What a telephone answering service does for businesses includes managing incoming calls to your business at the simplest but how much more depends on what your business needs. Message taking when you are away from your desk, in a meeting or visiting clients. Some services are even more proactive and support your business by taking orders, scheduling appointments and making follow-up calls.
In this article:
- 6 Questions you could ask your answering service
- The multiple benefits of outsourcing telephone answering
- Case study (a self storage company with multiple sites)
6 Questions you could ask your answering service (establish your needs)?
- Have you worked with companies similar to my business?
- How much can you tailor your service?
- What happens when multiple calls come in all at once?
- How can I make sure my business affairs are being handled correctly?
- Do you just take calls or can you take action?
- How do you handle invasive sales calls?
Have you worked with companies similar to my business?
Our experience is broad. Most probably we will have answered calls for a company similar to yours. Some types of businesses have the same needs. For example, professional services have appointment making and message taking at their heart. All companies that undertake advertising will need to have those leads qualified and phone calls answered.
Here’s a top 10 of businesses we have or have had as clients:
- Accountants
- Aesthetics and beauty clinics
- Building Companies
- Carpenters
- Cleaning Companies
- Digital Marketing Companies
- Electricians
- Financial Services
- IT Companies
- Solicitors
We’ve also handled phone calls for medical businesses like aesthetics clinics, security systems companies, digital marketing companies and vehicle leasing companies.
With broad experience comes knowledge of how to make the most of every call. Answering professionally is common to all, along with the ability to be empathetic to a caller (something A.I. can’t do) and respond to unusual questions and requests.
How much can you tailor your service?
We’re adaptable, we have to be these days, and we can tailor our service. This may include staffing different lines for different departments or acting as an overflow for specific marketing campaigns.
We suggest you list your vital requirements and we can go through them and we would hope to meet, if not exceed them all.
About Telephone-Answering.com
We established our company in 2007. Our ethos is simple. To give excellent service at an affordable cost. Try our 14-day FREE trial.
What happens when multiple calls come in all at once?
We’ve been in business long enough to know how to predict call volumes and be able to call on extra staff when necessary. We always have a contingency plan. We don’t employ on a zero hour contract as we like to make sure your receptionists are happy and have consistent hours of work.
How can I make sure my business affairs are being handled correctly?
Ask us about the systems we have in place to help you check your call handlers’ work. We can also go through the process our agents follow when answering each call, and the kind of notes taken and how we make those notes available. These notes and your processes will be taken into account. You will also know who has taken your call as it will be in the message. Unlike call centres where you message just comes without any info about who took the call.
Do you just take calls or can you take action?
We can supplement your workforce by undertaking a variety of actions. We certainly offer message taking, diary management and customer care. Talk to us and we’ll establish what you need and balance that with our tailored offer.
How do you handle invasive sales calls?
One impact we’ll have on your business is soaking up those time-consuming calls from salespeople. All calls we answer are handled professionally and politely. We safeguard your brand and business reputation as if it were our own. We politely ask those nuisance callers to stop calling.
The multiple benefits of outsourcing telephone answering
Besides the benefits noted above there are others that are not so obvious.
- We make your business appear substantial
- We offer out-of-office hours options, saving you a full-time employee
- We make sure no call goes unanswered
- We can upsell and cross-sell products and services
- We make sure your staff can focus on their work
Plus
- We increase the Life Time Value of customers
- We help increase positive word-of-mouth with exceptional customer care
Case Study (a self storage company with multiple sites)
One of our long-term clients is a storage business with over 30 sites across the UK. Each site has a small team with tasks such as booking customers and maintaining the facility. These small teams work only 6 days a week and have set hours, 8:30 am to 6 pm.
What we solved
With such a small team in each facility, it is easy for them to become overwhelmed and not able to fulfil their core duties.
We started by answering all the overflow calls for each facility and taking messages.
Through analysing the types of calls, we noted that there were a number of standard questions.
We approached the company MD suggesting we could help by creating an FAQ.
Standard questions included:
- Notice period to vacate unit.
- Opening times
- Location and directions
- ID is required for taking storage.
- Shredding services
- Packaging material
We can help you build an FAQ for seamless responses that satisfy your clients.
That’s us, proactive to a fault!
The Result
We’ve supported this business since 2009. They are confident because they have a reliable and flexible service that helps their business grow. We know they value the professional way we take a call and pass on all the relevant details of a potential customer’s needs, via e-mail.
Summation
We believe a telephone answering service should be a valuable partner, offering professional call handling as standard and always looking to improve the client’s business. For more information please call us on 01582 540540 or contact us for a Free Trial
