Business phone answering services are playing an increasingly big part in client acquisition and retention. When a current or potential client calls your organization, they have a certain expectation. That expectation is not that their call will be forward to voicemail, nor is it that they will have to suffer through “Yellow Rose of Texas” or “Greensleeves” playing in an endless loop for an hour and a half before their call is forwarded to a machine, or summarily dismissed. A study was conducted that found that the average person now spends forty five hours a year holding on the telephone. The expectation that clients have when calling your business, or any other, is that their needs will be met in a timely and efficient manner, so that they can continue with their other obligations for that day.
While placing calls on hold from time to time is an inevitability, but there is no reason it should be the first encounter a current or potential client has with your organization. As a matter of fact, being placed on hold right away has been found to be so infuriating that can actually lose clients. What business can afford that? This is where an answering service for business can come in and save the day. Using a business answering service can virtually eliminate the possibility of losing out on potential business growth due to simple phone frustrations. There is no substitute for calling an establishment, and reaching a real live person. As a matter of fact, it’s become so infrequent, that just the perception of a living, breathing entity answering your call can instantly ease tension, and make the caller more receptive. This is quite a boon if you intend to upsell any products or services, and more so if you are collecting data via surveys on the caller’s experience.
Business phone answering services do one thing, and do it well. They provide an answering service for business. This means that inbound calls, whether for general inquiries, technical support, product questions, or service inquiries, will all be answered, fielded, sorted, and properly disposed, or passed on to the right people. This is a far more well received option than having calls fielded by a machine, or voice activated menu, and exponentially more efficient.
Cost is always an issue. When it comes to cost versus risk analysis, if you compare bringing on additional staff in house to hiring an answering service for business, the numbers favor hiring the business phone answering service… by miles. Outsourcing your phone answering needs actually employs more people than hiring just one or two in house operators, without all the paperwork and headaches that go along with it, or the financial burden. Taxes, insurance, benefits, and salary are paid by the company you hire, and not directly by you, so the impact to your bottom line is negligible in comparison to dealing with and funding a new in house employee or two.
