Cultivating positive relationships with customers is the cornerstone of any successful business. However, your business may not have the time or the resources to address the concerns of every customer who calls you.
According to the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council of America, companies with fewer than 20 employees comprised 89 percent of small businesses in the country.
How can you answer every phone call and address every message in a satisfactory manner if your employees are already working at maximum capacity? Although you can use something as impartial and rote as emails to reply to their concerns, this opens the door to spam and can still be very time consuming for your workers. Instead, make the experience more personal by using an answering service and a real live person to answer each call and every question.
What is an Answering Service?
An answering service is a business that assists other companies by receiving phone calls and similar communications for them. They answer queries from customers, offer assistance, and act as your representatives over the phone, like a receptionist. They reply with a mixture of predetermined responses and scripts, so you still have control over what is said and how.
Answering services are ideal if your company requires a lot of customer interactions, but you don’t have enough employees to answer the phones plus get your in-house duties done, or if you’re operating at maximum capacity already. Think of answering services as outsourced, remote receptionists.
Here are some of the most common different types of answering services:
1. Automated Responders
These are the automated answering services major restaurants and some big companies use to handle enormous volumes of callers. They’re great for quick transactions or for when you are expecting a lot of calls with similar questions, like hours, or if the callers need to be directed to a certain department.
Due to the automated nature, these responders can operate at all hours of the day. However, they are very impersonal and can be frustrating if the programming is too complicated or long.
Virtual receptionists may also be limited by the number of allowed responses they can give, which means customers with extremely specific or obscure queries may not be satisfied and may need to be transferred to your physical lines, if permitted.
2. Call Centers
Call centers are companies with rows of dedicated employees who will answer the phone for your company.
But call centers don’t just take calls, sometimes they can make them on behalf of your company as well. They’re ideal for large scale marketing drives and high volumes of phone calls. And because they use real people to answer the calls, or make them, they are more adaptive and personal than an automation.
However, they can be more expensive and the quality of service varies greatly from call center to call center – so make sure you choose one with transparent pricing and a great reputation – like Personalized Communications!
What Are the Elements of Effective Answering Services?
Unless you have the programming and software capabilities, you’ll probably have to rely on a call center to be your answering service, especially if you want the added touch of a real person and real voice. But as previously mentioned, you need to choose a high-quality company, or your callers will not be satisfied.
Below are some common elements that may indicate an effective answering service!
Personalization
More and more customers are demanding personalized experiences from businesses. According to a survey, 72 percent of consumers will engage only with companies that have personalized messaging.
This means that your representative uses the customer’s name, greets them, and offers specific information relevant to their situation. This sets Personalized Communications apart from automated services because our well-trained and friendly employees can supply solutions and observations that are much better than their digital counterparts.
Round-the-Clock Service
The major advantage of an automated response system is that it can handle phone calls tirelessly. If you want to enhance the utility of your business and improve customer experience, you must be able to answer calls at all hours, because missed calls are missed customers!
An answering service that provides 24-hour service is ideal, like Personalized Communications, especially if you have customers from different time zones or countries. Look at our reviews to check for yourself that we have satisfactory night shift representatives.
Great Scripts
Ideally, an answering service will work with you to come up with the scripts their representatives will use when customers come calling. Some businesses have premade templates for such scripts that you can use, but personalized is best (as mentioned above).
Check out all the ways that Personalized Communications gives you the personalization and flexibility you want to create the perfect script for your business.
Remember, we can adjust the language of your scripts to be as formal or as casual as you want it to be without sounding stilted or cold.
Online Integration
Although some people will still call your company through landlines, the majority of your callers will definitely be using cellphones.
According to research, 3 billion people will be using Voice over Internet protocols or making phone calls through the web, by 2021. This means your answering service must have the ability to take these phone calls through online integration. This will allow your business to reach customers without landlines and expand your influence over the internet!
And Personalized Communications just so happens to specialize in this area!
Contact Personalized Communications for Your Answering Service Today!
Answering services may seem like a triviality, but they can help your business become more personalized and retain customers. When you partner with an answering service with the right components, like Personalized Communications, you can improve your business by building better relations with your customers.
I appreciate the tips for effective answering services. My brother needs an answering service for his business. He should find one that has these benefits.