Did you know that you can judge how well your inbound call center is doing by lowering the abandon rate of your calls?
Top answering services can take the load off your customer service team, save you time, and best of all make your customers more satisfied with your service. However, it’s important to keep in mind that not all answering services are the same.
With this in mind, read on to learn about how to choose the best answering services for your small business.
Search By Industry
We recommend choosing an answering service based on your industry. This is because you can feel confident that they’re familiar with your services, goods, and clients. This prior experience enables them to more confidently answer the questions you frequently get from your customers.
Industry experience is especially necessary if you have an e-commerce or medical practice. It’s important that the answering service you choose for those industries are PCI and HIPAA compliant in order to keep your customers’ personal information safe.
Consider the Location
You may also want to consider answering services that are based in the city that you do business in. For instance, local answering service companies are able to come to your physical location in order to gain a better understanding of your business.
If you have a local, service-based company, you may also want an answering service with people who are familiar with the area. They can give directions to customers who are lost as well as recommend other related services, providing that personal touch that customers love.
Service Availability
It’s important that you consider the features you need. Many answering service companies provide 24/7 service, but this may not be necessary if you’re still growing your client base. Instead, you may find that a set number of hours each week serves your customers better while still saving you some money.
Message delivery is also a way to provide 24/7 help to your customers without the expense. For instance, some services provide you with a communications portal that allows all your team members access to the same pool of messages from your customers.
Secure text messaging is also an option for your customers who prefer communicating through text versus phone. This can also be a way to provide more personalized help outside your normal business hours.
Personalization
Today, most customers expect a certain amount of personalization or segmentation when they’re interacting with their favorite businesses. Since callers are looking to make purchases or have their questions answered, it’s important that the answering service you choose is able to provide a certain level of personalization.
This can be as simple as discovering an answering service that’s able to accept and use customized scripts. A personal touch can increase customer satisfaction as well as loyalty over time.
Provides Valuable Recommendations
If you find an answering service company with industry experience, you may find that they’re able to provide tips and advice on what would serve your customers best. Experienced and quality answering service providers will act as a partner.
With your budget in mind, they’ll try and discover all of your goals and needs in order to provide quality recommendations. When you’re considering providers, a good way to judge whether they’ll act as a partner is to ask them questions.
Here are a few questions to keep in mind:
- How will you improve our customers’ experiences?
- How will you improve our communication processes?
- How do you plan on maximizing our bottom line?
- What kind of industries do you specialize in?
The more questions you ask, the better able you’ll be able to find a provider that matches the culture and work ethic of your business.
Ease of Use
It’s important to keep in mind that you shouldn’t have to be an expert in answering services in order to find a good one. You’ll find that reputable providers will make their service as easy to use as possible in order to get the most out of it.
As you use your answering service over the years, it’s normal to make changes to the script, text messages, and more. Find a provider that makes these changes easy. You may also need to occasionally update email addresses, phone numbers, and more.
You can get an idea of how easy a service is to use through free live demos or timed trials. Gather feedback from the people on your team who will be using the service the most, such as your receptionists and sales team.
Evaluate the Interface
Last but not least, you need to enjoy using the online interface that the service provides. Through a single web portal, you’ll be able to view all of the calls, messages, and emails coming in.
You may also have access to on-demand reports that will help you make more informed decisions about customers satisfaction.
Discover the Best Answering Services for Your Business
With these answer services tips, we hope that you take your time to find an answering service that works as a partner to your business. Keep in mind that you’ll want to use this service for the foreseeable future, so it helps to take your time before making your final decision.
Utilize as many live demos and trials as you can. Next, make sure that the people who will be using those services the most are able to provide their feedback. For instance, you may find that your receptionist doesn’t have all the information he or she needs on the online portal.
Ready to find the best answering services for your small business? Receive a free answering service quote today!
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