Why You Should Hire a Call Answering Service Provider for Your Business
One mode of communication that seems to be as important today as it has ever been is the telephone. When asked, most businesses would choose calling over emailing because calling gives instant results and only requires minimal technical knowledge on how to use a phone. When you email you first have to wait for the mail to get delivered to the inbox, then for the person to read it and finally answer. The person may not reply as soon as they read the email. In short, there is no instant gratification for emergency problems. For this very reason, the old school telephonic communication is not going to go away any day soon. In order to handle such communication, companies are actively outsourcing call center services.
What Do Call Answering Service Providers Do?
Call answering service providers are also known as telecommunications service providers. At their core, they process all incoming calls and direct them as instructed by their employers. Sometimes they even take messages and deliver them as the customer instructs. Nowadays, companies that provide these services are known as “call centers”.
What Happens When You Don’t Answer?
When a customer calls, most of the time it is because they are not familiar with the process of emailing or they want instant resolution. If for any reason you fail to pick the call not only do you leave behind a bad image but you could also be in a position where you end up losing a valuable customer. For the same reason if a lead is calling and no one is there to respond to the call, they go to your competitor. In either case, your loss is your competitors gain.
Why Hire a Call Answering Service Provider?
Every business big or small needs somebody to handle their calls. This is not because of a question of status, but because this way you will have somebody to screen the calls and forward them to the ideal person without wasting anyone’s time. This is particularly useful for small businesses where the number of incoming calls is high. The other reasons for outsourcing call center services are:
1. Increasing Customer Satisfaction
A regular employee has to do his or her own job. Add in phone calls to the mix and there are bound to be situations where some are missed. Sometimes employees get stressed and can be in a bad frame of mind to be polite. Although they should be, they are not professionally answering the phones day in and out and being polite is not a priority. As such, they fail to handle delicate customer situations professionally. If you want your business to succeed, you need to have ultimate customer satisfaction. The above situations will ruin it. Employing a virtual receptionist will ensure that all calls are handled respectfully and professionally.
2. Providing 24×7 Support
When a customer or a prospect has a problem or a question they don’t look at the time. They just pick up the phone and dial the business. We get calls all of the time, I have had calls personally at 2am from business owners that were travelling and forgot about the time difference. You could have been home sleeping and missed their call. What if this customer was high-profile and could have brought more attention or revenue to your business? You endup missing a great opportunity. Again, this is where a call answering service comes in handy. They take the call, resolve the matter or ask the customer politely to call back later when they can directly speak to the person they are looking for. Such distinguished and professional treatment speaks volumes about your business ethics. A virtual receptionist makes it easy to handle all calls 24×7. Providing this support all year round increases your brand and business reputation. Now I’m not saying ignore these customers but it puts in a barrier to ensure you are only getting the calls at 2am in the morning that are important to you.
3. Reduce Costs
Think from an employee’s perspective. They can’t always drop what they are doing in order to attend a call. Such interruptions will break their concentration devaluing their potential output. This can have an adverse impact on accuracy and quality. In turn, the cost of operation will increase. With constant interruptions, an employee cannot work at their full capability. Time away from work means more cost. Now, from a customer perspective: an office is never soundproof. When you take calls in an office environment there is bound to be background noise. This can be really annoying as the customer might have to repeat themselves again and again, in small offices it is also very distracting to the other workers. All in all, this wastes not only the employees valuable time but also the customers. In the end, both get irritated and nothing gets resolved. This precious time can be saved if you get an answering service provider.
4. Improve Service Quality
Taking a call is not just about answering it. There is a method to this madness. Each call has to be monitored for its quality and effectiveness in resolving an issue. An employee is not trained to handle such calls. They may end up sounding curt instead of courteous. Similarly, overdoing it while trying to sound pleasant may look like you are wasting their time instead of getting to the meat and gravy of the call. Unless you have specific systems in place an employee will not take the customers feedback and you won’t have any metrics about the effectiveness of the call.
Not having this analytical data to make decisions in business can cost you customers as well as their loyalty. On the other hand, call centers have trained professionals. It is their job to answer calls and they know how each of them needs to be handled. Additionally, it is second nature taking feedback from the customer as they already know what to ask for. Overall outsourcing call center services ensure better service quality.
5. Bilingual Advantage
Customers can speak any language they want. You need to be able to understand them. For an employee knowing a local or foreign language is not necessary. However, a call center hires its employees based on the location from which they are taking calls. Most call center employees are proficient in more than one language. Having a bilingual advantage makes them more sought after and an obvious choice depending on your industry.
The Final Word
There are many advantages to hiring a company that provides an answering service for small businesses. Having a virtual assistant gives your business good credibility and at the same time improves its professional image. In today’s world of stiff business competition, it is an investment that works in favour of your business.
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