When folks find out I work for Central Comm, the first thing out of their mouths is, “Why would my business need an answering service?” They say it more out of curiosity than anything else, but it still challenges me.
I take a deep breath and try to answer in an informative and polite manner. “Why wouldn’t your business want to use an answering service?” That usually takes them a moment or two before they look at me with big eyes and say, “that’s a good question, I don’t know.”
I am out in the field fairly often, and I will tell you from first hand experience, when I am in meetings, on the road, or trying to solve an issue for a client, the last thing I need is to be interrupted by a phone call. That’s not to say I don’t think phone calls are important, they are more than important, they are vital to my business. But a phone call which is interrupting an important task is disruptive to both myself and the people I am meeting with.
I have it set up so that when I get a phone call, the operators at Central Comm will pick it up. Then they will text me to let me know who was calling and why. I can then check that text message when I have a break, and if it’s urgent, excuse myself to take the call. Or I can delegate it to one of my team members.
When I tell them these things, more often than not, I am met with a positive and thoughtful reaction. I also tell them recent studies show that almost 80% of callers hang up when they reach voicemail – meaning unless a business owner is available to answer every call as they come in, he or she is losing out on a lot of potential customers. Worse, still, an voice mail response to an urgent situation will cause a current customer to become angry.
Something else to think about. People, especially those in the 20’s and 30’s are used to texts and chats, instant replies and real-time communication. It’s never a good thing when your callers, patients, and potential clients can’t reach you quickly and sometimes instantly. Your team of professional phone agents here at Central Comm are here for you and your callers 24/7/365, days, nights, weekends and holidays.
Some small business owners have already realized the importance of not missing a call but struggled with finding the budget to hire a receptionist to work at their office if they even have a physical office at all. Hiring a full-time staff member to answer the phone will cost a typical business $2,000 – $3,000 a month in salary alone. Any extras, such as a desk, phone, computer, etc. will add more to that cost.
To answer the question, “why would I need an answering service?”, I would like to say this, you need an answering service and perhaps a virtual receptionist because despite the rise of the web and despite the convenience of a powerful smartphone, people want to connect with people and they want to know that your lines about caring for customers are true.
