Why Your Small Business Should Switch From Voicemail to an Answering Service

Posted February 26, 2015 in 24/7 answering service, answering services for small businesses by admin

In today’s modern age of technology, people expect quick responses to their phone calls. For small businesses owners, this means being forced to answer the phone every day and return any missed calls as quickly as possible. This demand puts a huge amount of stress on both you and your employees because you feel like you’re on the job 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you’re like other small business owners, you’re starting to realize that you can’t really rely on voicemail anymore. People don’t leave voicemails nearly as much as they used to because they expect that by calling, you know that their call is important. So, what do you do after hours, on weekends, or when your employees are busy handling other tasks? Try an answering service.

What is an answering service?

A telephone answering service allows your customers to talk to a real person at any time, whether it’s during the day, after hours, on the weekend or during a holiday. Professional answering services can take and screen calls, collect basic information from your callers, help manage prospect/client expectations and direct callers to others within your business when necessary. A good telephone answering service will be able to streamline your inbound call process and ensure that your customers are always talking to a real person, not a voicemail, when they call your business.

What are the benefits?

When you partner with a telephone answering service, you can ensure that all calls will be answered, that urgent calls are always forwarded to you in a timely manner, and that your clients and customers are getting the attention and service they deserve. Without an answering service, you risk losing business and missing important calls.

A high-quality telephone answering service has the ability to help your business in ways you never imagined. Answering services help you provide your customers with the best possible customer service without having to hire additional in-house service representatives or requiring your employees to rush to the phone when they’re in the middle of other key tasks. Answering services will also help put an end to the disruptions that occur when low priority calls come in. How many times have you been focused on a task when the phone rings? Then, you have to stop what you’re doing to answer the phone, and it throws off your ability to focus on that important task. Telephone answering services help alleviate this problem and give you and your employees more time to focus on business-related tasks.

When you should switch from voicemail to an answering service

If you’re wondering if it’s time to switch from voicemail to an answering service, here are some of the questions to ask yourself:

Are you missing potential revenue opportunities by not answering the phone after hours?
Are you having trouble keeping up with all the phone calls coming in during hours?
Are your response times to voicemail messages sometimes delayed because you are busy or just didn’t see that a customer left you a voice-mail?
Are phone calls preventing you and your employees from getting work done?
Do you get client or prospect calls after hours or on weekends?
Do you or your employees travel frequently?
Would email or text messages be more efficient and easier for you than having to dial in for your voicemails?

If you answered, “yes” to several of these questions, it may be time for you to switch from using voicemail to hiring a telephone answering service. By outsourcing your calls to a telephone answering service, you’ll be able to provide the best possible customer service with minimum investment. Using an answering service for your business means never missing a call or opportunity for your business.

To learn more about Main Line TeleCommunications, please download our free guide: