If yours is like most small businesses, the owner or manager wears multiple hats. You’re not only the manager, but also the marketing manager, bookkeeper and receptionist. That means you’re at risk of losing a potential customer on the phone when you are giving your attention to a customer in your shop. One good, cost-effective way to combat this problem is to hire an answering service to field your calls when you’re not available. However, allowing you to more efficiently multi-task is just one of many benefits of hiring a service.
Benefits to working with an answering service
1. Fewer missed calls. One of the chief advantage to hiring a service to field your calls when you’re not available is that you’ll lose fewer calls and potential customers. One recent survey found that 37 percent of the people who call a business without having someone pick up the phone won’t ever call back. A service can keep those people satisfied until you have time to handle their questions or requests. The service can also answer routine questions, such as those about hours and location, saving you additional time.
2. Professional appearance. Having a professional answer your telephone calls will give your business a professional impression without your having to invest in a full-time receptionist. Today’s services are not the same as your grandfather or even father used. Digital technology allows such services to seamlessly handle multiple businesses at the same time, making it much more cost effective to each business than hiring a full-time employee on their own.
3. No telephone down time. Yet another advantage of a service is that your calls will always be answered by a human, not just a machine. That is time whether a person calls at 3:00 p.m. or 3:00 a.m., on a weekday or a weekend. You can be available whenever your customers are.
While working with a service to answer your phones is not the right choice for every business, this move can help you manage your business efficiently for less money,
