Why use a telephone answering service?

You have an answering machine for when you are out – or you may divert calls to your mobile (but there are times when you still can’t answer so it goes to voicemail), surely your calls are covered?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, you are a step up from someone who doesn’t use anything to answer their calls, but only a small step.

By using an answering machine or voicemail you are driving work to your competitors!

On average (and depending on the business you are in) only 1 in 4 prospective customers will leave a message on an answering machine – the other 3 will phone another firm!

Also, by having a machine to take your calls, you are giving the impression that you are a very small business. Some people believe that having an answering machine or voicemail shows how busy they are. This is true, to a point, but it also shows you are too busy to take on more work.

You may say (if you trade from home), “It’s okay, because someone in the family takes calls when I’m out.” This is good – providing they are answering the phone correctly, being professional and always there to take calls.

I will give three examples of calls being answered by a spouse (or other member of the family) that should strike fear into the hearts of those who are serious about getting more business (all three we have encountered when calling people):

1/ The spouse has their own business and they use the same telephone number. So when they answer the phone they do so using their own business name!

2/ The spouse answers the phone with children having a tantrum in the background!

3/ Very young children answer the phone!

Some business owners may be thinking, “Well, the caller should expect this. It’s foolish to think I am there all the time; and it is my home, why should my family be quiet and answer the phone professionally?” Yet, if your business is losing work because of these points, who is the foolish one?

So this is where a telephone answering service can help. Just a few of the benefits are:

• You look more professional because you have a receptionist handling your calls;
• All your calls are answered and dealt with in a professional manner
• If you trade using your home number, other family members won’t be answering the phone in a less than professional manner; you also avoid being disturbed outside business hours
• The answering service can screen out unwanted cold/sales calls
• You can start and stop the service as you wish;
• If there are people you do want to speak to immediately those calls can be “patched” through to you.

Yes, an answering service may cost a little more but ask yourself how much is a new client worth to you? Now multiply that figure by three. That total is, on average, how much you will lose if you continue with the status quo.