Being an entrepreneur has a lot of benefits. The obvious is being your own boss, working your own schedule, and reaping all the rewards on your own. With those benefits come issues that may not be so obvious. There are some issues that can cause stress and lack of productivity, which can hurt your business’s growth. If you are a start-up or you are not in the position to hire an employee due to lack of funds or lack of space, there is one thing out there that can save you time and money and keep you productive.
When you think about being an entrepreneur, you might think that you have to run your entire business as a solo act. But having a small business answering service can actually be very beneficial to you without breaking your budget. This service can alleviate the overwhelming workload with respect to catching and keeping up with numerous phone calls that take you away from crucial business activities.
Reasons Why Small Businesses Use Live Answering Services
Seeking out an answering service and researching its features will make you understand everything it can do to make your business run more efficiently. You might be surprised how you can reorganize your day with the assistance of an answering service. A list of key benefits are below:
- It can offset the demand of answering your phone if you are in need of being in a meeting, on another phone call, or working on a project deadline.
- It can lessen the instance of losing a customer due to the phone call not being picked up. The personal touch of having a live person to talk to can make or break your future business with a customer. You can even personalize a script based on your business that the operator can refer to in order to temporarily assist your customer.
- You can have your phone answered 24/7. You have to stop working at some point in your day, and you do need a vacation once in a while. There are also times when you could get sick and need a day or two of rest. Having this service take care of your calls while you are on downtime can alleviate anxiety about unattended business and let you catch up when you are able.
- It can alleviate unwanted phone calls. Answering wrong numbers is a waste of your time. Taking calls that are not related to your business or getting caught on a call from telemarketing centers eat up your productivity.
- It can be less expensive than hiring an employee. A monthly service fee paid to the answering service company generally is a lot less than hiring someone and possibly even paying for benefits. Although the monthly fees vary between companies as well as what features you require, hiring an employee may not be what your business needs at this point.
- It is more personal than a voice message. Many people are turned off when they receive a voice message rather than a person, and your future customers may decide to take their business elsewhere. Using a live answering service instead of trying to capture your calls with voicemail can be a lucrative business decision.
- It will convey professionalism. Having a professional answer your phone can enhance your company’s reputation with prospective customers. Especially if you are agitated by having to answer it instead of concentrating on your business at hand.
Features Provided by an Answering Service
There are some advanced features that a live answering service can provide that also will prove to be a benefit to your small business. Maybe some that you could not possibly do on your own. With these advanced features may come more fees. You could pay from $50 to $800 a month, depending on the volume of your calls and the services you require. So take the time to evaluate what is important to the growth of your business versus what you can do on your own without the risk of getting overwhelmed or losing business. Some features are as follows:
- Appointment setting
- Bilingual representatives
- Online ordering
- Calls answered 24 hours a day
When you are starting your own small business, a perk like this can make a big difference in your success. Getting started is easy and fast, and you can change how your business operates in a very efficient way.
