Given the advances in technology, you would think that any messages taken by a human operator would not be necessary. However, the opposite is true. Not only are humans needed to answer the phone but their presence or lack of presence can make or break your bottom line.
Retaining the Services of a Third Party
People do not want to talk to a mechanised recording when they are trying to contact a company. They still want to feel assured that a human has taken their messages or addressed any concerns. Whilst you do not need to hire a receptionist for your office, you can still use the services of a business answering service to handle your message-taking needs.
A More Professional Way to Conduct Business
By using the services of a third-party business answering service, you can turn over the management of your incoming calls so that all your business calls can be answered efficiently and quickly. Telephone operators answer the phone as adroitly as if you had a personal assistant (PA) or receptionist. Therefore, operators greet callers with the highest level of professionalism and regard.
Dedicated message taking enhances the customer experience. Once the call is received, the operator responds professionally and effectively. Whatever it is that your customer needs or wants to relay, the call will be managed professionally before it is transferred to the recipient.
Delivery Message Options
When you charter the services of a business answering company to handle calls on your behalf, you no longer have to concern yourself about the treatment of your customers. Plus, you can have the messages forwarded in a way that is the most convenient and time-efficient for you. Delivery message options include SMS, text, e-mail, or fax.
Delegation Makes Life Easier
If you operate a one-person business, you may find that a delivery option such as SMS is best suited for you. Using this type of mobile service ensures that you will receive your messages expediently. By allocating your message answering to a service, you can concentrate on what you do best, thereby avoiding the distractions entailed in answering calls yourself.
Other Communication Services
Besides message-taking or virtual receptionist services, businesses such as Message-Direct handle emergency response calls, overflow calls, and outbound services. They also provide temporary and holiday cover and services for brochure requests or media response types of calls. Therefore, you can expand on your communications requirements, if needed.
For instance, maybe you own a business that requires that call-taking be handled out of office hours. By using the services of message centre operators, you ensure that emergency response calls are handled effectively and quickly. All you need to do is provide the answering service with your instructions in managing these types of calls.
If you need to modify your call out or escalation rotas, you only need to make a call or e-mail the message service. A service that has many years of experience in managing emergency response calls also logs the contact details to make sure that a complete audit record is available to the client.
Business Continuity
You can also consult with a business answering service that handles these types of calls about business continuity. In turn, the service will plan a process in advance to enable call answering in times of a crisis or emergency. When you can rely on this type of support, you will feel more confident and secure about all your call-answering needs.
Plus, you do not have to rely on this type of service solely for answering calls. You can also depend on it for making calls. For instance, you can use a business answering company, as noted, for outbound marketing. Using the database of a client’s customers, operators can make marketing calls to a company’s list of prospects.
For example, if you have collected contact information about leads, the answering service can format the prospect information for the next phase of phone contact. If your database is not current, the service can also remove any out-of-date or duplicate entries. Database accuracy is important. Therefore, an answering service that handles this type of assignment also makes regular assessments of provided customer lists.
Better Sales and Market Results
Message-answering services can clean up the data on a database and offer the updated information in such formats as CSV, Access, or Excel files. Follow-up calls are made by professional operators who are educated in customer service as well. They can call prospects or customers per your instructions to obtain the results that you desire in your marketing programmes or campaigns.
In addition to outbound calling, you can also use a message-answering company for any requests made for brochures or similar collateral. For example, if you have initiated a new sales and marketing campaign, you can use a service to take calls for sales and marketing materials. Using the telephone is an excellent way to deal with peak calls and follow up on enquiries too. Plus, extra phone lines can be added to catch any boost in activity. You only need to provide bespoke instructions to the answering centre’s representatives.
How Overflow Calls Are Handled
If you have an overabundance of calls, you can also use an answering service as indicated for overflow calls. For example, if your office staff is too busy to answer calls, you can use a third party to take up the excess. If you need this type of support, the call-answering service has the equipment needed to handle a fluctuating call volume. When the system for overflow calls is operating, all incoming calls are directed to the message-answering company. That way, you can continue with business as usual without worrying about missing a client’s call.
By choosing overflow calling for your business, you can always maintain a quality level of customer support. If you need this type of assistance, make sure that you enquire about the service when signing up for message-taking for your company.
Take the communication steps needed to give your business a dependable and professional image. You do not have to rely on an in-house staff for all your communication needs. By depending on third-party support, you can communicate better and more affordably.
