Are you thinking about hiring an answering service for your business? If so, there are many benefits you can look forward to when you do. An answering service does far more than handling phone calls. Here’s a brief snapshot of what you can look forward to when you hire an answering service.
Cost Savings
Right now, everyone is looking for cost-effective measures or running their business. An answering service is, by far, one of the best. What will you save? You’ll save on the need to hire extra personnel to answer calls. For example, if your secretary or front desk staff have more things to do for you than answer the phone all day. So rather than hire another person solely for answering phones, you can hire an answering service instead. That means you’ll save on a full-time salary, paid time off like vacation days and sick leave, health insurance, and employee taxes. That’s a lot of savings. And because your secretary and front-desk staff can concentrate on their jobs at hand, you won’t have to worry about them getting behind in scheduling meetings, organizing your calendar, reaching out to clients, or following up with inquiries.
Professionalism
There’s nothing worse than a phone that rings off the hook, a grumpy team member answering a customer’s inquiry, or an endless go-around with a caller who needs an answer that no one has. Situations like these make your business look unprofessional, to say the least. Rather than risk your customers calling in and encountering problems, you can put your professionalism status on max by hiring an answering service.
An answering service will provide answers to customer inquiries. Those who answer are always professional, they’ll never be distracted, and bad days won’t get in the way of excellent customer service. Calls are always routed to the most appropriate team member. And you’ll be able to breathe easier knowing your customers are in good hands, 24/7. You’ll never risk missing a call when you hire an answering service to pick up the phone.
Streamline Customer Service
What is one of the biggest customer complaints about companies they interact with? Bad customer service. No one likes wading through an endless list of automated answering options and then choosing an option, just to realize they got the wrong department.Â
An answering service will dramatically streamline the service customers receive. First, someone will always answer the phone. Customers will never be left with a phone that rings and then hangs up or a phone that always goes to voicemail. Secondly, customers always receive an answer. Even if it means their call is forwarded to an appropriate department, they’ll still receive a response. Finally, they will be given the benefit of talking to a live person who will be able to take messages, sympathize with problems, perform follow-up calls and satisfaction surveys, and be available to address the immediate needs of your customer.
Free Up Employees
A customer’s primary complaint is regarding the service they do or do not receive. Employees, on the other hand, often complain of not having enough time in their workday. Why? Because they’re stuck answering phone calls when they’re trying to do their job.
Hiring an answering service can grow your business. You hired your employees to do a specific job, whether they joined the IT department, creative department, or accounting. The last thing these employees should be worrying about is answering the phone. Give them their focus and their day back by removing this frustrating task. With an answering service, your valuable employees will only spend time on the phone when a customer needs to speak with them specifically. No more endless go-rounds between departments until your customer lands where they should. Keep your employees working on what is important and let someone else handle the calls.
Work Well Remotely
Remote working is the latest workplace trend and for obvious reasons. So, what do you do if your entire team must go remote? Who answers the phone? How do they transfer calls to the right employee to answer customer inquiries? The answer is simple. When you hire an answering service, you won’t have to worry about any of those questions. Your customer calls get answered 100% of the time, requests get directed to the appropriate employee who can further assist if need be, and you’ll never miss a call because no one was in the office to pick up the phone. Your employees may be working from home while homeschooling their kids, drinking coffee, and carrying a one-year-old around on their hip, but when your customer calls and gets the answering service, they’ll never be the wiser.
One Service, Many Benefits
Hiring an answering service provides far more for your business than answered calls. It allows your team to be more efficient, provides customers with excellent, professional service, and keeps your business looking sharp. Of these, which will benefit your business the most?
