A live answering service is a telephone answering service for businesses and organizations provided by a dedicated and well-trained third-party. Answering service companies help businesses like yours to better communicate with customers by taking calls, scheduling appointments, recording conversations, and performing many more tasks.
With a live answering service, callers will always be speaking with a person rather than a machine—something that is increasingly important for good customer service. In fact, 90% of customers prefer speaking with a live operator over navigating through complicated automated menus and listening to “irrelevant options” just to get to a person.
Additionally, thanks to the universal availability of the internet, finding answering service companies has never been easier for businesses. If you’re based in America, for example, US-based services are available to you from anywhere in the country if you have an internet connection. That’s why, if you’re looking for an “answering service near me,” you’ll have a lot more success finding a service provider that meets your needs, because the best services can do it from anywhere!
There’s a lot of value in hiring an answering service, and the benefits your business can take advantage of will make your ability to help customers more cost effective and efficient. In fact, a live answering service is a great way to improve customer relationships, provide consistent service, and lower operational costs. But why do you need an answering service exactly, and what does it look like to use one as a business? Keep reading to find out why you should consider outsourcing your communications, and why Answering Service Care is one of the best choices.
Why Use an Answering Service?
Utilizing a business answering service offers a multitude of advantages. Beyond providing improved customer service, it’s a cost-effective alternative to hiring a full-time receptionist, ensuring round-the-clock coverage while also offering the flexibility of bilingual operators to cater to a broader clientele. Why are these important benefits for businesses looking to hire an answering service?
- Improved Customer Service: For some customers, nothing is more frustrating than getting a voicemail—or never reaching the business at all. But when things are busy for you and your employees, it’s not always possible to get to the phones. Having an answering service can help eliminate that stress.
In addition to connecting with customers who you might otherwise miss, a trustworthy answering service goes above and above by gathering crucial information from callers. This ensures customers’ needs are fully addressed before passing on messages to a contact in your business. An answering service supports your business by answering commonly asked questions and urgent concerns, improving customer experience overall.
- Cheaper than Doing It Yourself: Receptionists tend to have a high turnover rate, which costs you both money and time as a business owner. Answering services can save you money most significantly by having a team of operators handle your calls—which means you won’t have to pay for the hiring, training, and benefits of a full-time receptionist.
In general, answering services are cost-effective for organizations of all sizes because they offer customizable pricing options that let you pay just for the services you need. And—by reducing these costs—your business is able to put more money toward its growth and profitability.
- 24/7 Coverage: Most businesses aren’t able to provide around-the-clock support—especially after hours. With a 24/7 answering service, you don’t have to worry about your customers not receiving the help they need when they need it. When you work with a provider like Answering Service Care. Providing assistance anytime, anywhere with an answering service shows that you care about your customers, which might help you stand out against competitors. Your customers—who may be located in a different time zone or have unpredictable work schedules—will always be able to get in touch with you whenever it is most convenient for them.
Not surprisingly, being available to customers at all hours of the day and night can increase your credibility as a dependable company and lead to more sales and support opportunities.
- Bilingual Operators: With the ability to communicate with customers who speak languages other than English, your company’s customer base can grow exponentially. That’s why answering services that offer bilingual operators will make sure all of your customers are being taken care of. In part, being accessible shows that you care about helping people from different backgrounds, which can boost brand loyalty and sales. However, the most important part of bilingual operators is the reduction of language barriers—which ensures clear and effective communication for exceptional customer service, as well as answering questions accurately for all customers.
At Answering Service Care, our agents speak both English and Spanish. With our agents answering the phones, your communication as a business is all the more effective.
What Is the Function of an Answering Service?
The primary role of answering service companies is to provide an additional line of contact for businesses and professionals, in part by handling calls around the clock. Experienced answering services are able to handle high call volumes, respond quickly to customers’ questions, and help businesses present themselves more professionally.
Beyond those basic functions, other goals of an answering service are to improve communication, make customer service more accessible, and provide effective call handling support for a variety of business industries. Naturally, different industries require different solutions, so answering services need to be adaptable to help each business on an individual level. For example, they offer customized solutions to cater to diverse needs, such as medical offices ensuring patients receive care when required, contractors capturing new business opportunities, or law firms providing uninterrupted client communication.
Who Needs an Answering Service?
While many companies and organizations stand to benefit from an answering service, there are a few specific groups that have a lot more to gain. Here are a couple of examples:
Medical
How does an answering service assist a medical office? In an industry that’s receiving higher volumes of calls with lower headcounts than ever before, it’s almost impossible for medical staff to keep up. This leads to unsatisfied patients, burnt-out staff, and overall less effective medical facilities. In general, the benefits of these services leads to simplified call management, reduces in-house staff workload, and provides cost-effective solutions for high call volumes while complying with HIPAA regulations. So why should you hire a healthcare answering service? Because it offloads a lot of the communications logistics for hospital staff, letting them focus more on the most important thing—caring for their patients.
Home Services
Contractors spend most of their working time in the field, which means it can be challenging to answer calls. Still, customers expect prompt service and the ability to ask questions—especially if the project is for a homeowner. Having an answering service allows contractors to zero in on their professional projects without worrying about their phones ringing off the hook; instead, they’ll know each call will be answered by a trained, friendly agent at any time of day—including peak hours with high volumes.
Law
Lawyers don’t get paid for answering phones—unfortunately, it’s not part of their billable time. Yet it’s an important part of a well-run, successful law firm. The use of an answering service allows law firms to maintain accessibility for clients at all times, including in the event of an after-hours emergency. This guarantees a quick connection with clients and improves their overall experience. Partnering with a law firm answering service provides three benefits: less strain on staff, more responsiveness to customers, and better legal operations as a result.
Real Estate
To ensure that leads are captured and customers are helped as soon as possible, real estate agencies often use answering services to field calls from interested buyers, sellers, and renters around the clock. This enables real estate brokers to better serve their clients, who frequently contact them with questions about properties. A live answering service for a small business—such as a real estate company—saves money for businesses with a stricter budget while bolstering the brand, and at the same time frees up real estate agents to spend more time growing their business.
Answering Service Care: The Answer to Your Communications Problems
Making sure all your calls are answered is an important part of running a business, but it’s not something you have to worry about on your own. Let Answering Service Care make the process easier with bilingual agents, helpful technology, and round-the-clock service that ensure no call goes unanswered. And even if for some reason you’re unsatisfied with the results, we offer a 21-day money-back guarantee for all our services.
Schedule a meeting today to learn more about how an answering service provider can boost your business or get started for as little as $25 per-month.
