Delivering excellent customer service is incredibly important. It’s true across industries: the better the customer experience, the more repeat customers and positive reviews. Increased customer loyalty, word-of-mouth marketing, and overall improved customer satisfaction can do wonders for a business.
The very best customer experience strategy prioritizes a customer-centric mindset. Every interaction a customer has with your business helps add – or detract – from their overall experience. From navigating your website to calling customer service for support, customers want to be catered to during every step of their buyers’ journey and subsequent relationship. Successful companies know this – that’s why so many opt to work with a call answering service to improve the overall customer service experience. Here are just a handful of ways that call answering services can improve customer service:
Limit Missed Calls
Much has been written about the cost of a missed call. A single missed opportunity could have a butterfly effect on your business, impacting everything from sales to productivity to your professional reputation. One of the best ways to improve customer service is to eliminate missed calls entirely. It’s possible with a call answering service at your disposal.
Highly-trained customer service agents are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to answer calls. They work around the clock to ensure you never miss another call. While you might have a stellar in-house administrative team to cover your phone lines, even the most capable staff can’t match the capabilities of a professional call answering service. Since call center employees are equipped with the latest technology and tools, they can ensure your business never misses another call.
The result? A customer service experience that never gets bogged down by voicemails, long hold times, or games of phone tag.
Direct Callers to the Right Department
Simply picking up every time the phone rings isn’t enough to truly improve customer service. To have a real impact on the customer experience, you’ve got to over-deliver on caller expectations. That starts with routing callers to the right department.
Work with a call answering service to set up routing definitions. By explaining how and when you and your team will be reachable, professional receptionists can let you know who is on the line and relay the details of their reason for the calling. Operators then patch callers through directly to the right department. This process eliminates the need for the auto attendant systems that are so universally hated by callers everywhere.
Eliminate Wait Times
Modern consumers have no shortage of options when shopping for goods and services. Competition has only grown more fierce now that people have all the options the internet can throw at them. These days, when a caller gets a busy signal or a lengthy hold time when dialing your business, they just hang up and call your competitor whether that is the other local guy in their search result or a provider across the country and possibly even around the globe.
Working with a call answering service allows you to eliminate wait times for callers. Since agents are available to assist callers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there’s never an inopportune moment for customers to dial in. 24-hour answering services use the latest in customer service technology and experience in proper staffing levels to ensure that callers aren’t left waiting on hold for assistance. By eliminating wait times, you eliminate the possibility of callers getting frustrated, hanging up and calling another business instead.
Increase Availability
Gone are the days when 5:00 PM meant the end of another business day. While you might officially close up shop and head home at that time, your business simply can’t afford to close completely. That’s why call answering service employees work around the clock to assist callers on their terms.
By increasing your availability, you’ll open up your products and services to all the people who couldn’t call during regular business hours. Busy professionals don’t always have time during the work day to place an order or request your services. They may prefer to call after their shift has ended. Similarly, night shift workers may be sleeping during traditional business hours and need to connect with your business during the evening hours. Untapped markets that were previously out of reach for your business may now become accessible.
Put an End to Communication Barriers
Speaking of untapped markets, America’s increasingly large Spanish-speaking population warrants improved customer service experiences, too. If your team doesn’t already have a plan in place to communicate with non-English speakers, it’s time to consider the importance of customer experiences. Your callers deserve clear communication no matter their background.
Bilingual answering service agents help to eliminate communication barriers. They’ll build custom call scripts in both English and Spanish, increasing your credibility and showing your commitment to serving callers of all backgrounds. Representatives can assist with placing orders, scheduling appointments, technical support, and more. No matter the task, we have the tools and resources necessary to get the job done.
Try MAP For Free
You can spend all day searching for customer experience management tips – or you can simply sign up for MAP’s free trial. We’re offering a seven day preview of our live answering service. For a whole week, you’ll be treated to all of MAP’s administrative power with zero risk to your business. After the trial ends, there’s no obligation to continue using our call services. You’ve got a lot to gain and nothing to lose – why not give MAP a try?
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