If you want your business to be successful, no matter which industry you’re in, then you need to make sure your company is delivering superior customer service. Good customer service will ensure that your clients and vendors will continue to do business with your company. Poor customer service will result in your company losing business because your clients can always go elsewhere for their needs.
Hiring an Answering Service
Part of providing superior customer service is having a well-trained staff ready to answer phone calls to take care of clients’ needs. However, if your business cannot afford to open its own call centre, then you can hire an answering service who will promptly and professionally answer telephone calls for your company. Here are some considerations for making sure you hire the best possible answering service for your needs.
Determine Your Needs
Before searching for an answering service for your business, you will need to assess your company’s current and projected needs for such a business. There are many services they can provide your company, such as customer service operations, receptionist services for your small business or coverage for when you have employees out sick or on holiday, which is a service from Netcall Solutions for answering your business telephones. By assessing your needs, it will be easier to find an answering service that can accommodate your current and future needs.
Length of Time in Business
One consideration for hiring a service is noting how long they have been in business. New services are always starting up, but older ones are able to stay in business because they provide the services their customers need. They train their staff to properly answer phone calls by being courteous and professional. Their staff is also properly trained on how calls are to be handled for the clients for which they are working.
Customised Solutions
A good answering service will act as an extension of your company with your clients never knowing they are speaking with another business. The staff will be trained so your customers will not have any indication that they are not located at your company’s facilities. As an extension of your company, they can handle your customer service matters while you concentrate on running your company.
Flexibility
The answering service that you hire for your company should also be able to provide other services that your business may need. Some companies can help take overflow calls during your peak business hours so you don’t lose customers when the other lines are busy. If you have employees out on vacation or sick for the day, the answering service can act as backup to help you take care of their duties on the telephone or at least take messages and deliver them to you promptly so you can provide assistance to those clients.
Up-to-Date Technology
A good answering service will be able to provide superior customer service because they maintain up-to-date technology. Along with advanced computer systems, they will also be able to customise their software to provide your company with the best solutions for your business. They can update their software forms to provide your clients with the best customer service possible and your business with the data they need to fulfil requests promptly.
Prompt Message Delivery
The answering service should be able to deliver telephone message to your business in multiple ways and do so to indicate which messages are urgent or those that can wait. The service should be able to deliver messages through systems such as email and SMS to ensure they receive the attention warranted from you or other employees at your company.
Package Options
When searching for the best answering service for your business, the company should be able to provide competitive rates with package options for you to choose from. The packages should provide different levels of service so you don’t end up buying something that you do not need. A good answering service may also allow you to purchase their services on an as-needed basis or allow you to contract with them on a long-term basis.
Around the Clock Service
If you own a business that requires you to make emergency calls out to a client’s home or business, you need to make sure the answering service is available when your doors are closed to accept calls on your behalf. It will not do you any good if the answering service stops accepting calls when your business closes for the day. Look for an answering service that provides 24-hour coverage for your company’s phones.
Get References
Just as you would when spending a great deal of money with any other company, ask for references from the answering services with which you are seriously considering hiring. Follow through with the references by calling those companies to see how well they like doing business with their answering service and inquire about any problems they have had. You will discover any bad experiences that businesses may have had with that particular answering service, as well as satisfactory ones.
Visit the Facilities
You may not be able to find a local answering service to handle your business, but no matter where they are located, you should try to visit the answering service’s facilities. Take a tour of the work area to see how modernised their equipment is and try to listen in on a few phone calls to see how well they are handled. Seeing the company for yourself will allow you to see how they do business and how up-to-date they are for supporting a company like your own.
The person answering the telephone on your company’s behalf should be professional and provide your clients with the best customer service experience possible. The company you hire should be able to provide your business with the customised telephone services your need for your clients. When you take this information into consideration when searching for an answering service, you will be able to find the company that can provide the superior service you need for your business.