Happy Thanksgiving! Today is a day of friends, family and of thanks. As a business owner, you’re probably enjoying a well-deserved day off work. Good for you! But who is answering your phones while you’re enjoying the holiday?
Why it’s important to always answer the phone
Answering the phone is critical from two standpoints – it’s a great for capturing leads, and it provides great customer service to your existing clients. Answering the phone is a very simple thing, but it’s hard to follow through on answering every single call. Especially in these scenarios:
Solicitation calls
This is a major time waster for you. You want to answer every call you get, but if it’s a solicitor, this provides no benefit for you and you’re stuck trying to get off a call with a salesperson. And perhaps missing important calls in the meantime.
Robocalls
These are worse than solicitation calls, and they are becoming more and more prevalent. The majority of robocalls are spam, and picking up is yet another time waster – but how can you be sure that unknown number isn’t a lead or a customer?
After hours
You probably don’t want to go home for the day and bring your office with you. You need a break! You simply can’t be available 24 hours a day, so your after-hours calls are going to voicemail and you spend the next morning sorting and prioritizing your call-backs.
Holidays
Just like today, you want to spend time with friends and family – not working. But that doesn’t mean your phone takes a holiday, too. Consumers in need of a product or service are more likely to call the next business on their list if their call isn’t answered. By not having your phones manned during holidays, you’re potentially missing leads.
How virtual receptionists can help
Virtual receptionists are the solution if you find yourself facing any of those issues. By using an answering service, you’ll have a team of virtual receptionists answering your calls when you aren’t available. Imagine being able to enjoy a holiday, or a vacation, or time at home after a busy day at the office without worrying you’re missing important phone calls. And say goodbye to the frustration of solicitors and robocalls. Virtual receptionists will be the filter for all your calls. They let you know who to call back and what calls are time wasters.
Virtual receptionists are trained to answer your calls with your words. By using custom scripting, you’re able to provide the greeting you want them to say to your customers. You can also provide them with the questions you’d like them to ask when they take your messages – including the name of the caller, the reason for calling and much more. Then those messages are sent straight to you – either through text, email, an online dashboard or, in some cases, a mobile app. Virtual receptionists may also be able to:
- Process orders
- Book appointments
- Provide bilingual answering
- Call forwarding
- 24/7/365 call answering
Best answering service solutions at VoiceNation
At VoiceNation, our virtual receptionists can provide all of those services. We’ll answer your calls 24/7, weekends and holidays, too. Our highly trained virtual receptionists will take messages and we have an incredibly intuitive mobile app that allows you to get those messages right away. What’s more, we provide the best reports & analytics in the industry, generated through our online dashboard and our mobile app. You can see who called, when, from where, how often and the length of the call. Break down your calls by day, week and month to see when your highest call volume is to help better market your business.