Answering Service for Small Business

If you are a small business owner, you sure must know what a client call means to your business. Almost every client call presents an opportunity to make money and take your business to another level. However, if your business requires you to spend long hours outdoors, your client calls are likely to go unanswered. More so, if you do not have a full time receptionist. Often, small businesses run on a strict budget, hence are low on staff. Employing a full time receptionist can cause a dent in the budget. However, not employing one can cause you to lose on business opportunities, thereby resulting in financial loss. An answering service for small business could be your answer to this problem. So, what are these small business answering services? How does an answering service for home business work? Let us find out answers to all these questions.

What is an Answering Service for Small Business

Answering service is different from answering machine for small business. Answering machines may not be the best option for small business. Some people find them perfectly annoying and refuse to speak to a machine. You may have experienced that potential clients often hung up, if they are greeted by a computer generated disembodied voice! The irritating 'on hold' music and the never ending automated instructions asking you to press several keys before you can reach a human voice, truly test one's patience. If your potential clients have to go through such an ordeal even before they make a deal, they are bound to have second thoughts regarding the quality of your business. Besides, an answering machine often projects an amateur and unprofessional image of your business. This could be detrimental for you and your business. Every business, irrespective of its size, has to look after its brand image. Hence, you cannot afford to lose your clients just because you are single handedly running a company and you cannot afford a staff to take care of your incoming calls. An answering service for small business helps you to create a professional image of your company and that too without the expenses of a full time receptionist.

Live answering services for small business are companies that specialize in answering calls on behalf of their clients. These companies have dedicated teams of receptionists who often work round the clock answering calls, taking messages and reporting to their respective clients. When you register for such a service, all the incoming calls are automatically directed to the answering service center, whenever you are unable to receive them. The receptionist at the service center speaks to your client on your company's behalf. Then, you receive an email regarding the details of the client call, which enables you to act accordingly. Some services even text you on your mobile number, so that you can immediately call the client, without turning on your computer.

Answering services or call centers provide a range of services such as fax, toll-free 800 business number, voicemail box, etc. The biggest advantage of this service is that you can now run your business 24x7, since your client calls will be answered even when you are away. This will help you to build a professional and customer friendly image amongst your clients. The virtual receptionist also performs additional tasks such as scheduling appointments, taking orders online and customer support. This type of services cannot be achieved with the help of any automated machine. Besides, these services come really cheap, meaning, you would only be spending a fraction of what you would on a full time receptionist.

Thus, you would make a wise decision by hiring an answering service for small business. These services have helped several small businesses to flourish into bigger organizations.