Growing your local customer base can be a challenge, so if you’re lucky enough to have clients all over the country, you shouldn’t take it for granted. Unfortunately, a large percentage of companies with out-of-state customers unknowingly alienate them by not providing the real-time service and support that they give to local consumers.

With a professional national answering service, you can bridge this gap to connect your customers with real people who can provide solutions to their problems. Often times, customers just want to know that a caring person is on the other line, ready to answer questions they may have. If you’re trusting an answering machine to handle this crucial task, you’ll inevitably diminish brand loyalty and revenues.

Everyone has their own schedule on a daily basis, which is why you cannot expect to help every single customer during your normal office hours. Here’s how a national answering service can help you improve communication with both local and out-of-state customers to grow your business:

• Stop alienating out-of-state customers
  True, 24-hour live answering services are essential for every business and industry, but they are particularly important if you have customers that live far away. While the Internet has helped to connect more businesses with foreign customers, people still expect to directly communicate with a company when things go awry. In fact, about 79% of consumers prefer to interact with companies by phone compared to other options.
• Build a rapport with clients
  You don’t need to be best friends with all of your patients and customers, but you do need to show them that you care about their concerns. A national answering service allows you to focus on the core operations of your business without sacrificing the relationship you share with consumers. U.S. brands are losing approximately $41 billion each year due to bad customer service. This can be avoided with a professional phone answering service that takes the time to listen to customers and give them the answers they need.
• Real people, fast answers
  The most important thing that customers are looking for when they call contact centers is to have their problems resolved quickly. If you’re currently using an automated voice messaging machine with a scripted response for after-hours callers, you need to replace this with a national answering service as soon as possible.

It’s difficult to provide immediate support to all of your customers at once on your own, but this can be accomplished when you seek some professional assistance. Invest in a national answering service and bridge the gap between your company and out-of-state customers.