The advantages of the telephone answering service
When the phone rings we never really think about the correct way of answering it, we just pick up the receiver and talk. But the calls that we receive in buinesses every day must be answered correctly and professionally. The telephone is usually the first point of contact with your customer or potential customer in your business relationship, it can be the difference from getting the business or losing the business, something in today’s climate no company can afford to do wrongly.
How many times have you missed calls because you are busy, on the other line or just out working and can’t take the call? Your customers are then left to leave a message on an answering service or a voicemail. A recent survey suggested that when a caller is left to leave a message they are more than likely hang up the phone rather than talk to a machine, most of the time they will not even call back. Instead, they prefer to find another company to take their business, which is lost business for you and your company.
One of the most important roles in business today is customer services, and because the phone is the first point this is where it must start.
Who needs a telephone answering service?
You might be a plumber who works on his own, and is finding it difficult to answer calls, especially if you are working all the time. On the other hand, you might be someone just starting out in businesss and you can use the telephone answering service while your business grows. You might also be a larger company who needs to look at their outgoing costs and will find a call centre is more cost effective than employing the extra staff. You may just need some help taking calls in your overflow period.
By outsourcing your business calls to a telephone answering service your calls will be handled by a very professiional team of experienced operators. The staff at a telephone answering service are carefully picked from local people and are trained in the correct way to answer the phone, and how to handle difficult callers.
Who answers my calls?
Every call received by a telephone answering service will be answered by trained operators, usually within a couple of rings, and no caller will be expected to hold. Because the operators are fully trained they will always answer your calls with your company name or what ever greeting you desire. The greeting can be just a generic response simply saying your company name and a courteous greeting, or possibly to reflect a specific sales campaign where the wording can be more precise to support whatever the promotion might be. Because the call centre operaters are live human beings, the wording can be changed and amended whenever required, businesses are always changing so the greeting can reflect this.
The call centre also operate a 24 hour 7 day a week 365 days a year service, so any calls that happen to come in out of office hours, or weekends there will always be someone available to answer it. It might be home time in the UK , but somewhere in the world someone is just starting work.
Whether you require someone to answer your calls for just an hour a day, or all the time, the telephone answering service will be able to offer you a package to suit, and you only pay for the time the call centre is taking calls for you.
Who looks after me?
If you decide to outsource your calls to a telephone answering service you will be allocated your own Account manager who will go through everything you need to know, and together you will find the best package available for your business needs.
Calls taken by the telephone answering service can be diverted straight from your office or business premeses without the need for additional technical equipment or costly computer software. The calls are just diverted from one line to the call centre as your telephone service alsoenables a call divert service. Most businesses find they already have this service available.
What about if I am never by my office phone?
If you are a mobile phone user, calls can also be diverted to the call centre service. You can also remember that the divert features on a mobile phone can be turned off if necessary by just dialling a few keys.
As calls are received at the telephone answering service, messages will be taken and can be relayed to you immediately either by email or text message. If a call is urgent they can be transferred to you just in the same way as a receptionist would transfer the call. This will give your business a much more professional feel and the customers feel they are getting a very good service.
What else?
If you decide to outsource to a telephone answering service the whole set up process can be completed within two or three hours. The majority of the call centre services also offer a “storing” facility of all you calls from the previous six months making them available to the operators and can be accessed anytime you call.
