If you have a business, particularly a small one, you need a business answering service. Read to learn why.
What Is a Business Answering Service?
This is an after hours answering service or even 24 hour answering service that allows you to take calls from customers at any time of the day: even when you and your staff have gone home and your business is closed, or when all your lines, or your staff, are busy. It differs from an answering machine or voicemail in that there’s always a living person on the other end to take calls from your customers and potential customers.
Why Not Just Use Voicemail?
This is a legitimate question. After all, lots of businesses do. But maybe they shouldn’t, in the end. After all, 80% of people report that they hang up if they call a business and get referred to voicemail. When it comes to waiting on the line, 75% of people say they’d rather be called back than have to wait. If you have a small business, you probably don’t have the staff to man the phones every moment. At some point, you and your employees have to choose between making a customer on the premises wait or making a customer on the phone wait. A business answering service allows you to avoid this dilemma.
Do People Really Care That Much?
The world is changing, and 91% of people in America today are within reach of their personal mobile device all day, every day. They’re always reachable and connected, and they expect those they do business with to be, also. When a customer calls, the number one thing he or she wants at that moment is to have their problem or issue resolved quickly, and since 80% of people prefer contacting customer service over the phone rather than by any other method, it’s crucial that they be able to interact with your business over the phone at any time.
Is Customer Service Really That Crucial?
If you are not providing great customer service, you are losing money. In 2016 Forbes did a study that showed businesses were losing $62 billion a year from bad customer service. Bad customer service results in loss: but good customer service is worth something to consumers. In fact, two-thirds of them say they’d be willing to pay as much as 13% more just to be sure the business they deal with has excellent customer service. Since Forrester reports that, of all channels for customer service interaction, phone interactions have the highest satisfaction rate at nearly 70%, getting a business answering service is a fast and efficient way to improve customer service overnight.
If you have a small business, you need a way to provide excellent service to customers no matter when they try to contact you. A business answering service is a great way to do that: why not look at telephone answering services in your area today?
