A call answering service is a real-time business service that answers phone calls on behalf of your company, greets callers and takes messages for you when you are unavailable to answer the call. Most answering services provide multiple different caller response options such as scheduling appointments, dispatching service technicians, capturing customer information, lead qualification and more.
Compared to interactive voice response systems and other automated solutions, call answering services offer a more personal touch. They can even customize your service to suit the kind of questions and requests that you get most frequently, such as timed greetings (like ‘Good morning’ or ‘Good afternoon’) and how you would like your callers to be greeted.
While hiring a full-time employee to handle calls and live chat can be expensive, using a call answering service is not. These businesses operate 24/7 and typically only charge a small fee per minute of usage.
They will be able to help you with the most common phone call issues, such as billing inquiries or order status. They can also reduce the number of phone calls you need to transfer over to your employees by providing your customers with the answers they need in the form of a recorded message or an automated email. Most answering service companies stay open around the clock to ensure that you never miss a call, which can increase your customer satisfaction levels. They can also offer a range of other business services such as appointment booking, dispatching service technicians and capturing customer information online. call answering service