How to Choose the Right Phone Answering Service for Your Business
Are you having an increasingly hard time handling all of the calls that are coming into your business on a daily basis?
In theory, this is a great problem to have! It means that people are interested in the products and services that your business is offering.
But it could turn into a bad problem if you aren’t able to keep up with calls. Your company’s customers could begin to grow frustrated every time they’re not able to get someone on the phone when they call you.
Fortunately, answering services are the solution to your problem. By working with a call center, you’ll be able to cater to your customers better by making their calls more of a priority.
Just make sure you bring the right virtual answering service on board. Here are tips for choosing the best one for your business.
Consider What Kind of Call Answering Services You Need
Before you start looking around for the right answering service for your business, it’s important for you to identify what kind you’re going to need a company to provide for you. There are lots of different inbound call center solutions that will be available to you, depending on what you need from a company.
Are you looking for a company to help you with:
- After-hours answering
- Appointment setting
- Bilingual answering
- RSVP registrations
- Online answering service
- Order taking answering
- Or something else
Ideally, the answering service you hire should be able to provide all of these services and more. But there are some call centers that aren’t equipped to provide you with the services you might need.
So prior to searching around for the right virtual receptionist, it’s a good idea to identify your needs so that your search goes more smoothly.
Look for Call Centers With Experience in Your Specific Industry
In addition to searching for companies that can provide you with what you need, you should also look for the ones that have experience in your specific industry.
Maybe you’re a lawyer who needs a hand fielding calls from anxious clients when you’re in court. Maybe you’re a funeral home director who needs assistance providing compassion while taking calls from grieving families. Or maybe you’re the owner of a property management company who needs an around-the-clock answering service to help managing calls from tenants 24/7/365.
Whatever the case, you shouldn’t trust just any company to serve as your virtual receptionist. You should try to find one that has worked with law offices, funeral homes, or property management companies like yours in the past.
This will provide you with peace of mind once you start working with an answering service. You’ll know that they’re comfortable taking on the types of calls that you get from your customers and clients.
Find the Call Center With the Best Reviews in the Business
When businesses went to look for call centers as recently as just 10 or 20 years ago, they didn’t have a whole lot of information about the different companies at their disposal. They had to spend a lot of time gathering info about individual companies on their own.
But these days, it’s never been easier to get your hands on info about them. Thanks to the internet, you can read through online reviews about them to see what they’re all about.
These online reviews will let you know what you can expect from virtual receptionists when you begin working with them. You can learn about everything from the services they offer to the prices they charge.
The reviews are invaluable tools that you can lean on before making a final decision about which call center you ultimately want to work with.
Ask Answering Services What They Do to Ensure Customer Care
All companies will tell you that they make customer care a top priority for their clients. Take one look at the website for any company and you’ll find words like “great customer service” and “friendly customer service representatives” scattered all over the place.
But what are these companies actually doing to ensure that their customer service skills are up to par?
The great answering services have call evaluators that listen in on calls handled by their reps to find ways to improve their services. They also provide call recording so that your business can listen back to calls later if the need should arise.
Don’t be afraid to talk to the call center companies you’re considering about what steps they take to ensure a high level of customer care.
Consider Using Companies That Have More Than One Location
This is one aspect of answering services that many small businesses fail to consider. But it’s an important one nonetheless.
If you agree to work with a virtual receptionist that only has one central location, there is a chance your customers won’t be able to reach your company if that location experiences a power outage or another internal problem that cuts off communication with the outside world.
It’s best to work with a company that has multiple locations or, at the very least, a clear plan in place for how they’ll continue to field calls during power outages. This will guarantee that your customers are always able to get in touch with your business, no matter what.
Start Searching for Answering Services Today
Hiring one of the best answering services in the business to field calls for your company could turn out to be one of the greatest decisions you ever make. They can help your business keep customers happy and allow your company to grow.
But before you hire a call center, do your homework to see which companies can set you up with what you need. This will help you steer clear of making a decision that you’ll come to regret later.
Would you like to get your hands on a quote for virtual receptionist as soon as possible? Contact us and you’ll receive one within just one business day.
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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