When many business owners think of an answering service, their first thought is the initial cost. While this is a valid concern, it is important to consider the advantages of outsourcing to a call answering service.
Here are four of the ways that an answering service can save you time and money.
1. An answering service eliminates the need to hire additional in-house employees
Hiring a person, or a team of people, to handle your business’ incoming phone calls can be expensive. Oftentimes hiring an answering service is a bargain when compared to the cost of hiring a receptionist or similar position.
Aside from the obvious costs of hiring in-house employees (hourly labor costs, management, benefits, and overhead expenses), here are some of the costs that you can save on by hiring an answering service instead:
- Recruiting: Every time an employee quits, it will be necessary to go through the process of recruiting, hiring and training someone new. Answering services recruit and train their own agents, so you save money and time while a live person still handles your phones.
- Training: Companies spend both time and money training a receptionist to answer incoming calls in the office. Depending on the complexity of your phone system, training a receptionist could take anywhere from a day to a couple of weeks. During that time, you or someone in your office will need to monitor their progress and help them adjust.
- Employee turnover: A study from The Center for American Progress found that businesses spend about one-fifth of an employee’s annual salary to replace that worker. Working with an answering service eliminates that cost.
- Overtime and holiday pay: Say goodbye to paying time and a half when employees work overtime or on holidays.
2. Never miss a call or sale with 24-hour accessibility
Modern technology has made customers more demanding. They are no longer content just shopping during business hours; they want access 24 hours a day. A telephone answering service provides customers with accessibility during business hours, as well as at night and on weekends and holidays. This constant availability ensures that your company will never miss a phone call, or a sale.
3. Reduction in customer service costs
Your company can downsize the customer service department and allow a virtual receptionist to handle many tasks, such as order processing, appointment scheduling, and serving bilingual customers. This is a great asset for the future growth of your business because you can add additional customer support without increasing the size of your team.
4. Spend less on equipment and technology when you outsource to an answering service
Outsourcing your company’s incoming calls to a telephone answering service allows you to substantially reduce the cost of technology and equipment. In other words, you will avoid the need to purchase or lease a new phone system or other systems to keep track of messages for your team.
These are only a few of the ways your company can save money by outsourcing to a live answering service. The need to save money is always of great concern, and an established company with experienced telephone operators is one of the best places to begin. Take time to conduct research and choose the company you feel suits the needs of your company the best. Research, ask questions, and compare the advantages and disadvantages of each one before you make a final decision.
