Imagine one of your busiest days at work. You have a few projects due in the next couple of weeks, your emails are piling up, your schedule is completely booked, not to mention your phone is ringing off the hook and you have no time to answer it. All of these tasks can leave your brain feeling jumbled and make it much more difficult to get anything done. Luckily, with an answering service, you can take one of those responsibilities off your plate.
There’s no question that answering services play a pivotal role in today’s business landscape. When you have an answering service, you can rest assured that your clients’ questions and concerns will be handled promptly and professionally, no matter the time of day or night. In general, consistent availability raises customer loyalty and satisfaction, which can boost your company’s reputation among the competition. In addition to helping you focus on business operations, outsourcing answering services allows you to place importance on customer service without having to compromise your dependability.
If you’re new to the idea of a virtual answering service, we’re going to dive into what this service is, how it can change the way you do business for the better, and how to set up an answering service. Let’s get started!
What Is a Virtual Answering Service?
A virtual answering service is a remote call-handling solution that combines real, live call agents who are available 24/7 with answering service software. The reason for this approach is to create effective third-party customer support for businesses that need extra assistance with call management. In most cases, this involves a dedicated staff of call operators who answer incoming calls, take messages, arrange appointments, and deliver information to customers that is consistent with your business’s policies.
This service offers more than a personable way to take customer messages, although that is part of it. Call agents that provide answering services can also aid customers and employees with some of their most basic needs, such as:
- Operators who answer your calls on behalf of your company will give an excellent first impression of your business.
- When callers have questions or need help, answering service operators take down details such customers’ names, numbers, and the purpose of the call—and get the information to the right person.
- Operators can also set up appointments for customers looking for consultation on products or services—or in need of in-person assistance.
- To guarantee that no call is missed, answering services are available 24/7, in many cases including holidays. For companies that value customer accessibility, such availability is essential.
Beyond those benefits, the best virtual answering service companies, like Answering Service Care, will also use technologies that block time-wasting spam calls. Once a caller is deemed legitimate, they will reach a bilingual operator who can assist them in English or Spanish. What sets Answering Service Care apart from other virtual answering services is that our agents are trained in specific industries, meaning that they have the knowledge to help your customers no matter what industry you work for—as soon as you hire them.
Why Hire an Answering Service?
The main reason to hire a virtual answering service is to keep your customers satisfied and your workflows moving without needing to hire additional staff. Let’s explore why each of these reasons are important for your business—and how answering services can help.
Keep Your Customers Satisfied
Think about how frustrating it can be to need help with a product or service you use but then not receive, or receiving it after a significant wait time. Your customers feel the same way. Being stuck on call waiting or getting transferred around leaves customers displeased, and each additional call they have to make wastes more of their time. Consider the fact that 57% of people get frustrated with long hold times. Customers want fast, quality service, and having a virtual answering service gives your customers an exceptional experience. When you have a team of agents managing calls for you, customers will hang up feeling satisfied no matter what time of the day they call. This, in turn, will attract customers and keep current customers coming back to conduct more business with you.
Improve Workflows
When your employees only receive the most important calls, they have more time to prioritize other tasks. Instead of having to start and stop working on projects to answer calls, you can maintain your flow and work more efficiently to meet all your deadlines. To put into perspective the impact that distractions have on employees, consider this: 60% or less of an employee’s work hours are productive, on average. This lack of productivity costs American businesses as much as $650 billion per year. If you want to boost your employees’ productivity and save your company money, you need a virtual answering service to remove some of your employees’ distractions.
Avoid Hiring Additional Staff
While your first thought upon being bombarded with an influx of calls might be to hire a receptionist or two, this may not be the best option for you. For one, an on-staff receptionist cannot work 24/7, so you risk missing several customer calls. What’s more, training a new employee takes significant time and money—time and money you could be spending elsewhere. Finally, consider how often you receive calls. Do you have too many with your additional workload but not enough to keep an employee busy full-time? If so, hiring a virtual answering service can save you money. With Answering Service Care, we bill by the minute, meaning you only pay for the services you need!
What Is the Best Phone Answering Service for a Small Business in Any Industry?
The best voice answering service for your business is one that offers features like 24/7 availability, bilingual support, email and SMS relays, among other benefits. Before you select a service, you should be:
- Identifying your business needs—like hours of availability, any laws or regulations, and the volume of calls you expect to receive.
- Setting a budget to determine how much you can spend—and what pricing models work best for you.
- Researching providers and whether or not they’re reputable, have good customer testimonials, and if they have experience in your industry.
- Determining scalability—will the service be able to scale with your business and will if affect the customer experience?
- Evaluating technology and integrations—are their services compatible with your software integrations?
Deciding which service is best for your business should be based on not only what they offer and your needs, but also their dependability and professionalism. For example, Answering Service Care has a long history of providing friendly and professional services for all of our customers—with all of the benefits you expect from an answering service at an affordable price.
How Do I Set up an Answering Service for My Business?
By scheduling a meeting with Answering Service Care! When you work with us, you’ll be working with a company that’s been around for almost 50 years and agents who specialize in industries of all kinds, including:
- Healthcare
- Legal
- Small Business
- Real Estate
Our agents not only have the knowledge to assist your customers, but the compassion and professionalism that your customers expect, too.
At Answering Service Care, we use software that can integrate with 5,000+ different applications so that our agents have everything they need—including customer files—when they need it. All you have to do is fill out an interest form, set up your account, provide us with a script, and you’ll be satisfying customers in no time.
Whether you’re looking for a virtual answering service for a small business or a large one, turn to Answering Service Care. Get started for as little as $25 per-month.
