotely (and securely). This ensures our customers experience only the fantastic standard of service they’ve come to expect from Billsby: from continual improvements and platform updates to a supportive, fully-available customer service team, our clients can rest assured that there will be no gaps in delivery.
Of course, our customers are our first priority here at Billsby: but we believe a company is only as strong as its team, and we’re proud of the wonderful staff we have. There are lots of ‘cogs’ in the Billsby machine, and it’s so important that we all stay in touch and remain aware of what everyone is doing. Also, we all genuinely like each other! We want to check in, particularly during a lockdown situation when it’s easy to feel isolated – this can have impacts on mental health, which we’re particularly mindful of.
With this in mind, we wanted to make sure that we were able to communicate regularly and easily (important not only from a business perspective, but also a personal one). Early in 2020, we joined Slack, a team-chat application – and this platform has proved vital. From general threads about sales targets and business development, to smaller group chats, one-on-ones, and regular video meetings, we make sure we all touch base regularly. It might not be quite the same as stopping by your colleague’s desk with a cup of coffee and having a chat, but it’s certainly the next best thing – and it’s guaranteed that we can remain a tight-knit team, working closely together to deliver the calibre of service our customers require (whilst enjoying the supportive, rewarding environment our team members have come to rely on!).
Keeping Spirits High
When the first lockdown was announced, one thing was clear to the Billsby team: we didn’t want to stand still. We had lots of great plans for 2020, so we were determined to see them through. With this in mind, we’ve worked harder than ever before: continuing to enhance our product, offering a $5,000 free trial, introducing integrations like Zapier, updating the Billsby Checkout, and more! As well as benefiting our customers, this has really helped to keep morale high throughout our workforce – despite the many challenges that 2020 has presented, we’ve continually made progress, and that feels great!
Little things make a difference, too. We installed a Slack Bot called Leo at the start of lockdown, whose specific role was to check in with everyone to see how they were doing, ask for feedback, prompt managers to check in with their staff, and to give people the opportunity to praise teammates who had done a good job. We also ran competitions (with prizes on offer like boxes of snacks to keep the winner going whilst working from home!) and implemented the appropriately titled ‘Gameshow Thursday’, which was pretty much as it sounded: a fun quiz for the whole company to take part in.
Looking Forward
We don't intend to tread water over the next lockdown: in fact, we’re growing! We’re delighted to be able to welcome a number of new recruits to Billsby (albeit remotely) via the Kickstart scheme. Some of our ‘Kickstarters’ have already joined, with more coming on board over the next month or two. Stay tuned for more ‘behind the scenes’ updates on how the scheme is working at Billsby, and the progress of our new recruits as they settle in…
Our plans continue apace for the general expansion of Billsby, too. We were thrilled to have been singled out by G2 for a number of awards this year, including ‘Easiest Setup’ ‘Easiest to Use’ ‘Best Support’ and ‘Best Est. ROI’, and we're determined to maintain – and build on – these high standards as we grow.
These are challenging times, and we send warm wishes to all our customers (and, indeed, anyone reading this). Remember, we're here to help. If you have any queries or concerns, don't hesitate to drop us a line (hello@billsby.com) or give us a call (+1 (855) 934-0707 or +44 (0)800 090 3656).
