Is it right for your business?
Over the last few years, telephone answering services have rapidly taken over in the business world. A dedicated and reliable outsourced service, they are very beneficial for companies that are both small and large around the globe.
Before you take the leap and invest in it, however, it’s vital that you first discover exactly what a telephone answering service is and the advantages that come with it:
A Telephone Answering Service Defined
A telephone answering service is an outsourced business that has specialist operatives that can answer your business calls. 24/7 Whenever a customer or client calls your phone number with a query, the trained operative will take a message for you and follow the unique instructions that you’ve laid out in advance.
The terms ‘virtual receptionist’ and ‘telephone answering service’ go hand in hand. The first point of call for anyone trying to reach your company, they will have the knowledge and skill to deal with the query before passing on the information to you.
Telephone Answering Service Vs Call Centre
People will often think that these are similar. But there is one big difference. Call centres are associated with outbound marketing and conducting customer service calls. However, a telephone answering service will instead support customers who are trying to get in contact with your business via an inbound call.
While a telephone answering service can either operate within an office environment or a ‘virtual office’ the function is very different from that of a call center. Instead of trying to sell anything in particular, it will have stronger customer service skills aimed at improving or maintaining exceptional customer experiences.
The Key Benefits Of a Small Business
As a small business, you’re always looking for innovative and cost-effective ways to improve your company. And no matter what industry you’re in, you want to stand tall against your competitors. Which is where a telephone answering service can come in.
If you’re still unsure if a virtual receptionist is right for you, however, here are the top benefits that you could reap:
It Gives Off The Right Impression
As a startup or small business, you need to give off the right impression every time a customer tries to contact you. Which is why a telephone answering service is so invaluable. Helping to reinforce strong customer relationships and maintain your professionalism, they will turn to you instead of your competition.
If you hire a full-time in-house receptionist, you won’t have full control over how they answer calls. For example, if they are in a bad mood, it could result in customers becoming frustrated – leading to them not using your products or services again. To prevent this from happening, hire a virtual receptionist. They know how to appropriately handle each call and will ensure that your company’s reputation stays intact.
It Opens Up The Possibility of Bilingual Communication
This is a benefit that people often forget about. More than 60% of the world’s population speaks two or more languages. Yet many businesses only target English speakers. By doing this, you’re missing out on a significant demographic. Even though you’re a small business, if you’re looking to expand globally in the future, you want the ability to be able to communicate with all of your customers.
And this is how a telephone answering service can help. Many operatives within the centres are bilingual – helping you to dramatically increase your client base. Giving each customer an experience that they never forget, they’ll appreciate the effort that you’ve gone into to be able to communicate with them effectively.
It offers a Personalised Service
One of the most flexible aspects of a telephone answering service is its ability to create a personalized service for you. From product descriptions to common FAQs and bespoke scripts, you’ll have access to a service that’s unique to your business.
This extraordinary feature means that every time a customer calls you, they will be greeted with a polite, well-informed service that represents your business in an incredibly positive light. Meeting the ever-growing and evolving needs of your company, you can rest assured that your business calls are in safe hands.
It’s a Cost-Effective Strategy
Whether you’re first starting in your industry or you’re simply looking for cost-effective ways to stick to your monthly budget, a telephone answering service is the way to go. Affordable and efficient, you’ll have access to a high-quality and professional service for a fraction of the cost of an in-house receptionist.
Not only will you avoid having to pay a full-time salary when opting for a virtual receptionist, but you won’t have to cover the other costs associated with having a physical receptionist on your office premises. Helping to justify every call that comes in, you’ll start to notice the cost savings from the moment that you invest in this service.
It Increases Productivity Within the Workplace
As a small business, you might find that productivity is interrupted when you constantly have to break to take calls – especially if you don’t have a receptionist working within your office. A telephone answering system will take this stress away from you.
An ideal way to forward and filter business calls so you and the rest of the team can focus on your daily tasks, both you and your customers will find the situation far more streamlined. By increasing productivity, you’ll then be able to attain more revenue over time and grow without any distractions or roadblocks.
A 24/7 Service
When you have a full-time receptionist, you’ll find that certain business calls will be missed as they are only working the typical 9 to 5 hours. However, with a telephone answering service, you’ll be able to access calls 24/7 no matter what the time of year. Offering out-of-hours cover and overflow support, you’ll be able to guarantee excellent customer service every time.
As you start to grow and demands increase, you’ll then be able to stay on top of calls without the risk of losing sales.
You Can Capture Every Sales Opportunity
By partnering with a telephone answering service, as previously mentioned, you’ll never miss a vital call again. It’s important to realize that one call can seal the deal. So don’t put this at risk by neglecting the need for a reliable and always available receptionist. Capturing every opportunity that comes your way, makes your business fully accessible to your customers at all times.
You’ll Not Have To Conduct Performance Monitoring
When hiring an in-house receptionist, you’ll need to consider the time and effort that performance monitoring takes. And as a small business, this downside can prove to cause a significant dent both in your productivity levels and your finances. However, if you opt for a telephone answering service, you won’t have to do this.
With years of experience, qualifications, and a proven track record, your business will be in the best position possible. No longer will you have to train and monitor a receptionist. Now you’ll have a team of them on hand that have the skills required without you having to do anything.
It Gives You a Competitive Edge
As mentioned above, you need a competitive edge as a small business. And whilst you can stand out from the crowd with a successful marketing campaign, affordable products, etc., an aspect that will delight customers is efficient customer service.
By offering a professional telephone answering service, you’ll have the knowledge that each call is being handled professionally and efficiently. Attending each call that comes through quickly, processing orders, and collecting leads, each customer will appreciate this step – whilst acknowledging that it might not be something that your competitors offer.
It Helps With Lead Collection
As a small organization, the lead collection is one of the most important of operating your business. But it can sometimes seem challenging to make time for it when you have other tasks to do. A telephone answering service will directly assist you with this issue, answering each call as soon as it comes through.
Even though many now use the Internet to communicate with businesses, many sources still show the importance of telephone communication. For example, did you know that 60% of customers still prefer to call small businesses over other means?
If you choose a telephone answering service, they will be able to collect all of the necessary details needed – helping to transform a potential customer into a purchasing one. This is particularly helpful when you’re first starting and you need to showcase to your customers why your new business should be their number one choice.
It Allows You To Work Effectively With Remote Teams
Although many small businesses operate from within an office environment, others will work remotely.
For small businesses that work solely from home and internationally, a telephone answering service can be very beneficial. Helping you to organize and manage your team, will improve communication. It will no longer matter where you’re located in the world – now you can easily get in contact with one another.
As well as this, a customer call can be routed to the right location automatically, so you don’t have to worry about losing any sales.
It Will Create The Illusion of Size
Nowadays, customers often gravitate towards established and well-known businesses. And as a small business, this might not be a customer’s first impression of you.
To help to create this illusion and reinforce your competence, get a telephone answering service. By bringing legitimacy to your brand, your customers will be more likely to trust you. This will allow your brand to grow more naturally.
It Will Grow With Your Business
As your business starts to grow, you’ll have to start making some changes to accommodate it (such as hiring new staff and perhaps moving offices). But with a telephone answering service, you don’t have to worry about the demand affecting what customers think of your business.
For many small businesses, this means having to hire more receptionists to tackle the extra demand. However, hiring more receptionists comes at a great cost to the business. Even if you have the extra revenue to handle this expense initially, over time it can prove to be a mistake.
A telephone answering service, however, has the resources and skills to handle numerous business calls. Meaning that you can rest assured that as your business scales, so does the service.
It Offers Call Recording
Recording every call that your business receives is a vital but expensive step to take. To help cut costs, whilst still offering this helpful feature, opt for a telephone answering service.
By recording each important phone call to note what each customer wants, you’ll be able to create innovative new business strategies whilst ensuring that their needs are met. As well as this, it will also help to protect your business in case a dispute ever arises.
A Disaster Recovery Service
When you’re running a small business, you might face power cuts from time to time. And when this happens, your telephone and internet will go down. This not only results in a downfall of productivity but means that your customers can’t get in touch with you if they have a query.
This can prove to be very costly for your company. By using virtual office services, you’ll have a convenient disaster recovery strategy in place. Enabling you to continue to ‘take your calls’ until the issue is resolved, limits the amount of downtime you’ll face.
Final Thoughts
Many invaluable benefits come with getting a telephone answering system within your small business. Something that millions of businesses are now recognising the value of, it’s a strategy that can completely transform your business operations from the moment that you invest in it.
So what are you waiting for? Discover the power of a telephone answering service today by getting in contact with Virtual Reception. You can do this by either filling out the form on our Contact Us page.
