Yes, Your Business Needs an Answering Service

Have you ever missed a call that could have been a lucrative business opportunity? It likely could have been a potential customer — maybe even someone who could have become a loyal repeat customer. But unfortunately, as we discussed in a recent blog post, you can’t be available to answer every call all the time. Therefore, if you don’t have a system in place to take those calls, you’re missing out on business opportunities.

“But wait,” you might be thinking, “they could leave a message or call back later. That’s what most people do!”

A lot of business owners think this. They expect a potential customer will try again at a better time. That’s not always the case. Many consumers have been conditioned to want instant gratification and satisfaction. If your business is not available at the moment, then they will move on to a competitor who can serve them.

This is why it’s crucial for any savvy business to have an answering service. An answering service sends the message to all your potential customers that their interest is valuable to you and you want to retain them.

Here’s what you should know about having an answering service for your business:

The Cost-Effectiveness of Answering Services

Let’s start by addressing cost-effectiveness because we know what most business owners are thinking: I’m trying to cut expenses as much as I can, and adding one more service to my business is going to make it harder for me to turn a profit. Expecting my potential customers to simply leave a voicemail is free. I shouldn’t pay extra money for somebody to take their call outside of normal business hours.

If this is your thinking, you might be surprised by how affordable an answering service actually is. An answering service could be as low as $39 per month, depending on what your needs are. Now compare that monthly rate with what you could make with your typical customer. How much does a customer usually spend in one transaction? If having an answering service manages to get you one customer who spends more than the monthly cost of your answering service, then it has paid for itself.

Consider this: Here’s where it’s important to consider what kind of business you run. Some businesses do benefit from answering services more than others. If you’re a professional service provider, you likely charge a fee where a single transaction from a new client could offset the cost of the answering service. However, if you’re a retailer who sometimes does lower-rate transactions (especially if the profit margin is smaller), then you may calculate that it would take maybe 10 or 20 new customers to offset that cost. Is that potential worth it?

Caller Behavior and Business Impact

We previously mentioned that many consumers will not leave a voicemail when they call you — to be specific, only about 20%. That means if you don’t have some means of fielding calls when you’re not available, you’re missing about 80% of your potential new business. That’s a huge loss when calls go unanswered.

An answering service ensures that a call is able to talk to a real person, even if that real person is not able to address their problem or provide a service right away. Your caller will have a greater level of confidence that their interest matters. Additionally, they will likely get a response faster because the answering service follows a protocol and directs their call to the right person—to accounting if it’s an accounting matter, or to sales if it’s a sales matter. This is more efficient than letting the message go to a general voicemail. 

Beyond Basic Message Taking

Many people underestimate what an answering service is able to do. They might think that an answering service greets the caller and takes a message. But it can do so much more than that, even alleviating basic tasks from you and your team so you can focus on doing more of what matters. An answering service can schedule appointments, accept payments, and even answer basic questions about hours of operation. While many consumers handle tasks like this online these days, there are still many who prefer to do it over the phone — and your answering service gives them that option.

Finally, an answering service makes your business available 24 hours a day, even if you and your team are not actively working around the clock. For example, let’s say you run a plumbing business. You don’t normally schedule appointments in the middle of the night, but if a customer has an emergency and is willing to pay the emergency fee, your answering service can put them in touch with you. The answering service ensures you get that business while cutting back on the inefficiency and cost of having your staff on call or waking up in the middle of the night for unqualified calls.

The answering service can confirm it’s really an emergency, advise of emergency rates, take a credit card payment over the phone, and then, only after doing all of those things, call the on-call plumber and wake them up to respond to an emergency. How many unqualified calls did the answering service prevent from waking up the on-call plumber?

An answering service can make a valuable addition to the telecommunication services your business relies on. To discuss how you can set one up for your business, reach out to our Office Phones Plus team today by calling 410-834-4900.