Running a sole proprietorship or small business is hard—in many ways, harder than serving as CEO to an enterprise-level organization. When you run a small business, your time is never your own. Let’s be real; you probably even dream about work when you’re asleep.
Every phone call that comes in is a possible lead, which means you must be available to take those calls or risk losing potential revenue. Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or have a small staff, phone calls can wreck a whole day in many ways. It’s a love-hate relationship that can be solved with one simple trick: an answering service.
But an answering service costs money, you say. And yes, it does. We’re not a charity. However, call centers really do want to make your life easier. Here’s how we do that.
Help Increase Productivity
When you’re answering the phones all day, what else do you get done? New products or services in development are delayed as you attend to each and every potential customer—as well as those asking about business hours, directions to the office, where to buy a certain product… Do you really have the time in your day? Be honest.
Even in a small business where you have additional staff on hand, they probably have better things to do than to answer every question every caller asks. Even a short call can break concentration and momentum. An answering service takes the phones off everyone’s plates so you can all keep the business going.
Control Labor and Training Costs
Recruiting, hiring, and training new staff will be some of the most costly endeavors you undertake as a business owner. Some studies show that a new employee can cost almost $5,000 before they even get their first paycheck. Then you have to find the resources somewhere to train them, which means either you or someone else in the company loses time and productivity to get a receptionist or administrative assistant up to speed. And if you find the new hire isn’t a good fit? Back to the drawing board—and you’re out another $5,000
With an answering service, you don’t need to hire any in-house employees. Any training you give will be carried out by the answering service, so you only need to provide the training one time. One hire; one time. Then you’ll never have to worry about it again.
Increase Customer Satisfaction
Look, you know that no one likes to reach voicemail when they call a business. How unprofessional, right? Without an answering service, it’s just not feasible that all calls to your business can be answered in a timely manner. With an answering service, though, your potential customers will be thrilled to get answers to their questions at any time of day or night.
Customer service and satisfaction are big factors in increasing loyalty. Believe it or not, only 1 in 26 customers will actually complain about a bad experience. The rest just stop doing business with you. And you want to make customers happy, because acquiring a new one costs 5 times more than keeping one.
With all of this to consider, it really seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? Great Lakes Communications has over 20 years of answering service experience. No matter the day or time, your calls will be answered by a live, experienced agent located in the USA. We will work with you to customize your experience with us; answering the way you would like and gathering the information that you need. Visit our services and contact us to see if we are the right fit for your business.