Having the right answering service can make the difference in the success or failure of your business. But before you engage an answering service, you need to look at the service from all angles.
We know looking for a professional answering service is a daunting task, we are here to help. With over a thousand firms offering the service, any one of them can be “the one”. To make it easy, you must understand what you need and have the right questions to ask to get what you want.
Here are the essential tips to consider when looking for an answering service.
- Think 24/7
The main purpose of hiring an answering service is to ensure your business is always open. Therefore, look for an answering service you can rely on at night, holidays and weekends. Further, if you want to use the answering service to capture leads or make urgent calls, then look for a service that’s open all day and night.
- Beware of Same Day Activation
Would you hire an employee and let them loose with less than a day’s orientation? Of course not. The same holds for the answering service you select.
The answering service will represent your business, brand and reputation. With this, you want the service to make a good first impression on your clients. The only way to do this is to have a few days or weeks of training or orientation depending on your business needs.
- Ability to Personalize Your Callers Experience
Do you want to maintain continuity between the calls you handle at the office and the ones left to an answering service? Then make sure that the answering service is as personal as can be.
Therefore, don’t allow the answering service to use a generic template that’ll make your clients feel they’ve not called your office. Personalizing the caller’s experience makes them feel like you care about their needs.
For this to happen, you need to engage a professional answering service that customizes their call scripting to your specific business needs.
- Know Your Budget
Most telephone answering services don’t have flat rate fees but charge depending on the line activity. Therefore, the more calls the answering service handles, the higher your cost. therefore, if you have a high volume business – do the math here.
Other answering services use different pricing tiers that offer allotment in use. Therefore, if you can predict the monthly call volume, or how you intend to use the service, you can decide the best pricing model for your firm.
- Does the Firm Service Companies Like Yours?
If yes, you’ll take advantage of their years of experience serving your industry. It also means you won’t need to babysit the answering service to bring them up to speed on basic things to deal with when handling calls.
Conclusion
A professional answering service can help your business run smoothly by handling high calls volume at affordable rates. Therefore, take your time to look for dedicated service with call answering solutions that cater for your needs.