7 Signs You Desperately Need a Phone Answering Service
The phone won’t stop ringing. Business is booming. And your bottom line is happier than ever.
But all of a sudden, you realize you just may be in over your head.
Sure, you’d love to hire an employee to handle all of your calls for you, but your budget won’t let you. At the same time, time is not on your side when it comes to fielding all of those calls yourself.
Maybe it’s time to spring for a phone answering service.
If you’re considering purchasing a phone answering service, here’s a rundown on seven signs you desperately need this fall.
Let’s jump in!
1. Hire a Phone Answering Service if Time is Not on Your Side
You have a slew of phone calls pouring into your business but no dedicated individual to handle them. In this situation, your team will haphazardly give prospective clients the information and help they need.
Unfortunately, this is unsustainable — not if you’re serious about growing your company down the road.
In a healthy business, all team members can focus specifically on their own areas of expertise — not on answering phone calls, too.
If your team members are having a hard time juggling phone calls and completing their actual work, it’s time to hire an answering service.
2. You’re Starting to Lose Business
You may be able to answer phone calls from 9 to 5 each day, but what happens when potential clients call outside of those hours, including on weekends and on holidays?
The reality is that you might get leads at odd times. If no one is available to answer the phone, a prospective client will simply move on to the next company that offers what you offer. And that means you could be losing out on a lot of business.
An answering service can prevent this from happening by making sure that your company answers every call it receives no matter what time it may come.
3. Your Productivity is Slipping
Have you noticed that your employees just aren’t as productive as they used to be? Maybe the fact that your phones are constantly ringing off the hook is a costly distraction to your employees.
Having a work environment in which your team members can concentrate on their tasks with few interruptions is paramount. The fewer distractions there are, the more quickly projects can be completed, and the more revenue you can generate as a result.
By hiring an answering service, you make sure that only your most critical calls capture your employees’ and your attention and draw you away from your main work on a daily basis.
4. You’re Getting Negative Feedback
If you can’t respond to all of your clients in a timely manner because you lack a dedicated phone answerer, your reputation will eventually suffer.
And that’s one of the worst things that can happen to your business.
If prospective customers feel that your service is sub-par based on their initial contact with you, they’ll have no problem posting negative reviews about you on Yelp or Google, for example.
Even a recurring customer may become upset and stop using your company if he or she feels that the quality of your telephone service has declined.
Research shows that 90% of people read reviews online before visiting businesses. In addition, a company runs the risk of losing more than 20% of business if prospective customers find a single negative article about it in their search engine result pages.
Fortunately, answering services can help to safeguard your online reputation, which can be your greatest asset or liability.
5. Your Client Turnover Could be Better
Let’s say you’re bogged down with staying on top of your new leads. Did you know that every minute you spend trying to help your new clients is a minute you’re not spending helping your existing ones?
If your current clients don’t feel that they’re getting enough attention from you, they’ll find another company that will give them the time they need.
Sure, you may be able to replace a lost client with a new one, but on-boarding new ones cost you time, money, and energy every single time.
With an answering service, you can more easily focus on your new clients while not neglecting your existing ones.
6. You Need Help with Converting Leads into Sales
Perhaps you’re getting plenty of new leads but they aren’t converting into sales. This may be because your staff members lack the time they need to nurture and close these leads.
Being able to close leads requires a consistent and steady focus on communicating and following up with customers.
When you hire an answering service, you can get in touch with clients at times that they find convenient and finally close sales. This will ultimately lead to more revenue for your company.
7. You’re Getting Ready to Expand
Let’s say you’re outgrowing your business’s startup phase. In other words, you’re ready to expand — maybe even internationally.
Growing your company is certainly exciting, but it also requires you to manage your time even more efficiently. After all, the amount of time you have in a day doesn’t grow along with your business.
Around-the-clock answering service can help you to stay in touch with prospective clients and current clients even if they are on the other side of the world. With the right service on your business’s side, you can rest assured that no clients slip through the cracks.
How We Can Help
We offer a top-of-the-line live answering service that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
With more than 30 years of experience in the industry, we understand how to meet small businesses’ call management needs in a way that is both fast and cheap for them.
Contact us to find out more about the benefits of hiring a phone answering service this fall.
Author: Michael C
Michael has over 30 years of executive call center and answering service experience. He is a successful business owner and lead generation expert and shares tips to help other entrepreneurs build and grow their business through leads generation and lead capture solutions. His mission is to share carefully guarded marketing tips that will help small-medium business compete on a smaller budget.
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