In the funeral industry, every interaction with a customer is an important one. Calling a funeral home is an extremely emotional experience for many people, and you only get one chance to make a lasting impression.
From working with people to plan funerals for themselves or loved ones, funeral professionals understand that customer service skills are vital. To ensure that every phone interaction is a positive one, here are three reasons why your funeral business should consider hiring a call answering service.
Your business can’t afford to miss calls.
When someone calls your funeral home, it’s often because someone that they love has passed away. These callers are looking to make funeral arrangements quickly, and they expect to interact with someone immediately. You might be busy speaking with other clients, or arranging another funeral, but the caller only sees that their call was not answered.
Research shows that 80% of callers that are sent to voicemail won’t leave a message. Instead, the prospect is likely to move on and call other local funeral homes until they find someone who is available to speak with them immediately.
If you or a member of your team are unable to answer every phone call that comes in, it’s beneficial to hire an answering service that can. A good answering service can handle all inbound calls about funeral arrangements, as well as schedule appointments, send follow-up emails, relay messages in real-time, and provide basic information about your business such as hours, location and directions.
Customers expect compassion, discretion and professionalism from funeral homes
Typically when a person calls a funeral home, they are experiencing a lot of grief and emotional stress. They trust that a calming voice will answer the phone and treat them with sensitivity and understanding, rather than being asked to leave a voicemail.
We understand that you are busy, and that every call your funeral home receives requires careful attention and the human touch. Having a live answering service to handle every call shows your customers that you really do care, and they will appreciate the compassion and professionalism.
Funeral businesses don’t have “traditional” office hours
Those who own or work for a funeral home know that it’s not a 9-to-5 industry. There’s a good chance that your business receives after-hours calls from people who feel like they’re in the middle of an urgent situation.
It is vital that these after-hours calls are answered by a live person who can empathize and reassure the callers. Not only will this leave a lasting positive impression on your clients, but you will be able to relax and enjoy your time off knowing that all after-hours callers are being greeted with a live, friendly and professional person.
For the reasons listed above, many funeral-related businesses are choosing to outsource their answering needs. As a trusted answering service for funeral homes for over four decades, we know what it takes to help your company better serve its callers by providing compassionate, caring customer service 24/7, 365 days a year.
