Small business leaders often wear many hats, but it’s simply not possible to be everywhere at once. To have support when they’re busy or unavailable, many turn to part-time answering services. Below we will answer and discuss the following questions to give you an idea of how a part-time answering service could benefit your small business.
- What is a part-time answering service?
- What kinds of businesses use part-time answering services?
- What are the benefits of a part-time answering service?
What is a part-time answering service?
As the name suggests, a part-time answering service is one that steps in to handle your business’ incoming phone calls during the times that coverage is needed. Also referred to as after-hours answering services, seasonal answering services, or holiday answering services, the days and times where coverage is provided is completely up to you.
Here at Answering Service Care, our friendly live agents are ready to support your business 24/7/365, so just tell us when you need us! It’s easy to increase coverage during your busy periods and cut back whenever things slow down.
Here are some of the tasks that our professional live agents can perform to support your growing business:
- Call answering
- Appointment setting
- Answering general questions
- Qualifying leads
- Transferring calls
- Taking messages
- Sending follow-up emails
- Email inbox monitoring
What kinds of businesses use part-time answering services?
Businesses of all sizes and industries work with part-time answering services, and they use them in a variety of ways. For example, some small businesses are extremely seasonal, and they only use an answering service during their busy periods. This could include accountants during tax season, HVAC and landscaping businesses during the summer, or ski resorts during the winter.
Other businesses choose to work with part-time answering services because they experience a high call volume at night, or on weekends. Businesses that take advantage of our after-hours answering services include (but are not limited to) medical offices, real estate businesses, service contractors, and insurance professionals.
While some businesses only serve customers in their local community, others may have a client roster of people living across the U.S. Partnering with an answering service allows you and your in-house employees to enjoy your time off while still being able to serve customers in all six U.S. time zones.
Lastly, some businesses use part-time answering services to have more support during the workday—without having to pay the cost of an in-house employee. Imagine how much more work you could get done without having to constantly stop and answer the phone!
What are the benefits of a part-time answering service?
When you work with a part-time answering service, here are some of the benefits you can enjoy:
- You can assist callers in all U.S. time zones. Let’s say your office is on the East Coast, but you have customers living in California or even Hawaii. When you close your office for the evening, an answering service allows your West Coast callers to still be assisted by a live person. More often than not, they won’t even realize they’re not speaking with someone in-house.
- Lower overhead. Hiring an in-house receptionist can be expensive, even if they’re just part-time or temporary. A part-time answering service gives you access to trained and professional live agents who can provide coverage at a fraction of the cost.
- Fewer lost business opportunities. More coverage means less time for business leads and opportunities to slip through the cracks.
- More satisfied customers. Being there for your customers whenever they call is another way to grow your business while also making great impressions.
- You can actually enjoy your time off. Whether it’s after-hours callers or customers from other time zones that you’re dealing with in your off time, a part-time answering service will allow you to get your free time back.
