Forget Voicemail: How A Live Call Answering Service Can Save Your Small Business

By Author: yourccs team
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A small business may field numerous calls every day. Some are highly important, others routine. If a company depends on voice mail to handle calls, it can unintentionally delay the receipt of calls that need to be answered by a real person. Answering centers help in this area by assuring that every call will be answered professionally and promptly and then directed to the right department.

Because many small businesses have five employees or fewer, it’s often the case that every one of them is busy when the phone rings – or maybe nowhere near a phone, depending on the operation. Without a live call answering service to manage calls, many callers may opt to not leave a voice mail, and the company stands to lose a new order or new client or be unable to respond to an emergency.

When a call is received by a professional answering center, however, action can be taken right away. The answering service can notify the correct person in the company through a paging system, by e-mail or with a separate phone number.

Of course, a live call answering service also ...
... handles calls for routine orders, customer service, general information, support and more, but in an emergency or when new business could be generated, the call center can literally save a small business.

For example, a potential customer has found the company’s website and is calling to inquire about obtaining its services. Now, this individual likely has several other companies in mind – and may have their phone numbers right in front of him. He’s busy. He wants answers. When he gets your voice mail, instead of a real person from an answering center, he may just hang up and dial the next number.

Another scenario: one of your field technicians made a service call and repaired something incorrectly, and now there’s a major problem in your customer’s home. The customer tries to call you to tell you to send the tech back out. She doesn’t get a live call answering service but rather voice mail. This results in a very unhappy customer.

With these two and numerous other possible examples, it’s clear that an answering center can help save a small business during an emergency and help the company turn prospects into customers by not missing these important calls.

Janet Livingston is President of Customer Contact Services (CSS), a live call answering service that provides a full array of answering center services throughout the U.S. and Canada. Based in Eden Prairie, Minn., CSS has been in business for more than 35 years. To learn more, you can visit the company’s website to learn more.