callnetcorp
If your business depends on appointments, then missed calls equate to missed earnings. While voicemail can answer some calls when you’re not available to pick up the phone, even the best voicemail system can’t take appointments. Voicemail also can’t offer the best in customer service to those whose call to you may constitute their first impression of your business.
For many businesses, a live answering service is the best way to balance cost with the need for courteous, professional call answering. There are many benefits of using an answering service to make sure that you don’t miss calls that could very well turn into business for your firm.
After-Hours Answering
A live answering service can make sure that you don’t miss calls that come in after your business hours. Many potential clients may only be able to contact you after they get off work, and an answering service can help you connect with them immediately. A live answering service can also make sure that you aren’t bothered by business calls in your time off.
Appointment Scheduling
If a potential client calls your business and gets voicemail, that client may just move on to the next business on the list to get an immediate response. In that case, a missed call means missed business. Many live answering services can take appointments for your business over the phone. Some can even input appointment details into your appointment system or Outlook calendar.
Free Your Employees
When you have a small business, each employee makes an invaluable contribution to your success. When those employees are pulled from their usual tasks to answer the phone, it detracts from the efficiency of your business. A live answering service can allow your employees to focus on their specialties while still maintaining a communications avenue for potential customers.
Cost-Effective
Live answering services can provide an effective way of ensuring customers have access to answers and appointments without the cost of hiring full-time admin staff. To get the same level of service, one would need to hire several full-time staff members to answer the phones both during and after business hours. Those staff members would need to be trained, as well. For a fraction of the cost to hire and train a team of employees to manage inbound calls, a business can hire a live answering service and dispense with the headache.
A live answering service can serve as a force multiplier for your business and help make sure that customer calls are handled in a fast, friendly manner with a minimal investment of time and money.
