Why You Should Consider Outsourcing Live Phone Answering Services
Phone support is an essential customer service option, offering the benefit of speaking with a human rep in real time, which speeds up the time to solution.
Yet, many companies have avoided live answering support. They may think that setting up phone support is expensive and takes a lot of time. Not to mention, small business owners may think they don’t have the number of customers to warrant adding an entire customer service department to their business.
But what if you outsource phone answering services? Instead of setting up an in-house team, you work with a professional agency to take inbound calls, offer 24/7 support, and commit to a flexible payment plan.
This article dives into what a business phone service is, its features, and why you should consider outsourcing live phone answering services. Let’s get started.
What Is a Live Phone Answering Service?
A live answering service provides receptionists who take incoming calls on behalf of your company.
When someone calls your business phone number, they are forwarded to a phone answering service where a trained agent picks up the call. With a live service, your business will never miss a call again.
You can customize customer service by giving the virtual receptionists scripts to follow to capture your brand voice.
What Does a Phone Answering Service Offer?
Virtual receptionist services offer the following features:
1. 24/7 answering services
A live answering service always has receptionists available to pick up business phone calls. There are no holidays or off-hours.
When your customers call, someone will always be available to help them.
2. Live call screening
Call agents are trained to screen every phone call placed to your business. They filter out spam callers and telemarketers.
The receptionists usually provide surface-level help to customers—for instance, responding to general inquiries.
If necessary, these agents forward calls to the right technician or department in your company. Even if no one from your business is available to speak, the agent takes a message on your behalf.
3. Text messaging
Call agents can also support clients via text messages. They respond to live chats and customers sending texts to your business number.
4. Appointment scheduling
Virtual receptionists take care of scheduling appointments for your business. When sales-qualified leads considering your company call, these agents find the best meeting time for both the lead and your sales team.
5. Customized scripts
You can also personalize the service experience that your clients get by providing a script for the receptionists to follow.
You can tell them the best way to greet callers, what terms to use, and how to conclude a call.
Why Should You Outsource Phone Answering Services?
A telephone answering service allows your business to:
1. Make an excellent first impression.
Having an answering service always available to pick up calls allows you to make a great first impression on clients.
33% of customers are frustrated with being put on hold for a long time. Imagine that they call your number and a human agent picks up immediately.
According to Salesforce research, 89% of customers are willing to make another purchase after they have a positive customer experience. Not to mention the great online reviews and recommendations you’ll get.
2. Offer 24/7/365 phone support.
A live answering service allows your business to offer 24/7 phone support to your customers.
Most people prefer to call customer service after business hours because they are not at work. Your customers will no longer have to nervously watch the clock for when call centers are available. Instead, they can be confident that someone will speak with them anytime they call.
3. Increase in productivity.
If your team members take service calls themselves, they’ll likely get bogged down by spam calls, telemarketers, and customers making general inquiries.
An outsourced phone answering service saves you time by screening every call and transferring only the necessary calls to the right team members.
You get to minimize distractions, save time, and focus on actually improving business operations.
4. Subscribe to a flexible payment plan.
Subscriptions and contracts with answering services are not set in stone. Monthly packages are popular, and you only pay for what you use.
If call volume fluctuates, or you need to change the budget allocated for customer service, scaling is super easy.
5. Work with a diverse talent pool to achieve a bigger market reach.
An answering service provides a diverse talent pool that helps you serve more clients. You can have Spanish-speaking agents who are trained for your industry to reach a wide customer base.
Benefits of a Live Answering Service from AnswerMTI
- AnswerMTI provides a round-the-clock answering service
- We have specialized agents trained in the HVAC, legal, hospitality, and even healthcare industries
- Your business will never miss a call again
- AnswerMTI eliminates the call-waiting queue
- We offer access to a bilingual service (English/Spanish)
- Our receptionists screen live calls and, only when necessary, forward calls to the right technicians
Improve customer satisfaction, boost retention rates, and grow your revenue by hiring us to provide fantastic phone support to your customers. Reach out today for a free quote.