If you own a business, you surely know that there are answering services available to you and your customer service team. However, it might seem like something that is unnecessary for your company.
The fact that it might seem like an unnecessary luxury is among many misconceptions of call answering services. Let’s take a look at a few of the other misconceptions out there.
First, we’ll address the thought of, “I don’t need one.” Well, even though you don’t think you do, that might not be the case. If your company deals with customers and clients on a daily basis, a phone service might actually be the perfect customer service solution for you. An answering service will ensure that your customers can always reach a real person no matter the time or day of the week. It would be cost prohibitive for most businesses to pay someone to answer phones on weekends and after business hours, yet this is often when your most frustrated customers need help. This kind of around the clock customer service is important in a variety of industries for one simple reason: people like to speak to real people and not get stuck with a company’s voicemail.
This leads to the next common misconception. Many business owners might think that their customers won’t want to talk to someone from an answering service. But, as stated before, customers want to actually talk to a real person. In fact, 89% of customers like talking to customer service representatives on the phone. They don’t care if it’s a phone service or if it’s someone from the company itself. And the truth is, with the best answering phone service, your customer will have no idea they are talking to a third party representative. However, if they get a recording, they will most certainly feel that their concerns and questions won’t be addressed. If they speak to someone, they will feel like they’re on the right track.
One final misconception is that the workers at telephone answering services aren’t well-versed in a specific field’s knowledge and technical jargon. However, most business owners wouldn’t think twice about hiring receptionists who lacked technical training in a particular field, be it medicine or construction. Even so, answering services will be trained to answer questions and provide information specific not only to your industry, but to your company itself. If you hire the right vendor, your customers will have no idea they aren’t speaking to someone from your business.
The lack of knowledge about answering services creates misconceptions and missed opportunities. When you’re reevaluating your business’s customer service practice, consider hopping on board with an answering service.