Do you have at least one person dedicated to answering phone calls at your organization? If so, do you have a clear idea of how many customers call each day, let alone how long it takes for someone to answer their calls?
Knowing the answers to these questions or simply realizing that you lack sufficient data to be sure is a sign that you need some professional assistance with managing your company’s incoming calls. If you are unaware of how often your receptionist puts calls on hold or the average time people spend listening to on-hold music, you might think that you can take care of the situation by implementing an automated voice response system.
However, if you truly want to grow your business, you should know that customers detest having to put up with impersonal voice mail and pressing a series of buttons just to leave their messages with the right person (if they can even find the right person with the system you have in place).
It’s better to form a partnership with an answering service company that has a reputation for fast, courteous, intelligent responses to customers’ incoming calls, such as the team at MAP Communications.
Less Overhead
Whether you have recently launched a new company or have been in business for a while, the nature of your business may make it difficult to predict how many inquiries you’ll get in a given period. For example, you start a new marketing campaign, have announced a sale on goods or services, or are about to enter your busiest season.
Rather than trying to figure out how many receptionists you need to field the calls and running the risk that you will wind up with insufficient staff or too many people sitting idle, reading magazines, in between sporadic calls, you can outsource these tasks and let the answering service add more people on an as-needed basis.
This is a much more efficient use of your company’s resources. You’ll never have to worry about missing out on new business just because a call came from a potential customer after your regular hours of operation.
Consistency
When your receptionist suddenly quits, and you are scrambling for a new hire, you may not get exactly the type of employee you need from want ads or a temp agency.
When the people taking calls don’t have proper training, customers won’t have a consistent experience when contacting your organization. This can lead to reduced sales or potential customers bypassing you to go with a more professional-sounding competitor.
Immediate Response
Ideally, you want all your calls answered immediately. When you go with a live answering service with a proven track record of providing sufficient levels of staffing at all hours, you will have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that all inquiries are getting the fast response they deserve.
If your business deals with emergencies, an answering service is vital for screening calls that require immediate attention from those calls that your team can handle the next morning.
For an added level of customer support, you can arrange for the answering service to reply to callers by working from a set of frequently asked questions and answers.
Professional Appearance
Appearance in important. Visitors arrive and might see things like quality office furniture, postage meters, art, or a well dressed staff. Likewise, it almost goes without saying that employing an answering service rather than resorting to a robotic voice mail system will give your company the professional sheen you need to make a great first impression.
No matter what industry you’re in, the prestige conferred upon you by having an answering service will help attract more lucrative clients, further boosting your company’s bottom line.
The answering service provides you with a virtual receptionist who’s available 24/7 and is an excellent listener. For example, if a customer is having a difficult time locating your business, the answering service employee can do a quick online search to provide instant directions.
Analytics for Business Insight
You can easily keep track of how many calls are being answered in real time, as they happen. Analytics will give you detailed reports so you can measure how long each response takes as well as see how many calls you get each day or month.
The data may show you new opportunities for growth, such as expanding into a new service area or increasing your operating hours. You can also see at a glance which departments in your company are getting the most calls and allocate more resources to them accordingly.
For more information on how partnering with a professional answering service can help you increase revenue and grow your business, please contact MAP Communications today. We offer a free seven-day trial, so you can experience all that we have to offer. Take special note of how quickly we answer your call and the level of courtesy and customer service we provide. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
