Cheap Answering Services – When Not to Settle
Business owners in this economy are acutely aware of the costs associated with providing their products and services. You know that every dollar spent on your business’ operations is one less dollar of profitability. So it’s easy to understand why you and other business owners might seek out cheap or even free services and products to support your business.
One area not worth the upfront savings of a cheaper answering service. Your customers are the lifeblood of your company, and while hiring a cheap answering service may save a few dollars on the front end, you’ll end up paying much more than you bargained for in the form of missed opportunities and unsatisfied customers.
Cheap Inbound Call Centers Staff Cheap Virtual Receptionists
When a customer makes contact with your business, they expect to talk to someone who is ready to solve a problem. The nature of the problem varies from customer to customer. But the preparedness of the person who answers the phone should be unwavering. Whether the customer is calling to upgrade service, obtain pricing information, or to place an order, your inbound service representative must be ready to serve.
The dangers of choosing a cheap answering service are numerous. Most pressing issue is the fact that a low price will almost always result in poor service. For an inbound call center, cheap typically means understaffed. Imagine your customers’ frustration when a convenient, toll-free number leads to a 5 minute wait time to speak to place an order or have a question answered. Your customers will likely hang up and call another provider, or simply lose interest.
When it comes to virtual receptionists, cheap often means not having enough time and attention to devote to each customer and handling calls poor customer service skills. Intolerable wait times and rude or incompetent phone representatives will turn customers, and their money, away. In other word, a cheap answering service could prove inordinately expensive.
Affordable Answering Service Solutions for Your Business
Business owners look for the most affordable options at every step of starting, maintaining, and growing their businesses, and keeping overhead low is a necessity. But you should never settle for anything less than stellar service for your customers—the price might be attractive on its own, but a truly affordable service is one that adds value to your company. You need to find right answering service, not just the cheapest.
Affordability, in an answering service, means acquiring a team of fully trained, professional, knowledgeable, and friendly virtual receptionists to handle your inbound calling needs at a competitive price compared to in-house staffing. It means finding an answering service that pays for itself with added revenue, not that comes with hidden costs in the form of missed sales. You always get what you pay for, and with too-cheap answering services you’re paying for frustrated customers—and former customers.
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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