Hiring a third-party company to answer your business telephone calls is nothing new. What has evolved is the level and types of service they can offer. Rather than simply a message taking service, call handling providers are able to provide you with so much more.
If you’re interested in finding out whether you stand to benefit, keep reading and we’ll provide an overview.
A Virtual Number
Customers often want to maintain a presence in a certain geographical location. This may be because that’s where their registered address is located or for reasons of prestige. A central London number may be more aspirational than a Birmingham number for example.
For this reason, many customers choose to make use of a number that has been generated specifically for them, which they can display on their website and business cards without having to order or manage a phone line.
Outbound Call Services
Services are not limited to only receiving inbound calls. If required, a virtual receptionist or call handling service is able to contact your customers on your behalf and assist them in processing their order or processing an enquiry. This can be taken one step further and even involve cold calls and new lead generation if specific instructions are provided.
Emergency Response
This is where it gets interesting. If you ran a drain unblocking company for example, you would expect to receive requests for emergency drain blocking at all times of the day, even in the middle of the night. There would unlikely be anyone still left in your office, meaning that the call would need to be received directly by a member of staff at home.
To avoid this, an emergency response service could;
- Have a virtual receptionist call the overnight duty manager who could then coordinate his emergency response team. The receptionist would simply relay the details of the call and provide the correct address.
The response procedure to be followed will be tightly controlled by you, ensuring that your direct instructions are carried out.
Holiday and Temporary Cover
It may be the case that you already have a receptionist or call handler. Your full-time members of staff will occasionally fall ill and sometimes even go away on holiday. In these instances, your usual levels of service will still need to be maintained which is why hiring someone to temporarily handle all of your incoming calls can be so beneficial.
Customer enquiries will still be dealt with and messages will be forwarded as per your request, allowing your business to continue to operate seamlessly.
Overflow Call Handling
It might be the case that you already have a number of employees who are dedicated to answering your telephone calls, but what happens when the volume of calls is too great? Calls go unanswered and your business suffers. An overflow service will ensure that any overflow is picked up and handled appropriately.
Hopefully you’re now convinced that a call handling service might be right for you. To give it a try, simply get in touch with a provider for a trial run.
