Why Your Small Business Should Use an Answering Service
In this day of modern technology when everyone has a cell phone and voice mail you may wonder why anyone would need a telephone answering service. There are many good reasons to invest in a telephone answering service and they all affect your bottom line in the end.
No matter how advanced technology gets it will never be able to replace the "human touch". Have you ever found yourself yelling at a voice activated operator system when calling to pay a bill or ask a question at a business? I sure have. The greatest need a human being has is to be listened to by another human being and no machine can ever do that. The ability to ask a question to a live person will make calling your business much more pleasant and helpful to your customers. Of course you could rent an office and hire a secretary, but that is an expense that few small or home based businesses can afford.
An answering service provides a much more affordable way of adding personal customer service to your business. A new customer seeking information is very unlikely to leave a message and will often scan the yellow pages to the next number on the list when nobody answers the phone. In today's competitive market you can't afford to lose that many potential customers.
Another mistake small business owners make is on the other end of the spectrum. They try to answer ALL their own calls, all the time. Customers feel disrespected when you cut them off from talking to take a phone call and they are less likely to call you back again, regardless of the quality of the product or service you have given them. It is also not only rude, but extremely unproductive to stop working sporadically to answer phone calls. Having a telephone answering service allows you to focus on the job at hand and give it and your customer, your undivided attention.
Your customer will appreciate feeling respected and also the timely and efficient manner in which you complete your work for them. You will find yourself getting more done in less time and having a stronger focus on the important things. You will be able to rest assured that important calls will be routed to you and that those of lesser importance will have a message taken and delivered to you when you have the time to deal with them.
Another great advantage of an answering service is never being awakened in the middle of the night for something other than a true emergency. Imagine not getting interrupted on your day off or during your vacation while at the same time knowing that your customer's simple questions are being answered and messages taken accordingly. This can provide a great deal of peace of mind.
Investing in an answering service will help you maintain your customer base and increase customer loyalty. It will allow you to focus your energies on properly running your business and provide you with peace of mind and the ability to truly have a well-deserved day off once in a while. Having a telephone answering service is definitely something every small business owner should consider.
