For many small business owners, juggling multiple phones is not uncommon. That’s why since its launch in 2009, the Google Voice application has continued to increase in popularity. Viewed as a handy, inexpensive way to have calls from multiple phone lines forward to a single number, Google Voice is used by many small businesses today. While there are certainly some benefits to using the application, there are also several issues that business owners have faced.
The challenges with using Google Voice and an answering service
The ability to manage calls from multiple lines on one phone may seem like a great way to simplify business communications. However, although Google Voice has call routing abilities, it was not intended to be a business phone line. This is exactly why Google even has a disclaimer that discourages users from using the application for business purposes.
As a leading answering service, we regularly speak to business owners using Google Voice, and many of them report similar issues when using the application in conjunction with a call answering service. These issues include the following:
- Flawed call forwarding. Google Voice is notoriously unreliable when it comes to seamless call forwarding. The application sometimes releases calls to the answering service, but not always. Sometimes Google pulls the call back and sends the caller to voicemail. Our client then wonders why our live agents didn’t answer, and the caller is not provided with a great experience.
- It only allows you to handle one call at a time. As a busy professional, you understand that it’s not uncommon for multiple calls to come in at once. Google Voice does not allow more than one call to exist simultaneously, meaning that if you’re receiving a call or placing an outgoing call, any other callers will be sent directly to voicemail. Sending callers to voicemail results in lost opportunities, which is the last thing your business needs.
We have the solution!
Here at Answering Service Care, we are always looking for innovative solutions to help our clients grow their businesses. We’re excited and proud to share that we have designed a business-class solution that offers the best of both worlds.
Our solution is a hybrid between Follow Me, the voicemail tools offered by Google Voice, and our business-class answering services. We begin by partnering with Google to port the number over to our systems. From there, we take temporary ownership of that number and host it on our system. This puts us in control, and we are able to leverage the same tools as Google Voice, including call distribution and routing (also referred to as Follow Me). The system can be set up for calls to go to your phone, our professional live agents, or a combination of the two. If you don’t pick up within a predetermined amount of time, our operators will answer. Or vice versa. Everything is customizable, and our friendly team members are here to work with you on solutions that best suit your business. When callers are sent to voicemail, we can partner with Google to create transcripts and send you alerts.
