Call Answering Services for Small Businesses

In a perfect world, small businesses would be able to keep up with their phone lines, attend to every call that comes through, and never miss a beat. However, the lack of manpower and resources often makes this impossible, especially when business owners are also in charge of managing day-to-day operations.

Fortunately, there are answering services for small businesses that can bridge this gap and make answering incoming calls a seamless part of your business.

What is a Small Business Answering Service?

The best answering service for small businesses includes a virtual receptionist service whose primary function is to manage your call volume by taking over your phone lines, allowing your business to answer calls 24/7 without any interruption.

The concept of virtual receptionist services is not new, but the advancements in technology, like cloud-based solutions and app integrations, have made them an affordable and accessible option for any size business today.

Benefits of 24/7 Phone Answering Services for Small Businesses

Nowadays, most businesses conduct their operations online and via mobile devices—a trend that increases the need for 24/7 call center services. Keeping up with the demands of today’s tech-savvy consumers requires a high level of flexibility, which is exactly what answering services for small businesses offer.

Here are some of the top reasons why you should invest in the best answering service for your small business:

1. Better Call Handling and Productivity Boost

Frequent phone calls tend to disrupt workflow and productivity. Your employees could be dealing with pressing issues at one point and fielding incoming callers at another. A telephone answering service can help you avoid this problem by taking over the responsibility of answering inbound calls and transferring them to your employees only when necessary.

For small businesses, even the slightest boost in productivity can make a big difference in terms of profitability.

2. Improve Client Retention and Customer Satisfaction

In the age of instant gratification, an after-hours answering service can help you provide a better customer service experience. Callers expect quick and efficient solutions, so your business needs to be accessible at all times. A professional answering service can assist you in this regard by offering round-the-clock support.

Customer retention is a key factor in the success of your small business, which makes phone answering services an invaluable investment.

3. More Cost-Effective Than Hiring an In-House Receptionist

For an established medical practice or a busy law firm, hiring an in-house receptionist can be a smart investment and a great way to handle incoming calls and other administrative tasks. However, if you’re running a fairly small business or just getting started, adding a full-time employee can stretch an already tight budget.

With a virtual answering service, you only pay for the services you need and use, not extras like health insurance, sick leaves, and other benefits.

4. Eliminating Staff Recruiting Headaches

Even if it is in your budget to bring on some extra people to handle calls, the actual hiring process can be the source of a lot of frustration and wasted time. Hiring new staff can also mean training and regular monitoring to make sure your new hires are doing things in a way that’s effective and good for your business and image.

A call-answering service gives you instant access to well-trained individuals who are capable of tailoring services based on your specific requests.

5. Generating More Leads From Sales Calls

If you’re like many small business owners, you probably generate a fair amount of your revenue from productive leads generated by sales calls. Limiting your availability to answer phone calls before, during, or even after regular business hours can result in a lot of missed leads. With a low-cost answering service, you could easily find yourself coming in when you start your business day to find an inbox full of potential leads.

Plus, those leads can be prequalified as per your specifications to further increase your odds of getting sales when doing callbacks.

6. Maintaining Access to a Real Person During Calls

These days, consumers expect a personal touch from businesses. So, when someone calling your party supply store, boutique, or auto body shop for the first time gets sent to a voice mail system, they’ll likely hang up and look for a different business instead.

A live answering service makes it possible to have a real person answering calls whenever someone calls. This added human touch can mean the difference between getting an order and losing a potential customer.

7. Incoming Calls are Filtered and Prioritized

Sometimes, the calls coming in are just too overwhelming for you to handle. With the help of expert virtual receptionists, you can limit the number of calls you take and assign priority status to each call.

You can even ask them to forward certain types of calls straight to your cell phone, regardless of what time it is. This can be especially useful for sales calls, as it can help you avoid missing a potential lead.

8. Access to Bilingual Call Center Agents

If you cater to Spanish-speaking callers, a bilingual call answering service like AnswerHero can be a lifesaver. If you don’t speak Spanish and your receptionist doesn’t speak it either, this could result in lost sales opportunities or false information that ends up permanently harming your business.

Having bilingual agents on your side allows you to respond directly to callers’ questions in their native language without having to worry about miscommunications.

9. Having Answering Service Agents On-Hand 24/7

Some businesses, such as those that work with both wholesale and retail customers or that provide medical services, may require urgent phone access at any time of the day. A live answering service can give you that kind of immediate access to agents that are trained to respond immediately when you need them.

You can also get support from your customer service department on nights and weekends, so clients aren’t waiting until the next business day to hear back about their issues.

10. Seamless Integration to Your Favorite Apps and Services

A call-answering service can be a great solution for businesses that rely on existing software and apps to perform their daily tasks. Some services can even offer integration into popular CRM systems, meaning your agents can easily transition from answering calls to following up with leads.

This is great for small businesses that are already overwhelmed with the number of things they need to manage daily. By limiting the number of apps you have to use, you’ll have a much easier time keeping track of your day-to-day operations.

Count on AnswerHero’s Phone Answering Services for Small Businesses

AnswerHero takes pride in being one of the best answering services in the market today. No contracts, no setup fees. Just an affordable and effective service you can count on.

We provide unique call forwarding options, integration with your favorite apps and software, around-the-clock support for both urgent care needs and scheduled calls, plus the option to prequalify leads that come into your business. 

Say goodbye to missed calls and lost opportunities with AnswerHero’s phone answering services for small businesses. Check out our pricing plans or contact us today!