How an Answering Service Can Help Your Small Business Grow

Small businesses across the globe have been using answering services for decades. Using an answering service can help your small business grow in a whole host of ways.

An answering service is a useful tool for many small businesses as it fulfils an essential role within a business, at a fraction of the cost required to hire someone in-house.

These are some of the main ways in which an answering service can encourage business growth.

Financially

As a small business, lack of hands and cash can often be a problem. Your small business may be desperate for a receptionist to handle calls but simply not be in a financial position to take someone else on board.

This is where an answering service comes in. An answering service fulfils the function of a receptionist without the financial commitment of taking on an employee, leaving your business with more time and cash to invest in business growth.

Customer Service

Your businesses customer service levels will see a drastic improvement when using an answering or call handling service. Great customer service is of course a huge factor in helping small businesses to grow. Whilst utilising an answering service you will never miss a call during office hours, and out of hours, customers can leave a message in your dedicated voicemail box.

In what can typically be the first point of contact with new and potential customers, you want to make a good impression. A huge bonus to a virtual receptionist is that they come ready trained in telephone manner and customer service, our team will get to know your business and speak to your callers as if they are in-house members of your team.

The Illusion of Size

A receptionist answering incoming calls can make your business appear bigger than it is, especially when combined with one of our virtual office packages. The virtual office packages offer an address for your business so it appears your business has a, or even an additional, physical location.

For smaller and start-up companies this can really help when competing with larger more established companies.

Time and Productivity

A virtual receptionist or answering service can drastically increase your own, and your teams productivity, and free up a huge amount of time day to day.

Phone calls can be a huge disruption and distraction in a work environment. Whilst it is important to take and respond to calls, not all calls are a priority. A virtual receptionist can filter out cold calls and make a note of or forward the calls that matter.

If you are too busy to take calls either because you are travelling, in a meeting or working on an important task, your answering service can pick up the calls and take detailed messages on your behalf. You can choose to divert calls when you don’t want to be disturbed, and prioritise calls in order of importance to you, all whilst maintaining a warm, customer service friendly, personal approach.