Telephone answering can be overwhelming and pose a challenge to businesses and its resources. For this reason answering services are becoming very popular among different businesses of various sizes and industries.
No two businesses are the same and therefore the clients and expectations will vary. Because of this choosing the right answering service that specializes in your field may become burdensome and tedious. Often times, companies will even begin to question whether or not an answering service is the best phone answering solution for their business.
Here are three types of businesses that can benefit from an answering service:
Small Businesses
Most small businesses are privately owned and often family operated. Because small businesses tend to have fewer employees, clients may grow accustomed to the company’s representatives, especially the person (receptionist) who mans the telephone lines. To outsource the customer service aspect of a small business may negatively impact the customer – company comfort level.
However there are small business answering services that will work simultaneously with your company to enhance customer experience. In fact, answering services have taken on the modern day persona as the virtual assistant. It is a tough battle, competing with other businesses offering the similar or identical services. To level the playing field, consider hiring a virtual assistant. This is a much more practical solution to your telephone answering issues than hiring multiple in office receptionists.
A virtual assistant can help your business in several ways. Namely:
- Handle call overflow when the main line is busy
- Liberate menial tasks from in office employees
- Help your business create detailed reports that documents the reason of each call
- Offer 24/7 live customer service to customers.
If you do not wish to completely outsource your customer service you can also establish a backup plan by using telephone answering solutions such as Follow Me Services or Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to redirect incoming calls to different numbers if the main line is unavailable. By doing this not only will your company miss fewer calls but your clientele bank is likely to grow.
Service Businesses
As a member of the services industry, chances are you are always on the go; back and forth from a client’s house, the office and even the supply store. Finding the time to answer the telephone and collect the information being given can become secondary however, that’s what the answering service is for!
Whether you are a plumber, an AC repairman, service contractor, a doctor or a dentist, you can find an answering service that suits your every need. Because the constant movement associated with such professions, simple yet detailed messages are essential to simplify work loads. When choosing an answering service for companies belonging to these industries it is important to:
- Simplify scripting – be concise and only ask for necessary information
- Customize dispatch method – asking to have messages sent via a text message or email, this way the information you need will have already been recorded (one less task for you)
- Have emergency procedures in place – protect your business’s reputation by extraditing second time callers or callers with dire emergencies.
Growing businesses
If your business is going through a transition now might be a good time to invest in an answering service. Because of the unpredictable traits of the growing business, it is almost impossible to estimate what will happen – especially where call volume is considered. Even the most organized and detailed company has a difficulty predicting call volumes and a company’s call flow is most unstable during transitional periods.
To help protect your business and to stabilize growth, growing businesses should consider hiring an answering service. By doing this should there be a sudden spike in call volume ‘someone will have your back’. Live 24/7 answering services comforts your company during this very sensitive period. Answering services can help your business:
- Answer calls
- Take detailed messages
- Elevate call spikes
- Redirect incoming calls to different members or departments.
- Intercept wrong numbers, solicitors and other non-profitable calls thus freeing the internal resources of your company.
No matter what industry or business you work in there is an answering service solution just for you. For more information about hiring a telephone answering service please contact one of our Business Development Consultant at 800.430.6511.
