Are you regretting your choice to hire that new receptionist? After the long training period, the holiday hours and cost of benefits, and the extra expenses in office equipment, this feeling is completely understandable. If you’re feeling this way, it might be time to hire a professional answering service.
Questions to Ask to Decide if an Answering Service is Right for You
Before you can decide on the right type of answering service for you, you must first decide if you need an answering service at all. The best way to determine that is to answer these 5 questions:
- Are phone calls going missed outside of your normal business hours?
- Do you have an enormous amount of voicemails each week?
- Is the high call volume keeping you or your receptionist from performing other office tasks?
- Is call volume high in general?
- Do messages go unaccounted for, leading in loss of business?
If you answer yes to any or all of these questions, it’s time to hire a professional answering service.
The Benefits of Investing in an Answering Service
In addition to solving the problems mentioned in the questions above, there are so many perks to hiring a service to man your phones. The most significant one is that all of your customer calls will be answered no matter what. Answering services work 24/7, 365 days a year, meaning your phone calls will always be answered even during non-business hours. This has been proven to increase sales and improve customer retention rates.
Another benefit of an answering service is the reduced company cost you’ll experience. You won’t have to pay a receptionist salary and there’s no need for added expenses for employee holiday hours, benefits, and overtime. You also won’t have to pay for office expenses or training costs. You’ll save tens of thousands of dollars with an answering service.
Types of Answering Services
Now that you’ve decided that an answering service is right for you, you must decide on which type you’d like to invest in. Here are the 4 main types of answering services used in businesses around the world:
- Live answering service
- Automated answering service
- Internet answering service
- Call center service
Why Choose a Live Answering Service
HowStuffWorks says that “live answering services give callers the opportunity to talk to someone who may be able to meet their particular needs better than an automated service. The operator also can decide whether the call is urgent enough to send through immediately.” Also, having a “robot” answer your phones – as is the case with an automated service – can seem impersonal and be a turn off to current and potential customers.
With a live service, the representatives have been thoroughly trained on better serving your customers. They won’t just help with answering phones and redirecting calls, but they’ll also take appointments, handle scheduling issues, process orders, and handle urgent customer service matters. All in all, you can’t go wrong with hiring a live answering service for your company.
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