Every business owner understands that customer service is important, but many underestimate just how powerful that connection can be. Even a simple, cheap answering service to staff your phone lines may drastically improve your sales and customer satisfaction, leading to increased profits overall. Here are 10 startling facts about consumer attitudes toward customer service that may make you rethink how your company does business over the phone.

• People are nearly twice as likely to tell their friends about a negative customer service experience than a positive one.
• Approximately three in four consumers believe that it takes too long in general to get through to a live answering service agent when they call customer support.
• According to a 2011 survey, 70% of Americans would spend more money with a company they believe to provide excellent customer service than one without.
• LWhile 80% of companies believe that they deliver “superior” customer experience, only 8% of consumers said the same about those companies.
• Around 75% of customers say they’d prefer to be called back than wait on the line. Do you have enough reps to handle your call volume?
• It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for just one unresolved negative experience with customer service.
• Consumers believe that call answering service representatives fail to answer their questions 50% of the time. It’s important to have staff trained and knowledgeable in your field.
• The top two reasons businesses lose customers are because clients feel poorly treated or because the business fails to resolve an issue in a timely manner.
  Around 91% of customers say they won’t do business with a company again after a negative experience.
• Yet 70% of customers ultimately will do business again with a company that resolves their complaints or issues.

The good news is that you can find a cheap answering service to help you handle your calls and customer service issues without breaking the bank. If you want to make sure that your customers stay content, hire A Better Answer to provide a 24 hour live answering service with real, trained agents to handle your calls. When your customers are happy, your business will be, too.