Thursday, October 28, 2010

What You Should Consider When Choosing An Answering Service Provider

A professional answering service offers many benefits to businesses. It enables them to provide service to more customers anytime during the day or night without setting up an in-house department of live phone representatives.

Answering services aid businesses in attracting more customers and converting prospects into buyers. There are several firms that offer answering services onshore and offshore but not all can deliver quality service. It is vital to learn what the key considerations are in finding and selecting the right provider to help in your business development efforts.

Round the clock service. One of the key benefits of having an answering service is that it enables any company to provide live operator assistance to inbound callers 24 hours a day. Medical offices, plumbing or towing agencies, and law offices are among those that attend to emergency situations. If your business provide services to customers who require immediate attention anytime during the day or night, it is essential for you to look for an answering service provider that operates round the clock and provide 24/7 answering services.

Highly-trained live phone representatives. Another important benefit of using a professional answering service is its ability to portray a bigger image for your business. You may own a small or start up company, but you don't have to look that way by offering your customers 24/7 customer service with professional operators on stand by to take orders or respond to inquiries. However, the success of your answering service depends on having professional phone operators on board. The way the live phone representative communicates with the caller will reflect on your business' image. Make sure that you do research on the service provider's methods of employee hiring and training. If you outsource this service offshore, consider the fluency of the operator in the English language.

Answering service methods. Prior to taking calls on behalf of your business, your chosen provider must be prepared in all aspects to handle calls. The answering service firm should spend ample time to understand the nature of your business and be willing to have their supervisors and managers work together in formulating the appropriate call guidelines. Be sure to check if their methods meet your specifications to ensure that representatives will be able to handle calls efficiently.

If chosen carefully, a professional answering service will provide value-added service to your customers and generate more business for you.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Improve Customer Experience With A Live Answering Service

For business owners operating a small company, one of the best ways to achieve success is to build an image that the business is larger than what it really is. This is necessary when rival companies are bigger and prospective customers value the company's stature.

A great way to build this kind of image and at the same time provide high-quality customer service is to use a reliable answering service. Through this system, calls are handled promptly and efficiently. Live operators or representatives make sure that all client directives are followed and calls are conducted according to company standards.

Benefits for Bigger Businesses. This is also true for bigger business enterprises with independent executives who have a need for a flexible answering service. A busy employee who travels a lot should be able to manage his or her time. This includes dealing with customers. A live answering service can manage the calls well, giving priority to those that require immediate attention, and take messages from callers who are willing to wait. This way, calls are handled in an appropriate manner and customers do not feel they are neglected or not receiving the attention they deserve.

Contacting the Right Person. Connecting to the correct person can be a challenge for any type of business. In addition, top-level executives are not the only people who are difficult to reach, even a regular employee is. To solve this problem, a live answering service has the capability to be set according to certain instructions in order to reach owners, managers or supervisors quickly and easily. The answering service makes sure that these instructions are followed to the letter by a well trained answering service representative ensuring that calls are managed properly. This provides the business a great service while also making the customer feel important and satisfied.

Toll-Free Numbers. In today's global trade, a business' customers can come from a nearby location or a distant country. With a toll free contact number for the company office, calls can be answered from locations anywhere.

With a reliable answering service, customer calls are answered in a timely manner and directed to the right person. Customers are given proper and immediate attention so that no business opportunity is lost and issues or concerns are addressed appropriately.