If you’ve ever had to ring a company or business to ask about their services or get in touch with their support team, then you probably know just how frustrating it is to be met with either a voicemail or an automated call attendant instead of another person on the other end.
So, why put your customers through the same process?
As convenient as it might seem at the time, relying on your voicemail or another form of automated call service to pick up potential missed leads is much more likely to hinder your business rather than help it because plenty of customers will just turn to your competitors if you don’t pick up the phone first time.
Of course, you can’t be free to answer calls all the time, so how do you make sure you’re meeting customer demand when you’re either away from your desk, out on call, or relaxing after a hard day’s work?
Simple, you set up a call forwarding system with a reliable live answering service (like VoiceNation). With call forwarding at your side, you can be sure that any customers ringing in will be directed to a human operator when they call.
Keep reading to learn exactly what call forwarding is, the advantages and disadvantages of call forwarding, and how to set up call forwarding for your business.
What is call forwarding?
As the name implies, call forwarding is all about redirecting any callers dialing in towards a specific number besides yours to be answered, whether that’s to handle call overflow, missed numbers, or out-of-hours inquiries when you or your business are otherwise unavailable.
Call forwarding itself also comes in two forms, conditional and unconditional call forwarding, that activate when certain call criteria are met, giving you extra flexibility in how incoming calls are handled.
What is conditional call forwarding?
Conditional call forwarding is a setup by which calls will only be redirected to your forwarding number under certain conditions (hence the name). Usually, this will be after a certain number of rings or seconds, but you can just have it set up to redirect after your phone rings out.
What is unconditional call forwarding?
In contrast to conditional formatting, an unconditional forwarding setup will always forward callers to your redirect number, no matter when they ring, giving you the time you need to focus on other important areas of your job.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of call forwarding?
Given how call forwarding works, we’re sure you can already see many advantages to setting up such a system. We’ve highlighted the main advantages below, as well as a few disadvantages that could arise from when relying on call forwarding:
What are the advantages of call forwarding?
The advantages that come with making use of a call forwarding system are numerous, including, but not limited to, the following:
- Increased leads – with call forwarding in place, you can quickly increase the number of leads your business receives because every call, no matter the time of day, will be answered.
- Improved customer service – in tandem with increasing your leads, never missing an incoming call also makes it easy for you to improve your customer service by being available to handle all customer requests that come your way in a timely and prompt manner.
- 24/7 availability – as call forwarding doesn’t rely on you having to interact with your phone to activate, your business can suddenly be available to your customers on a 24/7 call answering basis, ensuring you capture any calls that fall outside of normal business hours.
- Emergency dispatching – in many cases call forwarding allows you to set up an emergency dispatching system, which can be great for handling emergency requests, for example, if you work in the plumbing pest-control industries.
- Minimal overheads – lastly, with a call forwarding system in place, you don’t have to worry about investing and paying for a full in-house customer service team. Instead, you only have to pay the fees associated with your chosen live answering service.
What are the disadvantages of call forwarding?
Although call forwarding has many advantages associated with its use, there are a few disadvantages that may arise if you don’t select a reputable answering company to work with:
- Poor customer service – while unlikely from more reputable answering services, in the event that you do pick a service with a less than stellar reputation, then it can be hard to guarantee that the receptionists picking up the phone will deliver the level of customer service you might expect.
- Potential missed calls – in the same way that you might be able to guarantee receptionist quality if you wind up working with a company that can’t match their promises, you might very well find that some of your forwarded calls are being missed, defeating the point of having them forwarded in the first place.
- Reliance on another company – at the end of the day, when it comes to call forwarding, you are relying on another company to handle your calls for you, which as we highlighted twice now, makes it much harder to guarantee call quality.
What to look for in an answering service
As you can see, all of the disadvantages associated with call forwarding relate in some form or another to whether or not the company you hire to take your calls for you is reputable or not, so you need to make sure you do plenty of research before picking you call forwarding service to ensure your expectations are met.
So, to start with, it’s essential that you look for a service that prides quality over quantity. You want to know that the operators they employ are trained specifically on your account, and you want to know that there’s a level of quality assurance, such as call auditing, to make sure your calls are being handled the way you want.
On top of this, you also want to take a good look at pricing to make sure there are no hidden fees or taxes that come with using a particular company’s services. Answering services bill by the minute, but they might also charge extra for things like call patching, after-hours services, or bilingual operators.
How to set up call forwarding
How you go about setting up your call forwarding number will depend on your provider. For example, setting up call forwarding with Verizon might be very different to setting up call forwarding with Grasshopper.
For further information on how to set up call forwarding for your specific network, take a look at our other guides on setting up call forwarding for RingCentral and setting up call forwarding for ATT.
Forward your calls through VoiceNation
So, now you know what call forwarding is, and the advantages that come with using this sort of call-answering set-up. And if you’re ready to invest in call forwarding today, then you should get in touch with VoiceNation to inquire about our services.
Experts in the world of live answering, all of our virtual receptionists are professionally trained to ensure every call is answered with the tact, empathy, and respect that your customers deserve.
Speak with our team to learn more about our services, and our different price packages, and to ask about using our free trial!