No matter how “always-on” you or your cell phone are, the truth is that there will always be circumstances in which having someone else available to answer your phone is not only an asset, but a necessity, to your business.
Whether you have a small “Mom-and-Pop” or a large corporation (or something in-between), chances are that you not only could use and benefit from hiring a professional answering service, but that using such a service would actually help save money and increase your bottom line.
Most businesses can’t afford to hire someone to handle the phones every minute in a day. Even if such a person were available, their salary would undoubtedly be prohibitive for most businesses. And even if that person is hired and works full-time, they aren’t on 24/7/365. Related, even if the business owner prefers to answer calls personally, no one can possibly be available to their customers every moment. It isn’t realistic to expect such availability from one or even two people.
Some examples of businesses and business people who save money (and other resources) using a professional answering service include:
- Service companies that work with their hands and/or are on the road a lot rely heavily on phone calls from customers and potential customers. In a situation where they are unable to free their hands to answer a ringing phone, an answering service makes sure those important calls aren’t missed.
- Start-up businesses may be in a position where the principals cannot afford to hire a full-time employee (who expects benefits) to answer the phone.
- Even if a business owner is very “hands-on” and prefers to answer his own calls, he may be so deeply involved in a critical phase of the project that answering phone calls may interrupt his line of thinking and, in some cases, simply be impossible. He may also be off for the evening or weekend, or a major holiday.
- A busy medical or healthcare practice for which after-hours issues and emergencies are common and expected.
- A business such as a plumber or air conditioning company that thrives on emergency work and has but one chance to book an appointment with a new customer who needs the services right now.
Whatever the situation, the size of the business and the nature of their goods and services, losing phones calls and clients means losing money. The top answering services are available 24/7, no exceptions. You can instruct your answering service team to alert you immediately if an incoming call is urgent so that it is never missed, not by your professional operators and not by you. (And you can teach your answering service what constitutes urgent and what constitutes “it can wait until the next business day.) This relationship can lead to increased profitability for your business as you will no longer miss (or worry about missing) important, money-making phone calls.
