With 91% of U.S. citizens keeping their mobile devices within reach at all times, people are more plugged in to their devices than ever before. And they expect business to be just as plugged in.

Increasingly, potential customers expect top-notch customer service when they call a business. If their phone call goes straight to voicemail, 80% of them will hang up, causing the business to lose out on customers and revenue. Conversely, following an excellent customer service experience, two-thirds of consumers say they’re willing to spend an average of 13% more with a particular company.

Looking at these facts, it’s clear to see that investing in telephone answering services – offsite companies that provide 24/7 live answering services that process incoming calls at your business so you don’t have to – is increasingly a must in today’s business climate.

In most cases, telephone answering services are much more affordable than you might expect – and they can bring significant benefits to your business and its customer service. It’s just a matter of setting up a detailed, inclusive, and realistic budget for what your business needs.

Here’s a look at three quick, easy ways to budget for 24 hour answering services at your small business:

Assess your business’ call volume
How many calls does your business receive on an average day? This will be an important factor in how much money you can expect to budget for call answering services. The higher number of calls you receive, the more you’ll end up paying for these services. Additionally, you’ll want to look at your business’ average call time. If you find that your business’ calls tend to take between 30 seconds and one minute, you’ll get a much lower rate than a business whose calls last several minutes or longer.

Determine the type of services you need
Every business has different needs when it comes to telephone answering services. You don’t want to overspend on extra features you won’t use; you don’t want to get a service package that doesn’t do enough for your business’ needs, either. There are answering services aimed at improving customer service as well as services for taking orders, scheduling, dispatching or answering questions. You should make a list of reasons why customers typically call your business to get a better idea of what you’ll be seeking out from a phone answering service company.

Figure out how much each call means to you
As stated before, quality customer service can make or break a consumer’s decision to spend money at your business. For this reason, you should be calculating your approximate return on investment (ROI) for each call that will be answered by your phone answering service.

How will a 24 hour phone service affect your bottom line and customer retention rate? These things should always be factored in when building a budget for your phone answering services.