Has coronavirus slowed down your business?  

Peyton Duplechien • 16 Mar 2020 • 3 min read

Right now, many small business owners are worried about the economic impact of having to greatly modify or shut down operations during this recommended isolation period.  

Look into alternative ways to get sales 

There are a few things that can be done now to help keep your business afloat as you see sales decrease: 

  • Go digital. Shift your sales to an e-commerce model. Even during coronavirus isolation, consumers still need goods and have plenty more time to shop online.  
  • Increase marketing efforts. Been putting off figuring out marketing automation tools, such as drip email campaigns or social media advertising? Now is a great time to brush up and get your business out there for on people’s computers, phones and tablets.  
  • Offer gift cards. If you’re in more of a service industry – like spas, salons, restaurants – consider pushing gift cards as an option for people to support your business when the isolation is over. 
  • Consider a loan. The government may provide funds to help keep you in business during this isolation.   

Prepare for the return of normal business 
The coronavirus isn’t going to last forever. In fact, there may be a post-isolation economic surge. With so many people limiting contact and staying indoors, once it’s safe to resume normal activity, people are going to want to shop, dine out and more.  
As a small business owner, the last thing you want to do is be unprepared for a surge of business. Monitor your inventory, keep in touch with your employees about returning to work and make sure you have the capacity to answer phone calls when you’re back in business. 
Communication is still king in business, and especially after isolation, people will probably be calling your business for information, to see if you’ve re-opened and other frequently asked questions.  
You’ll probably be incredibly busy running your business when you return to normal operations and handling more customers than usual. But you still need to be able to answer your calls. 
Live answering service can help 
With live answering, you forward your phone lines to third-party operators who will answer your calls for you. This allows you to run your business, while all your calls are being handled seamlessly. Operators will take your messages and then forward them to you, so you can prioritize who to call back first.  
It also prevents your callers from getting a busy signal or landing in voicemail. This provides the high-level of customer experience consumers expect. Not having a call answered can lead to customer frustration and be perceived as a bad experience. This might cause you to miss out on business. 
Now is the time to do your research 
In this downtime of social isolation, it’s a great opportunity to look for the right answering service. You have a lot of choices, so be careful looking into the different kind of features you need. Some features that answering services offer are: 

  • 24/7 live answering. Many answering services only offer after-hours call answering. But with 24/7 live answering, you’ll be able to capture calls that come in before hours or beyond after hours. Also, many answering services don’t offer call answering on the weekends. If you ever come into to work on a Monday morning with a full voicemail, consider having an answering service that can handle weekend calls. 
  • Custom scripting. To get the most detailed messages, consider an answering service that has custom scripting beyond a greeting. Custom scripting allows you to provide your answering service operators with exactly how you want your calls to be answered. Not only will get you get more information in your messages, but your callers will have a more seamless experience in speaking with the operators. They may think it’s just another employee in your office answering the phone! 
  • U.S.-based operators. Be careful when considering outsourcing your calls. Just like with custom scripting, U.S.-based operators will provide a seamless experience when answering your calls. 

VoiceNation can do it all and more! 
At VoiceNation, we have the technology that allows for custom scripting and we’ll answer your calls 24/7/365. All of our operators are based in our Atlanta office. We’ve been working remote since the start of coronavirus, so our operations haven’t slowed down one bit. We’re ready to start taking your calls! With instant activation, our operators start answering right away. 
Take a look at our features and our plans and pricing. Have questions? Give us a call! 877.679.3777