If you’re in the HVAC, plumbing, landscaping, or any vital trade, you’re probably aware of just how incredibly busy you are, and that’s before considering just how many phone calls you have to handle on top of any actual work. With your phone constantly ringing off the hook with requests for your services, inquiries about what you can offer, questions about quotes, and everything else, you’re probably far more focused on staffing your business, stocking up on equipment and supplies, managing contracts, and generally making sure your business runs smoothly. In other words, you basically don’t have time to catch every single call coming into your business.
And that’s exactly where a Live Answering Service like the one we offer here at VoiceNation can help. Perfect for meeting your customer service needs, our Virtual Receptionists can help you pick up every lead that comes your way. Here are just some of the reasons why you should consider using live answering for service industries to get ahead of your competitors.
1. Reducing the cost of missed calls
Although missing a few calls here and there might not seem like a big deal, the cost of missing all those calls can quickly add up, whether or not they’re from new clients or existing customers. If it’s an existing customer looking for service and you don’t answer, there’s a good chance they’ll become frustrated. And if this is a pattern, they may leave your business for your competitors. They may even leave behind a negative review.
Alternatively, if it’s a new customer, then there is a real chance that they won’t ring you back a second time if you’re not there to pick up their immediate call, which means you’ll have missed out on a potential new lead. That’s why it’s so important to be around to answer any calls that come in. Customer experience is as much in demand now as it has always been, and if you can’t provide it by answering your calls every time, you may lose business quickly. A problem that can be answered by having a Live Answering Service in place.
Reducing staffing costs
Now, while it’s clear that missing calls can impact your business financially, as a business owner, you’re probably also aware of just how much new staffing costs can set your revenue back. Hiring a new full-time employee to man your phone lines in a receptionist role isn’t necessarily cheap.
At a minimum, you’ll be looking to provide a salary of at least $20,000, and more if you want to hire competitively. On top of this, you’ll then also have to consider benefits, sick days and paid time off, not to mention that said receptionist will only ever be able to answer incoming calls during your business hours. Again, this is the kind of problem that can be solved with a Virtual Receptionist from VoiceNation, who can answer calls 24/7, 365 days a year.
What is an answering service?
So, we highlighted just why you might want to invest in an answering service for your business. But if you’ve never used such a service before, you might not be entirely sure what such a service is. In its simplest form, a Live Answering Service consists of a team of live operators who will answer your calls for you when you can’t. All you have to do is set it so that any incoming calls are forwarded to the VoiceNation team, and we’ll handle it from there. After picking up, our operators will take a message in your stead, allowing you to prioritize who to call back and when. And that’s just our basic level answering service. If you’re looking for an answering service that’s more like a receptionist, just take a look at the advanced features we offer:
- Emergency dispatching – for those in the trades, emergency jobs don’t always happen within business hours but may need attention immediately. With an answering service, you can be notified about these jobs outside of work hours, allowing you to dispatch help when needed.
- 24/7 answering – even though you might only operate between certain hours of the day and week, your customers might call at any point in the day. That’s why a 24/7 answering service is so useful, as it allows you to pick up all calls, no matter when a potential customer rings.
- On-call scheduling – for after-hours calls, your answering service should be able to update and maintain your on-call schedule, taking this administrative task off your plate. And that’s exactly what our receptionists at VoiceNation can do.
- Mobile app – with VoiceNation, if an important call comes in while you’re out in the field, you can view your messages instantly on your smartphone. Then when you return the call through the app, it uses your VoiceNation number, keeping your personal number private for customers.
- Call forwarding – finally, if you team up with VoiceNation, you can tell your answering service which calls need to be sent directly to you, and which they can pick up. This feature is automatically included in your plan and doesn’t come at an extra cost like with other answering services.
Improve your customer service with VoiceNation
So, now you know how a Live Answering Service with VoiceNation can help your business, why not get in touch with our team to learn more about our different pricing packages?
And remember, we have plenty of similar articles to this one over on our blog, such as phone answering policy and procedure tips, preparing your plumbing business for winter, and why your construction company needs an answering service.