Have you thought about outsourcing your calls to a Call Answering Service?

You may be surprised to learn that according to this survey published in 2019, 80% of all business communications take place over the phone. That’s right. Even with the popularity of SMS, online contact forms, and chats, when it comes to making a business decision, most of us want to simply talk to someone which is why call answering services are always relevant. We get phone calls for all kinds of reasons. Not every call is a prospective customer but how do we know unless we answer the phone?

Remember those good old days when telephones were about the only way to reach someone.  When companies employed telephone “operators”?  It was so archaic; we dialed a number; an operator would answer and we’d be connected to whomever we wanted.

Communications technology has since grown exponentially.

We have a lot of ways to connect which is why I’m surprised by the aforementioned statistic that 80% of us still prefer phones.

Our HR practices, however, haven’t kept pace.

Receptionists, whose job description was to simply to answer the phone, is now an “ER Tirage Nurse” who manages phone calls, emails, SMS, snail-mail, visitors, and deliveries.

Visitors and deliveries call for immediate attention, so what do you think happens to the other demands. Emails and SMS can, and do get responded to whenever there’s time. Snail mail sits on the desk until time allows and callers will …

• Listen to the phone ring and ring until they lose patience and hang up.

Or

• Be sent immediately to Voicemail and given a grocery list of options.
  • To repeat these options… (Which you’ll need unless you wrote them down on a spreadsheet) press #9
  • To reach the party to whom you wish to speak, hang up and dial this number, 555-555-5555. (Notice how that looks like ZZZZZZ… ?)
  • The person you wish to speak … (disconnected – start again)

Or

• Wait and wait after being put on hold. The recorded voice that interrupts the deep space version of “Moonlight Sonata” to assure them that their call is important isn’t reassuring. (click)

Outsourcing your call management to a call answering service makes a lot of sense.

It’s considerably less expensive than having your own in-house receptionist (If that was still possible.) The professionals managing your calls receive ongoing intensive training. When was the last time your staff was trained on phone etiquette?

OK, full disclosure. My name is Ray Hiltz and I’m the Digital Marketing Director at i24 Call Management Solutions. And yes, I’d love to get your business but this isn’t a pitch, it’s a plea from someone who has all too often been on the other end of that call.

Being in the Call Answering business, I lose patience quickly with poor customer service. When I walk into my Optometrist office and see the receptionist trying to make an appointment for someone standing in front of her while the phone rings and rings. I want to vault over the desk and answer it myself.

We are all customers of someone else.  Ask yourself what drives you crazy then don’t do it yourself.  Focus less on creating systems that make our lives easier and focus instead on making our customer’s lives easier.

They will thank you for it – even better, they will pay you for it.

I heard stories from our customers about the level of stress brought on by the COVID pandemic. What with arranging for employees to work from home and now planning for a limited return to the office, they expressed their gratitude for not having to worry about missing potential business when they need it most. And for consequently being able to get a  good night’s sleep.

There’s even more work to do now as we all try to grab a little normalcy around us. We’re all in the same boat. i24 Call Management Solutions continues to adapt to the COVID disruption.

Like you, we’re juggling a lot of balls – how to return to a new normal business model, adjusting revenue targets, how to (or not) bring employees back to the office, and physically adjusting to COVID space restrictions. One ball we don’t have in the air is answering our customer calls.

We’ve been doing that successfully for over fifty years so lighten the stress and pitch us a ball and we’ll hit it out of the park for you.