The holiday season is upon us, and as a business owner it’s important to be prepared. For many businesses, this is the most profitable time of year. For some it’s exciting, but for others, it can be overwhelming and stressful. If you fall into the latter category, we recommend looking into how a holiday answering service can help.
Below we will answer and discuss the following questions to give you an idea of how an answering service could benefit your business this holiday season:
- How does a holiday answering service work?
- How can a seasonal answering service help my business during the holidays?
- How do I find the best holiday answering service?
How does a holiday answering service work?
Many businesses work with holiday answering services to maximize profits during busy times. A part-time answering service provides friendly, professional live agents that can assist your clients while you and your staff are busy doing other things. These live agents work as an extension of your business to handle incoming queries, provide customer service, route calls, and schedule appointments via telephone or SMS text message. They are trained to:
- Provide basic and technical support
- Answer frequently asked questions
- Direct messages to appropriate parties
- Qualify leads
- Route hot leads to an associate in real time
When you partner with a call answering service, there are endless customizable options to best suit your needs. For example, you can set the hours and type of tasks that you would like the agents to handle. You can also select everything from custom on-hold music, to bilingual live agents, to seamless integrations with your CRM and other software.
How can a seasonal answering service help my business during the holidays?
By handling an increased volume of calls and inquiries, a seasonal answering service allows you to satisfy your customers without burning out. Some of the benefits of using a holiday answering service include:
- Providing support during the hours that your business is closed
- Making your business look more professional
- Boosting morale by allowing employees to take guilt-free time off
- Maintaining your image and reputation
- Allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business
How do I find the best holiday answering service?
If you’re anticipating a busy holiday sales season and would like to partner with the best seasonal answering service, here are several things to consider:
- When you need coverage. Does your phone ring mainly during regular business hours, or are customers calling you around the clock? Many of the best answering services offer 24/7/365 support so you will have coverage whenever you need it, but it’s helpful to identify the days and times that your call volume is the highest before getting started.
- How much coverage you’ll need. Most answering services charge by the minute, meaning that you only pay when calls are answered. When budgeting, it’s helpful to have an idea of how much coverage you will need.
- Which features you will benefit from most. For example, do customers call to schedule appointments with your business? Do you have a lot of Spanish-speaking callers? Do you receive tons of robocalls that will need to be filtered out so you don’t end up being charged for them? Educate yourself on the features that answering services offer, and identify which ones offer the most value to your business.
- Your budget. The cost of a holiday answering service will vary depending on your needs, as well as how much coverage you need. We recommend coming up with a budget, and then working with our team members to create a custom pricing plan that helps you get the most out of it.
