Your company’s customer service is one of the most important parts of the process of acquiring and maintaining a solid customer base. From the initial sale to issues with a dysfunctional product or dissatisfied customer, having a handle on the right way to help out customers is essential.

When a customer has an issue, their first instinct is to pick up the phone. In fact, 79% of customers prefer to interact with companies by phone as compared to other options. Enlisting the help of a professional answering servicea could be the solution to your high volume of calls.

1. Real Voices Matter

You may be surprised (or not surprised) to find out that 80% of people hang up on a business if they hear a voicemail. Even in the digital age, face-to-face, or voice-to-voice interactions are still important for people to gain a sense of who they are dealing with. Customer service representatives on the phone can use emotion and empathy to calm angry customers, or at least figure out a solution to their problems.

2. Things Will Be Dealt With More Efficiently

Customers are often deterred by automatic phone systems, and will simply become more angry about a given problem because of their inability to get fast and efficient help from a real person. Things like after hours phone answering services and specialty answering services can make all the difference in resolving customer satisfaction issues quickly and easily.

3. You’ll Sell More

When customers feel like their needs were handled patiently and with care, they will want to come back to your business again and again. They will also be more willing to buy different goods and services from your company. The cost of bad phone service is very real — U.S. brands are losing about $41 billion every year because of poor customer service. And, two-thirds of consumers are willing to spend 13% more with a particular company following an excellent customer service experience.

Don’t underestimate the power of the human voice. Contract a whole team of voices and improve your customer service ratings with a professional answering service.