A call answering service is a company that answers calls for another business. There are different types of answering services you can explore depending on the needs of your business. Using an answering service can be so much more than a company you are paying to take your calls. The type of service you offer your clients and customers contributes significantly to the growth and profitability of your business. 

Partnering with a high-quality professional answering service will positively present your business to existing and potential clients. This is because answering service providers will create personal and meaningful connections with every caller ensuring your business stands out for potential customers.

At Best Call Center, we will provide world-class answering services, and your company’s incoming calls will be handled professionally. Contact our Charlotte Answering service agents if you wish to partner with an answering service for your business.

What is an Answering Service?

An answering service is a third-party organization that performs inbound and outbound business communications. Telephone answering services work to replace or support in-house receptionists. A Charlotte Answering Service will process your phone calls and customer inquiries when your business closes or your in-house receptionists are busy. A complete answering service will not only handle your calls, but the agents assigned to your business can send emails, record messages for you, and book appointments. You can attend to more clients and increase your business profitability by doing this. The support provided by answering service agents include:

  • Managing call overflow
  • Handling the routine tasks when your in-house receptionists are overwhelmed
  • Enhancing customer service
  • Cutting office expenses
  • Providing sales support and marketing

Types of Answering Services

An answering service could offer numerous benefits for all types of businesses. However, there isn’t just a single type of way a provider can handle your voice messages, calls, and customers. The major types of answering services include:

  • Live answering Services. The live answering service is the most commonly used type of answering service. An actual person is tasked with taking calls for your company according to the guidelines that you set. In most cases, you will have the same group of people handling your calls and messages, and you will not need to worry about errors.
  • Automated answering services. When you have numerous calls of people looking for basic information about your business, you may opt for the automated answering service. In this case, you can provide this information and reserve with an option for the callers to speak to sales.
  • Internet answering service. An internet answering service is an excellent choice for web-only businesses where most business activity occurs online. This answering service includes features like assessing your online messages and answering web inquiries.
  • Call center services. Call center services are answering services for a business that handles a high call volume. Also, companies who spend a lot of time on the phone speaking to clients would greatly benefit from the call centers.

Companies that will benefit from an Answering Service

More often than most people realize, organizations of all kinds and sizes could benefit from a partnership with an answering service:

  1. Entrepreneurs will use the answering service to offload the demand to pick up their phone calls and present their businesses professionally.
  2. Law firms. Lawyers are often very busy attending court dates and dealing with paperwork. Answering phone calls will only disrupt their busy schedule. Partnering with an answering service would be a great opportunity to manage a law firm.
  3. Internet-based Business. Hiring a Charlotte Answering service can help create a virtual office while protecting your business when running a small internet-based business.
  4. Construction and real estate companies can use an answering service to ensure that calls from clients don’t go unanswered when the team members are offsite.
  5. Doctors and dentist’s offices can use the answering service to schedule appointments for patients when the receptionists are busy.

Tips to Hiring the Best Answering Service

Partnering with an answering service provides numerous benefits which allow you to deliver a positive customer experience. Also, it eliminates delays in answering the phone and missed calls. Providing meaningful and consistent experiences will build loyalty and increase profitability. However, the key to a good experience is finding a service that needs your exact needs. The following are some tips you can consider when partnering with an answering service:

  1. Partner with a company that works with similar clients. A company that has worked in your industry would be ideal. This is because the company will have a better understanding of the needs of your business.
  2. Map out the calling processes and functionality. Knowing the functionality you need is critical in developing an effective call answering plan. Before you decide to partner with a particular company, you need to understand the services to ensure they align with your needs.
  3. Consider the company’s experience. Asking the company about their experience providing call answering services will help you determine whether they are the right fit for your business.
  4. Know where your calls go. If an answering service manages your calls from one site, diverting them to another place may create room for mistakes and delay customer service. Therefore, you need to know where your calls go before partnering with an answering service.
  5. Confirm service availability. It would be best to verify that the service could manage your calls according to your schedule. Some services are limited to business hours which may not meet the business need. This is because most companies want an answering service that takes their calls and schedules appointments after hours. 24-hour call answering services offer more robust and flexible services.
  6. Consider the call center location. Both local and international call centers have advantages and disadvantages. A local answering service can visit your office and thus will have a better understanding of your business.
  7. Sensible pricing model. If your company does not receive too many calls, it may not be worth employing a receptionist to handle them. Moat call answering services charge you according to the number of calls you answer. Therefore, you need to consider the pricing and budget before hiring these services.

Benefits of Partnering with a Charlotte Answering Service

The first impression is an essential part of attracting customers to your business. You will not have a second chance to impress individuals who contact your business. Unanswered or missed calls could diminish overall customer satisfaction. One of the things that could discourage customers and clients from calling your business is listening to automated messages. Most callers want to speak to a person who can understand and feel their needs. The benefits that a Charlotte answering service will offer your business go beyond the initial answering of calls, and they include:

Cost-Effectiveness

A call answering service is always a replacement or supplement for receptionists and other office staff. One of the most valuable and immediate benefits you will accrue from partnering with the answering service is to save on the cost associated with seeking, training, and hiring new employees. Since the office receptionists cannot remain by the phone for twenty-four hours, you may need to incur an extra cost to supplement the hours after business hours.

Your Business Will Sound Professional To Clients And Customers

There are several live answering services for small businesses, and you cannot be sure whether these call handling services will provide the services you need with exceptional professionalism. When you hire a receptionist for your business, you cannot control how they answer the phone. For example, if the receptionist has a bad day, you cannot be sure that they will exhibit the right attitude towards the caller.

If you are dealing with professional practice, you want your clients to be met with an attitude that depicts the professionalism of your business. If you want to control how incoming calls to your business are answered, it would be wise to partner with an answering service. Additionally, you can record the calls to ensure they meet the quality you are looking for from the answering service.

Saves Time

There are more important matters to deal with in a business, and you did not want to spend all your time picking phone calls. Also, constant phone calls could interrupt your daily office activities. When you partner with a call answering service, the incoming calls are filtered. The answering service agents will take care of the calls and recording of information, giving you more time to focus on other important business matters.

Work Effectively with Remote Teams

Remote work has become more popular. Many workers participate in remote teams as companies try to explore the benefits associated with work-at-home employees. One of the challenges faced by freelancers is communication. When you hire an answering service, each caller can automatically select the department or person to talk to, and every team member will handle their part.

Ensure You Receive All your Calls

When a potential client or customer calls your business and has no answer or listens to an automated message, they could be tempted to hang up. Missing a call can be disastrous for your business, especially when you hope to capture new clients. You do not want to lose a potential customer, and with a virtual receptionist, you do not have to worry about human errors. When you partner with a Charlotte Answering service, calls can be recorded in order of urgency, making it easier for you to call back the clients and handle their needs.

Secure Industry-Specific Services

Call answering services are not a one-size-fits-all service for all businesses. A call answering service will make sure that they offer support for each client to meet the specific needs of your industry. For example, the response and feedback you give to a customer hoping to purchase a product from your company are not similar to what a client seeking legal guidance wants to receive.

Reduce Managerial Tasks

Hiring and training a receptionist is a lot of work for the management. You will need to train the staff and monitor their work to ensure that they act professionally. Additionally, you will need to offer some performance reviews and deal with any questions and concerns that the receptionist may have. With an answering service, you can avoid all the additional managerial tasks. As soon as the answering service is set to your liking, you will not need to review or update it.

Enjoy Flexible Communications

Call answering services allow you to fulfill several functions like asking your callers to inquire more about your services and working hours. In addition, they will receive your calls and note down the vital information you need to review your client’s needs. When you are free to take the calls, the answering service agents can forward the calls to you.

24 Hour Client Service

When you hire a receptionist for your business, you are likely to miss the calls that come in after the business is closed. You can use a mobile answering service for overflow assistance, 24-hour calls, and out-of-hour cover. When you are hoping to grow your business by attracting more customers or clients, you must be available to take their calls at all times.

Find a Charlotte Answering Service Near Me

When working with an answering service, a critical step is to integrate your company with the call center. This step can be a challenge, but it will ensure that the answering service is conversant with the needs of your business so they can work efficiently. Before settling on an answering service, you should review several candidates. 

When your customers and clients call the business, you want them to feel that someone cares for their needs and concerns. At Best Call Center, we focus on thoroughly understanding your business needs and taking time to integrate our call center with your business to provide good quality services and help you provide better service to your clients. If you seek to expand your business and serve your customers better, we invite you to contact our Charlotte answering service today at 800-385-4656.