Although you’d love to be able to answer your phone all day and all night, just in case something went horribly awry, the truth of the matter is that you can’t be everywhere all the time.
And since you can’t be all things to all people, it’s important to have a plan for those times when you’re not available. Setting up an emergency call routing plan with your answering service can really lighten your burden.
What Emergency Call Routing Does
Being the “on-call” person every day can get grating and lead to burnout for people who are called frequently. Even if the phone isn’t ringing, you’re always waiting for it, even planning your activities around the possibility that it might go off.
This isn’t a healthy way to live or to keep your business on track for the Long-Term. Instead, you should be considering a rotating “on-call” list of people in your organization (or subcontractors) who can handle emergent issues professionally.
Establishing an emergency call routing plan can help you in lots of ways, including:
- Freeing your mental space. Above all else, having a rotating call schedule means that you’re not always thinking about that next call. Instead, you can unwind, take time off of work and recharge your batteries.You’ll find that your brain works more efficiently and you’re able to think more abstractly when you’re rested and have reduced your stress level significantly. It’s really the most important thing you can do for yourself and your company.
- Bringing other people into the emergency-handling conversation. Even if you don’t have a lot of emergency calls, having other people involved in emergency planning can help bring insights and experiences you might not have into the conversation.For example, you may have never had to call a property manager in an emergency and have no idea how frightening losing heat in the middle of a cold winter can be, but your Wednesday contact does. They can help you craft better emergency call policies for that sort of situation, so the process becomes more efficient and customer-centric.
- Giving callers the impression that everyone in your organization is highly competent. When you’re always the one taking the emergency calls for your company, it sends a message to your callers: you can’t really trust anyone else. And if you can’t trust your employees or partners, how can your customers?Chances are good that you’d never have hired the other people in your organization if you didn’t trust them to handle company business, including client emergencies. Let them show your customers that they, too, can be trusted by putting them in a call rotation.
Having an emergency call routing plan is not just a way to help reduce your risk of burnout and other signs of overwork, it’s a great way to showcase the talents of the brilliant people at your company. It’s easy to set up a call rotation with your answering service company, so give them a call today to improve the emergency call experience for everyone.
