February 23, 2010
Does your business receive phone calls at all hours of the day and night? Do you find yourself spending too much time on the phone and not enough time on your work? Perhaps you’re worried you’re missing important sales opportunities when you’re out of the office. The answer to your problems is to pay somebody to answer your phones. Of course, you want to be sure you’re getting the most out of your live answering service.
Use as Many of the Features as Possible
An answering service like VoiceNation provides services that extend beyond basic business hours. The more services you take advantage of, the better. Naturally, you want customer service representatives who answer calls during your business hours, but what about outside of those hours? Companies lose business every day because people call, get voicemail, and never leave a message. When your company has people answering calls 24/7, you are more likely to bring in new clients.
There are other features to consider as well. Bilingual representatives further expand the market you can reach, while call patching allows you to have only specific types of calls forwarded directly to you. Does your company rely on phone orders to keep business booming? Representatives for answering services can take those orders for you. They can also schedule appointments, screen calls for solicitors or robocalls, and provide live chat services on your website.
Don’t forget about the features behind the scenes either. Online dashboards allow you to create call scripts while mobile apps let you track messages and decide which types of calls you’ll take while you’re on the go.
Ensure the Service Understands Your Brand’s Voice
Answering services allow you to create scripts for a reason. Be sure to take advantage of it. When you provide a script as well as information about your brand and directions for answering calls, you ensure the representatives understand your brand voice and represent your company well.
Do you run a trendy online boutique or digital marketing firm? Provide information that shows your answering representatives how to respond professionally yet casually. You don’t want them to sound uptight when talking to people who expect your company to be hip and trendy.
Perhaps you are a doctor, legal professional, or work in another serious industry. Providing information about what you do and why you need professional, serious tones can ensure your potential clients get the information they need while feeling as if you’re taking their issues seriously.
Ask if There Are Scalable Options
If your company is up-and-coming, you may find that you don’t need many services now but hope to in the future. On the other hand, some businesses start out strong out of the gate but eventually narrow their focus and client base, thereby receiving fewer unexpected calls and needing fewer representatives.
Because the business world and your company is ever-changing, it is important to find out if the answering service you use is scalable. Chances are you can upgrade without any issues as your business grows, but can you downgrade if needed? If so, will there be fees? Are you under a contract? An answering service may still be the perfect fit for you, even if the options aren’t downward scalable, but it still helps to know what to expect in advance.
Keep Track of Your Savings
One of the biggest ways you can ensure you’re getting the most out of your answering service is to continue to track your call data and compare it to how much money you’ve saved. An answering service that works for your business will help you drive down or totally eliminate the cost of training employees to answer calls and allows you to keep your employees productive since they can focus on their work instead of phone calls.
You also don’t need to pay extra for your employees to work overtime or during holidays, you don’t need to spend as much on equipment and technology for your physical office. As long as your service continues to save you more money than it costs to use it, you can be sure you’re getting the most out of it.
When seeking out an answering service to help your company run more efficiently, be sure to choose one that is experienced, provides a wide variety of service options, trains its representatives, and offers a range of plans. Doing so ensures you get the most for your money.
