Call Answering Service helps your business grow
You may have heard of call answering services or may have even considered using a call answering service in the past. If you did consider it, chances are, you classed it as a non-essential service that you would have to budget for and decided against it. The truth is, you shouldn’t continue to do business without a call answering service. This might sound extreme, but there are so many amazing benefits to outsourcing this service and ensuring your calls are all answered in a few rings or less.
Communication is key in this day and age, and keeping your customers in the loop not only gives them confidence in your business but inspires long-term loyalty. If your communication leaves a lot to be desired – e.g. missed calls, ignored emails, unanswered social media questions, and more, then you’re not going to build a reputation as a business that cares about its audience and customers.
If you’re interested in improving your business and customer communication and want to find out how a call-answering service can help you with that, read on to find out more:
Make An Amazing First Impression
Although it’s an age-old saying, first impressions do count – especially for businesses. How you present yourself to your audience matters, and if you’re constantly missing their calls or playing phone call ping pong, you’re missing out. You’ll be lucky if they call you back after a missed call, and by the time you get to call them back, they may have changed their mind about working with you. Customers do tend to have a short attention span as things are so easily accessible these days, and if you leave getting back to them too late, you will likely lose their business.
You need to show your customers and potential customers what sort of a business you are by always being responsive and making that incredible first impression. A call answering service will ensure your business is putting its best metaphorical foot forward right from the first call.
You Will Never Miss A Call Again
By using a call answering service, you will ensure you never miss a call again. When you’re busy and have a ton of different things on your plate, you can’t always be there as soon as the phone rings. You can get back to customers, of course, but you might have already ruined that all-important first impression. An estimated 80% of customers won’t call back if they get a busy tone, and an answering machine could make your business seem a little disorganized. You might think there’s no big deal with allowing customers to leave a message so you can get back to them, but it won’t make you seem like the successful, professional, customer-focused business that you should be.
A call answering service will mean never missing a call from a customer or potential customer, and could even mean enjoying a 24/7 service if you need one. Not only that, you can rest assured that you won’t be personally interrupted by another cold caller again!
You Can Focus On What You Set Out To Do
You started your business for a good reason. You likely have a strong ‘why’, and strengths that you like to put to use as you run your business. There are probably even things only you can do thanks to your qualifications, experience, and skills. If you’re constantly having to stop what you’re doing to answer the phone, or having to get other team members to answer the phone, you’re taking valuable time away from your most important processes.
When you hire a call answering service you will be able to focus on exactly what you set out to do, and ultimately, make more money. You will also be able to enjoy a more flexible working day as you won’t be glued to the phone and waste less time.
You Will Save Money
The great thing about outsourcing a call answering service is that you don’t need to hire a receptionist or anybody in-house. This would mean another mouth to feed, and all kinds of other things to take care of – such as the process of onboarding a new employee!
A call answering service means you don’t have another wage to pay each month and you can stop the service whenever you like, if you feel you need to. You will get the perks of a receptionist at a fraction of the cost, and you won’t need to go through the hiring and training process. Hiring and training staff can present many challenges and take up a lot of time and money, but a ready-to-go call answering service will mean not having to worry about any of that all while saving a fortune.
Ultimately, your business will be saving money and making more money, and you will more than be able to justify the cost of your call answering service when you see the improvements you have made across the board.
Enjoy A Service That is Personalised To Your Company
The right call answering service won’t simply provide the same boilerplate and potentially damaging service to your company as they do to other companies. The call answering service will be entirely tailored to your company.
You will be able to ask for what you want in the service and come up with an agreement that suits you, so you’re confident that your customers are receiving the attention and communication they deserve from your business. You will also enjoy far more than simply call answering – more on this later!
Create The Illusion That Your Business is Much Bigger
If you’re a small business, a call answering service is a smart way to make it look like your business is much bigger than it is. You will achieve even more when you have the air of a big, established company. There is nothing wrong with having a small business, and many people like it as they feel they get a more personalized and caring approach. However, looking a little bigger and more successful than you are could still benefit you.
Whether you usually work from home or a small office you can utilize a call answering service and make it seem like you have your very own building. This isn’t being dishonest – after all, you want to grow, don’t you? You are simply adopting the attitude of a much bigger business. You know what they say – fake it until you make it! When you utilize this service you will have more time, which will ultimately allow you to grow your business into the size you want others to believe you are.
Organise The Company Calendar
Don’t be fooled – you won’t just get a simple, bog standard call answering service when you outsource this task to another company. You will be able to make the most of a service that will book and take care of appointments and can handle all of the essential administrative tasks. These tasks are vital to business but can be very time-consuming, and you will need to do them or delegate them if you have a team. Although they might be easy compared to other tasks you do, this doesn’t mean you should be doing them. Even small tasks can inhibit your ability to make important decisions and take your energy away from more important tasks.
Whoever ends up doing the tasks will need to spend time away from the work that only they can do, making your business less productive. Hiring a call answering service will mean you get so much more than you initially bargained for, and your business will be all the more productive for it.
Reduce Your Stress Triggers
Every year, tens of millions of days are lost due to work-related stress. You may not feel too stressed now, but with everything a business entails, you will likely start to feel it at some point. Burnout is a very real issue amongst business owners and even employees, and you need to know what signs to look out for to ensure it doesn’t creep up on you. Having to find ways to relax and de-stress is a regular occurrence for just about all business owners.
Using a call answering service is a great way to immediately reduce your stress triggers and give yourself one less thing to think about. You won’t need to listen to your answering machine with a feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach ever again. You won’t need to listen to and answer 20 messages after returning from a delicious lunch. You can completely take this weight off your shoulders by using a trustworthy, professional call-answering service.
Increase The Productivity Of Your Entire Organisation
Using a call answering service will mean improving the productivity of not only you but your entire team, too. Your team will appreciate the extra time this gifts them. It will mean not having to interrupt their flow of productivity to answer the phone – there’s nothing worse than being in the ‘flow state’ and having to come to a grinding halt because of the phone ringing – ask any member of your team and they would likely agree.
Ensure You’re Always There When Your Customers Need You
Your customer could be calling with an important query – but even if they are not, you need to let them know that you take their calls seriously and that you’re always going to be there when they need you. Building trust and establishing strong relationships is one of the most important things you can do in modern business. This attitude will allow you to start building a truly customer-focused business, which will serve you extremely well in the long run.
If you want to know more about how you can create the right customer-focused mindset that your business needs right now, the video below should help.
Keep On Building Those Strong Customer Relationships
We previously mentioned that strong customer relationships are important, but we need to emphasize just how serious they are. When customers are happy with the service you provide, they are more likely to tell their friends and family about it. They will recommend your business to those who need it, whether online or via word of mouth.
While this sounds great, it’s also worth noting that when a customer is unhappy, they are even more likely to tell people about it. It doesn’t seem fair, but it’s the way things work! You might wonder ‘Well surely they will get in touch to let us know we upset them?’ – unfortunately, many don’t. They simply make a mental note never to work with you again.
This is the exact reason why you need to work extra hard to ensure your customers are happy with your service. It’ll earn you free, invaluable marketing and allow you to build an amazing reputation.
Record Phone Calls
You may not have considered how important it is to record phone calls, and we don’t blame you – recording them without a call answering service can be difficult, so it’s easier not to bother. However, a call answering service can make recording each call a more viable option.
Why do this? Well, you will be able to monitor calls, ensuring they are up to standard, and you will also be able to come up with more effective strategies to do business by learning from each one. As another benefit, you will also be able to protect your business in the event of a dispute.
Ready To Achieve Better Results Than Ever Before And Save Money? Get In Touch With Virtual Reception!
If you’re now ready to achieve better results than you ever thought possible, it’s time to get in touch with Virtual Reception. We can offer you a call answering service that is second to none, delighting your customers and helping you to focus on what’s most important to you. We hope to hear from you soon!
If you think that your business would like to explore the virtual opportunities that we have on offer then give one of our friendly customer service staff a call today on 1300 893 820 and we will be happy to discuss how we can help.
