Growing companies are more and more often these days making the all important decision to hire a telephone answering service in order to provide assistance with picking up calls during off hours, taking messages, and even handling customer questions and complaints. An after hours answering service is a reliable and affordable way for a business to provide 24 hour customer service, which, in turn, boosts customer satisfaction. Clients and customers love it when they know they are able to reach someone no matter when they call, and at least be able to leave a message with someone other than an automated messaging system.
When a business provides 24 hour service that includes an after hours answering service, it will typically enable the business to retain at least 5% of its customers. This percentage of customer retention could increase company profits by up to 125%. Hiring an after hours answering service to take messages and address customer’s questions and complaints will decrease the amount of negative reports from customers about the experience they had while contacting the company. Statistics show that it could take up to 12 positive experiences to alleviate the results of one negative incident with a customer. In addition, after having one unfavorable communication with a company, most customers will have no hesitation about finding another place with which to carry out their business. Often, the customer will not even contact the company itself to report the negative incident. People simply do not have the time, and are just interested in getting the job done. They want immediate satisfaction and will readily go somewhere else to find it if they need to.
A professional answering service often includes virtual receptionist services. These types of services are handled by live operators and provide a long list of telephone and receptionist assistance. These are ideal for virtual businesses whose agents or members are often on the road or dealing with other clients. In accordance to the business owner’s instructions, virtual operators will transfer client calls to whomever they ask for, and, if advised to, will announce the caller before the actual transfer of the call.
Clients typically feel more confident about leaving an important, even detailed, message with an individual and not on a recording. They appreciate important questions that will be asked about their message, making them feel as though reaching the business is as important to the operator as it is to them. This brings a little more sincerity and integrity to the business itself in the client’s eyes.
A live phone answering service provides additional services such as the scheduling of appointments and meetings, even sending out follow up emails. Given the proper information by the business owner, the operators with the after hours answering service will be able to confidently answer client’s and customer’s questions about company policies, shipping status of an order, and even product questions. A live operator answering service will focus on assisting the customer to the best of their ability in every way.
Another addition to the many helpful options provided by an after hours answering service is known as a click to call service. With this option a customer enters their telephone number along with their question and a live operator returns their call. Many customers have been found to appreciate this method because it saves them from making a lot of outgoing calls. In addition, the clients retaining the after hours answering service appreciates the fact that this method also helps to bring customers to their businesses.
Most after hours answering services will customize their services to fit their client’s specific, even unique, needs. Live operators are on staff and are available every day of the year, 24 hours a day, including major holidays. There is never a time when a valued customer cannot find the assistance they need. Many of these services do not require a long term contract and their infrastructure is such that every bit of business data and information is completely safe. Varied packages are available and can be changed at any time, so that client businesses can scale up or down any time they need to.