Is a Phone Answering Service Right For Your Business?
Reliable Support, When You Need it
The use of a telephone answering service for outsourcing inbound calls, 24-hour coverage, or call overflow service all depends upon your business requirements. With a live person available to take care of your customers even when the office is closed, your business will be at an advantage. This will increase customer retention means increased profit.
Answering phones for client calls are usually done by call center operators who are employed to do it. They can oftentimes have many years of experience working with your small business and know exactly how to handle your callers. There are many factors to consider in hiring one for this service.
TRAINED PROFESSIONALS ANSWERING CALLS
Telephone answering service companies offer several types of employee benefits such as medical insurance, dental and vision, health and welfare benefits, sick leave, pension plans, and so forth. The best benefits would be offered by a human resource or payroll firm. This results in skilled, well-trained agents.
Professionally answering a phone call is a skill that must have good communication skills. If you do not know how to properly handle a telephone call or have poor communication skills, you may want to outsource calls to a local call center. Also, the person that answers the phone may not be familiar with your products or services and if this is not addressed early on, a bad customer will just hang up without even speaking to you.
Telephone answering services may include a variety of different types of equipment. Most use voice recognition software to handle incoming calls. Some types of technology also use voice broadcasting for out of area calls and can provide voice messages to customers through a cell phone or pager.
HIGH-END ANSWERING SERVICE
High-end equipment and software will include multiple answering solutions (such as IVR) and a virtual receptionist that can help to answer a caller’s questions. If you have employees that answer out of state or if you need a lot of calls a slightly more costly, high-end answering system may be a necessity. This can cost you a fortune and may not always be available during your busiest times.
Smaller companies are usually able to purchase their own answering machines and phone systems. These are often less expensive and are not very effective. The downside is that the person who answers the telephone might be from your hometown and not be familiar with your products and services.
Phone answering services have been around for more than 50 years and are a great asset to many businesses. It is a simple process and provides a customer-friendly way to handle all your customers’ calls when they are unable to physically visit your establishment.
LIVE AGENTS 24X7
Telephone answering services will often work with you when your office is closed and answer all of your calls in person. This means that a customer calls the number, your answering service takes the call and then hangs up the phone on the caller when they are finished. This saves time because no one has to be at the desk answering the phone while the customer waits. You will not have to hire a receptionist or a new employee to do this work, it will be done automatically.
There are some companies that charge per call and some charge a flat fee. Be aware of the different fees and what you will be charged for different types of calls.
Telephone answering service companies should have a live operator on staff. This is essential because many customers do not speak well on the phone. Having someone there to take a call back or answer the phone will help prevent unnecessary arguments and keep the client happy. Customer satisfaction should be one of their highest priorities.
It should also have good customer service for customers who do not want to leave messages, such as telemarketers or busy signals. They will also be able to respond to a question about your products or services as long as they have an easy way to contact you through email or text.
You can save money by using a telephone answering service if you are trying to cut costs. It will take more calls to keep them on hold. The last thing you need is to receive more than a few phone calls each month from potential customers.
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