Operator Answering Service Outsourcing Ideal For After-hours Calls

By Author: Jared Kitchell
Total Articles: 4
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Many businesses will hire very competent people to answer their phones and think they have customer service, appointment scheduling, or order taking down to a perfect science. Then everyone goes home for the day, or everyone leaves for the weekend.

What happens to all of those callers who try to reach those companies after 5 p.m. or on Saturday? No matter how well you handle phone correspondence during your regular business hours, if you do not have a live person answering phones after hours and on weekends, you are not taking the best care of your current and potential customers.

Businesses who wish to keep incoming calls in-house need to consider the problems that occur when their phone staffers have to catch up on messages in the morning. Not only does this cut into productivity, callers are not likely to leave complete information or describe their needs as fully as they would with a live person. Of course, that assumes callers leave a message when prompted to do so. One-third of callers to businesses will not leave a message if they are sent to a voice mail system or answering machine. Worse yet is ...
... when companies instruct any after-hours callers to call back during regular business hours. How many of those callers ever dial your number again? I know I would just call a different business that was capable of handling my needs right then.

It is a major turnoff to callers when they are forced to leave a message they were unprepared to leave, made to call back during specified business hours or prompted to dial another number. With an operator answering service, however, they will feel their call is important and an accurate message will be left.

Another factor to consider is that an after-hours answering service can also step in at other times when a business needs it. Ideally, our businesses grow, and when that happens we experience an increase in incoming calls. Keeping a hiring pace with the increase in call volume can be impossible sometimes. In many ways that is a good thing, but all too often the result is that potential or current customers are put on hold. There is no way to predict when a call overflow will occur, and without an operator answering service, there is nothing to do but leave valued callers on hold.

Aligning your business, no matter how large or small, with a nationwide answering service will solve this problem. Customers expect to speak with a person no matter when they call, and a quality answering service company provides a live operator who can treat callers just as if he or she worked for your company. Then, your staff will receive accurate messages delivered to them in a more timely and organized manner. The messages your staff now receives will be typed and easier to handle than incomplete voice messages callers might leave on their own. This means your customer service or phone order staff can get right to work, rather than having to decipher messages or return a call to get more information.

Regardless of your situation, if you have any time of the day or week when your phones are unstaffed, a professional answering service will greatly increase your staff's efficiency and your customers' satisfaction. Customer service and commerce does not stop when your company turns its lights off for nights and weekends.

Resource:
Jared Kitchell is a nationwide answering service consultant and industry expert living in Michigan. He writes articles relevant to operator answering service providers and locally relevant to any Michigan answering service.