Why A Call Answering Service Benefits Your Business – Monetarily

Did you know that an average of 2 missed calls can equate to 104 potential missed sales each year? If you’re a relatively new small business, then hitting the ground running and getting those clients reeled in is a huge priority. However, with new business comes an influx of telephone enquiries if you’ve nailed a good marketing strategy - and as great as this sounds, answering numerous calls can become very time-consuming.

It’s not just on the hour calls that eat up your working day, but maybe your job involves lots of travelling or the inability to answer the phone due to the nature of your business.

If hiring a receptionist just isn’t in your business budget, then a call answering service might just be what you need.

What exactly is a call answering service?

As the name implies – a call answering service consists of a group of qualified, experienced receptionists who will answer your calls when you’re unable to do so. The receptionist will then take down your messages and forward them over to ensure you can answer any enquiries.
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These services are aware they’re the first point of contact, meaning their job is heavily emphasised on great customer service. Not only do they answer calls but they also filter out any irrelevant/spam calls.

How will a call answering service benefit my business?

When we make a phone call, we want to make sure we end up speaking to a real person. Whilst a voicemail service is still great for retrieving messages, sometimes it can cost you potential business. People are more inclined to hang up when they hear an automated message, or they leave a voicemail that might be inaudible.

Therefore, businesses are increasingly turning their heads to telephone answering services. They can vastly increase your income because there’s physically someone who can always answer the telephone and deal with queries.
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If you’re still unsure as to whether a telephone answering service is what your business needs - there are various other benefits to be aware of that will convince you to make the switch:

You can try before you buy

The idea of a specific service answering your calls for you might still seem strange at first – and many of these services are aware of this. That’s why most call answering services offer a trial period for you to see if it’s worth the investment.
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Another way to ‘try before you buy’ would be to find out which companies make use of a telephone answering service and give them a test call yourself. This way you can assess the level of expertise and customer service first hand.

It’s very cost-effective

Perhaps you’ve thought of hiring a receptionist but found that the investment for training (not to mention salary) was just too much for your business to consider at this moment in time.
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Fortunately, a telephone answering service is paid to answer calls and take down messages on your behalf – at a fraction of the price. An added benefit is you won’t need to worry about a staff member being unavailable or away from their desk as the telephones will always be manned. Training is handled by the telephone answering company – all you need to do is provide instructions and details on your business and let them get on with all your call answering needs.

It gives you more time to focus on your business

Taking calls can be very time-consuming, especially if they’re irrelevant and you have a busy schedule. A virtual receptionist eliminates the hassle of answering calls by filtering out spammy calls and only forwarding relevant enquiries over.
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With your calls being dealt with, this will give you flexibility and more time to focus on real business-focused tasks

It increases your own productivity

​Handling less calls means more time invested in your business. If you have a small team you’ll notice less in-bound calls coming their way, because telephone answering services help filter out calls that are irrelevant to the business. So, you can be rest assured everyone will be working distraction-free.

Calls are never missed

​If you’re on the phone to someone else or out and about, you can be sure a virtual receptionist can take the call on your behalf during these busy periods. If you’re unavailable to take the call after it’s been forwarded on, then they will take down a message for you.

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Guest Author Bio​

Christina is a Copywriter for Face For Business – a telephone answering service offering first-class telephone handling solutions for your business.