subject: Telephone Answering Services [print this page] Many businesses today have foregone the use of receptionists in their offices and use an automated voicemail system instead, and many of the staff uses their cell phones constantly. This has had mixed responses from many clients and customers, most of whom prefer speaking to a live person when they call a business! If you own or manage a business you want to consider carefully the use of telephone answering services and how these companies can benefit you in many different ways. One reason to think carefully about the use of telephone answering services is that if your company is not responsive to the needs of your customers and clients, youre more likely to lose them to a competitor! The company down the street or thats next in the phone book that does have a live person answering their phones may be the one that gets a clients business. So how do full-time telephone answering services or even those you hire for several hours per day actually help your business in real ways? One thing to consider is that you may be on the road meeting with customers or clients, and having constant interruptions of your cell phone ringing is seen as very rude. With telephone answering services you can safely turn off your cell phone and know that your calls will still be handled properly. Hiring telephone answering services also means that your calls wont interrupt you in the middle of the night or when youre taking care of other responsibilities. You can safely shut off your phone to spend time with the family or handle other business responsibilities and not feel as if youre shutting off your clients and customers. Since they will be speaking to a live person at those phone answering services, you dont need to constantly check your voicemail or worry that they will call another client or customer.
Typically with phone answering services you can give them basic instructions on simple messages to relay to certain ones or as to how some calls can be handled. Phone answering services are not typically secretaries and cannot run your business for you, but sometimes simple information such as where your business is located or times when you can be reached can be given out to callers. This means that those reaching phone answering services will get the information they need and will be less likely to simply hang up when they get a voicemail. Using phone answering services can make your business seem more professional to those that call and this means theyre more likely to frequent your business. When a company seems professional then this means someone will use that company more often, and something as simple as having telephone answering services handle your business for even a few hours per day can give you a competitive edge. In todays business world, every company could use all the advantages it can get!
