This is part two in a two-part series. You can read part one here.
There’s something so freeing about dropping your business landline, but is it actually in the best interest of your customers?
With reports like A Nation of Serial Switchers making it clear that customers (53 percent in this study) are ready and willing to walk away from a company that won’t let them speak to a human right away, a quick and direct connection to your market is more important than ever.
Although it might seem like it would hurt communication, a properly implemented copper cord-cutting can actually make it easier and faster for customers to reach you right away.
Here are just four ways that your customer service can improve immediately by ditching the landline:
- Faster response times during business hours. Partnering with a call answering service to act as a remote receptionist means that you can be on the go while you wait for your customers to call. Instead of waiting at the office, you can be working at rental sites, leaving a tow job or dropping your kids off at soccer practice.
Keeping a laptop or tablet in the car means a mobile business can respond faster to an on-site call and callers who expect a business with a static location can get their questions answered quickly no matter where you happen to be.
- Around-the-clock access to a company representative. It might not seem like much now, but when someone is calling to ask a specific question and they just miss you by a few minutes, it can be really frustrating for them and end in their never calling back.
Other customers who might need to set an appointment after hours or don’t realize you’ve already closed may be equally rattled when faced with a digital voicemail system—but you can ensure they’re always happy and well-served with a virtual receptionist armed with basic information or scheduling tools to serve them when they call at an off-time.
- Emergency calls handled like emergencies. No matter what sort of business you run, there are bound to be emergencies. By leaving a list of emergency contacts and instructions with your answering service company, you can ensure that your emergency callers are treated like emergencies when they call your company any time of the day or night. Instead of being dumped into a voicemail box, they’ll be sent to the person who can fix their problem right away, no matter what time it is.
- Continued communication, even during disasters. Even if your building survives a disaster, there’s no guarantee that the phone lines will remain untouched, which can make re-establishing contact with your customers difficult on a good day.
With all your calls moved to your mobile phone, callers are able to reach you once the initial cell tower logjam has passed. Until then, you can leave a message with your virtual office staff to tell your customers exactly what they should do to pick up their orders, keep their appointments or make other arrangements.
Trading in your landline for a virtual receptionist can be a cost-saver that will also increase your customer service scores across the board. By joining forces with an answering service company that only charges you for the calls that come in, you’ll be able to reduce your overhead even further while turning your company into a lean, mean, agile customer-pleasing machine.
