Providing quality and efficient customer service is essential to every business, no matter what industry you’re in. It’s the best way to prove you care about your customers, and it’s something your customers continue to pay you back with as your reputation grows within the industry.
While many businesses take extensive measures to provide customer service during normal business hours, they fail to extend that same service after normal operating hours. That’s where a quality and proven answering service can revolutionize your small business.
Answering services are capable of doing so much for your business. They answer and make phone calls on behalf of your company. They also ensure your customers are given the information they need when they need it.
To ensure you fully understand the amazing benefits your business is exposed to when investing in an answering service, let’s take a look at some of the most prominent ways it improves the way your business operates.
1) Employees Work Smarter & More Efficiently
When most business owners open their doors for the first time, one thing they don’t expect is the number of phone calls they receive from potential, existing, and former customers. It’s manageable at first, but it doesn’t take long for your business to get backed up with inquiries.
Not only does this cause your employees to spend all day playing catch-up, but it halts progress elsewhere in the business and takes those employees away from work that’s more important. It won’t bode well for the company’s future, not to mention a large amount of stress and pressure it creates for your staff.
Imagine how much time you save when investing in an answering service. Not just the time spent taking and making phone calls, but the time spent training employees on these tasks. At the same time, your employees focus on more important tasks throughout the day.
That’s not to say answering calls isn’t important, but you can rest easy knowing your calls are in good hands with a quality answering service.
2) 24/7 Customer Support & Build Loyalty
Many businesses offer customer support during business hours, but what are customers supposed to do when you’re closed for the day? Waiting until your business opens up the next morning is often their next option, but that often leads to a flood of inquiries as soon as you open.
This flood of inquiries doesn’t help the customer, and it creates mayhem for the business — something that often leads to day-long chaos that eventually resumes the following day. It’s not good for your business’ reputation, and it doesn’t help you build loyalty with your customers.
Customers today come with strong demands. They don’t want to wait until the next day for service, and they want to ensure they have your customer service representative’s full attention. The only way to do that is to offer 24/7 customer service.
Unfortunately, most business owners fear 24/7 customer service. They view it as impossible due to the payroll it creates and the massive overhead they’re left with.
That’s where a professional and trusted answering service works wonders for your relationship with the customer. Not only are the agents available around the clock, but they have all the training needed to provide your customers with excellent customer service.
3) Cut Costs, Save Money, & ROI
Investing in a professional answering service helps you cut costs and save money in a variety of ways. It’s something any business can find a use for, whether that business is a small-, mid- or large-sized.
It gives you the ability to downsize your customer service department and focus their efforts on the more important or high-profile cases. You also save on the costs of training these employees, but these are some of the obvious ways they save you money.
Let’s take a look at some of the more unexpected and lesser-known ways answering services save you money:
- Since you’re providing your customers with 24/7 service, you limit the number of customers missed due to not being available. In the fast-paced shopping environment today, this is crucial to your sustained success.
- The added customer loyalty and business reputation will translate to higher customer retention.
- You’ll establish yourself as a leader in your industry, and it’ll translate to more incoming business.
- You don’t need to invest in the technology and equipment necessary when providing your customers with 24/7 customer service.
In addition to saving you money and bringing you new revenue over time, investing in an answering service allows you to get more out of your employees. They can do more in less time, especially since all the incoming calls aren’t weighing them down.
4) Customization, Personalization, & Versatility
One of the things many business owners fear when discussing answering services is the lack of business representation. They fear the answering service won’t live up to their business’ standards and won’t be able to provide the type of care they’re currently receiving from employees.
The truth is answering services can be customized and personalized to the business’s liking. The answering service acts more like an extension of your team rather than an outside third-party. They represent your business well and utilize their professional skills with your valuable customers.
Furthermore, answering services are extremely versatile. They assist your customers with event registration and booking appointments. They process payments and orders. Also, they take help desk inquiries, screen calls, transfer calls, collect leads, and take your company messages.
An answering service acts as your business’s best friend and treats your customers with the greatest respect. Unfortunately, not all answering services are created equal. Your business must find the one that’s best for you and your customers.
That’s where we come in. At Top Answering Services, we compare all the best answering services available to you today — saving you a vast amount of time researching different services. Contact us today if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!
