Does your company’s phone ring all day long, or even all night as well? It’s not easy keeping up with a constantly ringing phone when you’re trying to meet deadlines, manage employees, and grow your company, which is why many businesses partner with phone answering services. Live answering services ensure that your customers still have a real person to speak with when they call your business, and they free you up to be more productive.
Below we will answer and discuss the following questions about live answering services.
- What is a live answering service?
- Which businesses use live answering services?
- What are the benefits of phone answering services?
- What is the difference between an automated answering service and a live answering service?
What is a live answering service?
A live answering service is an outsourced customer service solution that enables your customers to speak with a real, live human whenever they contact your business. Trained, professional virtual receptionists will warmly greet callers on your behalf and assist them in a variety of ways.
Which businesses use live answering services?
Businesses of all sizes and industries partner with live answering services for a variety of reasons. From law firms, to funeral homes, to service contractors, we have worked with hundreds of businesses looking for more phone support, after-hours coverage, and bilingual operators.
If you’re wondering whether your business could benefit from partnering with a live answering service, ask yourself the following questions. If the answer is “yes” to any of these questions, a live answering service can help improve your customer service strategy.
- Is my phone ringing faster than me and my staff can answer it?
- Is my business missing important calls during non-business hours?
- Are Spanish speakers calling my business, and we’re unable to help them because we are not bilingual?
- Are customers leaving bad reviews about my company due to bad customer service?
- Is a constantly ringing phone decreasing my productivity?
- Would I like my business to appear bigger and more established than it actually is?
What are the benefits of phone answering services?
Here are some of the benefits that you can expect to enjoy when you partner with a live phone answering service:
- Fewer lost opportunities. Sending fewer calls to voicemail means more opportunities to convert leads into new customers.
- Happier customers. In addition to converting more leads, answering more calls will also impress your current customers. In the United States, 90% of customers tell their friends and families about their service experiences. Would you rather them share something positive or negative about your business?
- More time for yourself. Whether you’re looking for more time to grow your business or take a vacation, an answering service frees you up to do just that. Just think of what you could accomplish if you didn’t have to answer your phone every two minutes!
- No more wasted time on spam calls. There’s nothing more annoying than stopping what you’re doing to answer the phone, only to discover that it’s a robocall. Partnering with a leading answering service like Answering Service Care eliminates this, and here’s what’s even better: you won’t be charged for robocalls and automated spam calls. Our Spam Blocker feature filters out automated spam calls before they are even answered, so you will never have to pay for one again!
What is the difference between an automated answering service and a live answering service?
When choosing a phone answering service to handle your incoming customer calls, there are several options available. The first thing to consider is whether an automated answering service or a live answering service would be a better fit.
Automated answering services (also sometimes referred to as interactive voice response (IVR) systems) interact with callers by using voice or keyed-in responses. For example, “Press ‘1’ for sales, ‘2’ for hours of operation,” and so on. Automated systems route callers to the appropriate extension, but that’s about it.
Live answering services employ real humans who receive specialized training on customer service, phone handling, and your business. These individuals greet callers warmly and can help with tasks like appointment setting, message taking, call routing, qualifying leads, answering general questions, and more. They offer the human touch that an automated system cannot, and they are able to assist with more complex inquiries and problems.
