This is something that we sometimes get asked about.

Yes we can do this for our clients.  However following the old adage ‘Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.’  The following is why.

If you are using a service such as ours and your calls have been diverted to come through for us to answer on your behalf, it usually for a good reason.  Most of the time it means that you are too busy to take  calls. 

Imagine this

So just for a moment – Imagine this

You make a call to be it to a customer or a client

The person that takes your call says they will ‘put you through’

 You dutifully hold on the line

The ‘operator’ is trying to connect (you are still on hold) but they are unable to.  This could be because the person you are trying to reach is out of area on a mobile phone, in a meeting, or for any other reason, too numerous to mention.  (Voicemail can take some time to connect.)

The ‘operator’ comes back to you to say that the person you were trying to reach isn’t available.  Politely asking if you would like to leave a message so that they can return your call.

Perhaps it would have been better for the operator to simply take a message in the first instance, saving the caller the indeterminable ‘on hold’ time.

 Reality

However it is fair to say that call forwarding works for some clients, those who are larger organisations or those that do keep us informed up to the minute of their whereabouts.  Reality is that a lot of our clients are simply too busy to keep us this informed.  If they get a last minute call to attend an important client meeting they are safe in the knowledge their calls are handled professionally.  Safe in the knowledge that even though they aren’t answering the call their competitors certainly aren’t either!

Well it looks like it is heads down and noses to the grindstone for 2012 then.

Opportunity to Work Smarter!

Here at Answer-it we believe that 2012 is a great opportunity for a fresh start, time to work smarter.  We want to continue helping businesses.  Making sure that they never miss another phone call, for whatever reason that may be.  If the phones are really busy and you need overflow support, if you are in a meeting either in your office or if you have had to go out.  When you want to take some time to sort out paperwork a proposal or just work ‘on’ the business.  The Answerettes are there to pick up the phone and deal with the call as dilligently as your own receptionist or PA.
So while you are putting all your efforts into making 2012 hugely profitable, we will make sure that the money you have invested in marketing your business doesn’t ever go to waste, by making sure the phone is answered every time it rings.  No more chancing it and leaving it to voicemail.  Making sure you have the time to speak and have the right information to hand.
Providing excellent customer service to your clients and prospects, letting them speak to a real person each time they call your business.

Start 2012 the Right Way

So the Answerettes want to help you start your 2012 the right way!

We are offering a Free no obligation Trial Month of the Answer it service to the first 5 business’s that call  or Email us.

If after the trial you decide to stay with the service once you have used the service for 2 months we’ll give you another little bonus too!

So act quickly and call or Email so that you do not miss out!

You’d be MAD to miss out!

(Our usual rule of not taking our trial when you are on holiday still applies)

I recently heard a very worrying story from a new client.  They had met a ‘Virtual Assistant’ at an event some time ago and decided that the Telephone Answering service that was offered was a great idea.  It became apparent however when a call was taken for one of their clients by someone clearly not in an office and unable to take a message.  They also made it very clear they were an outsourced service.  This particular client did NOT want their callers made aware that they were using an outsourced answering service.

 As a consequence they ended their contract and were very dubious about employing another service due to the unacceptable experience they had previously encountered.  They had been struggling and missing calls for a year, rather than engage another service.

 Needless to say they were a little uncertain and needed plenty of reassurance and are we understand satisfied with the service Answer-it is providing them.

The point then of this post is to make sure that if you do require telephone answering and it is offered do make sure your need can be met.  IF you are happy with calls being taken on a mobile phone in other people’s offices, IF you are happy not to have calls answered in your company name. 

Specialists

We and specialists like us use some great technology to make what we do work most effectively for your business.  Making sure your callers receive the best service possible.  Our team are all office based which means that information sharing is instant.  For example duplicate calls can be handled effectively.  Our team are not distracted by other jobs.  For example we are not completing stacks of data entry for another client, or typing up proposals.  When the phone rings for your business we are focused simply on that caller and your business.  We have the tools to enable us to do just that.

 Of course all VA’s are not the same and some do outsource on a white label basis to specialist companies such as ourselves.

If you’d like to see, feel and hear the difference for yourself we invite you to take advantage of a free trial of our service.

So what don’t you know?

Did you know that your height is equivalent to the distance between your two longest fingers?  See you didn’t know, that you didn’t know that, before you read that did you?
[Of course there will be the odd smarty pants who did know that]

I bet you don’t know how many phone calls you might miss throughout the course of a normal day.  Could you even guess?  Does it occur to you those that hang up before voicemail kicks in, those who hang up when they get an engaged tone.  Ok so you don’t know the answer to that and actually it would be very challenging if not impossible to really work that out.  But all the same now you know that they are there.

What you probably know.

However you do probably know what an average sale for your business is worth.  You probably also know what your conversion rate on telephone enquiries to sales is.

Would you like to know? 

So would you like to get an idea of what calls you might be missing? Would you like to know about potential sales that are going directly to a competitor as your customer couldn’t reach you by telephone?  Even more importantly would you like to capture those missed calls and have the opportunity to convert them to sales?

 If you would then why not take advantage of a free trial with us at Answer-it and find out exactly what you didn’t know that you didn’t know. Call 01954 253770 or Email us today.

The upheaval of the office move

Each of them have let us know they are moving and very wisely arranged their diverts before they moved so that during the upheaval of  ‘Moving day / even week’  Service to their customers and suppliers was unaffected.

The Answer-it Team (The Answerettes) were able to continue taking calls and the pressure of mobile phones ringing and issues with phone lines and missing calls has been well and truly off the list of stress for these business owners.

Most are now comfortably settled in their new premises, some are still experiencing  a few teething problems with telephone suppliers (they shall remain nameless!) For those still having issues though, they know that all calls are being answered and dealt with efficiently.

One of our clients had this to say – :

‘With the Trauma of moving 1 address to another we wanted to be well prepared for any issues with phone companies, that we might encounter.  We wanted to  plan ahead for the flexibility of moving ‘our way.’ to do things more efficiently working to own agenda and timetable.  Using the ‘Answer-it service meant that we were able to do this without any fuss.  Having used Answer-it for sometime there was no disruption to the service we provide our clients  

Troels Jordanssen – Breast Health UK

Planning Ahead.

In conclusion then it appears it pays well to plan ahead and be able to work to your own agenda and timetable.  Get in touch – we can help.

Don’t you just LOVE them?  So while auto dialers and recorded calls are quite easy to figure out and hang up on, the cold caller can be more tricky!

Usually the caller will verify the name of the company they are calling. (Annoying because you just answered with it.)
They will then go on to ask for ‘The Managing Director.’ (Annoying when they are not calling a Limited Company.) or ‘The Person in charge of…..’ / ‘The Office Manager.’  ‘The Owner.’ (Annoying when they have called a Limited Company.)

The responses you get range from the inane to cheeky to downright rude at times.  Well that is if the caller can understand you.  It  still  puzzles me that a business trying to sell its products by telephone through the cold calling medium employ people who clearly cannot speak the language of those they are calling. [Answers on a postcard!]

When offered a call back they respond with ‘Ok I will call them back,’ and then hang up.  It is very clear that they weren’t listening to a word you said.

But it is the frustration of picking up these calls especially if you are involved in a piece of work, just walking out of the door, or expecting an important call.

Volume of calls and Trial Period

We recently covered the phones over a trial period for a company.  During the week we passed on just 5 messages.  They were either orders, sales enquiries or relating to a service call.  The company signed up straight away, without hesitation.  Why I hear you asking – 5 calls surely they could handle those internally without the need to outsource.  Ahhh, the why is made clearer when we reveal that over the week the Answerettes actually took around 60 calls for this client.  All sales calls, recorded messages or auto dialers.  They were so pleased that all these calls had been eliminated from their business, they had no hesitation in signing up.

Recently a cold caller did manage to reach one of our clients [we assume her divert was turned off] and she told us the cold caller described you guys as ‘the best gatekeepers in history!’ 

Would you like a trial of the Answer-it service to put our gatekeeping to the test?

Talking and Understanding

So I got to talking to people about it, in terms of both what they understood it to mean to them, both as a customer and in terms of how it related to their business.  Thoughts were varied but really, most people came to a similar thought, that Customer Service  is something given to a customer and ‘Customer Experience’ is something that is in the hands of the customer, it’s what they take away having had an interaction with your business.  Important to note here though that to have a ‘Customer Experience’ lots of people mentioned that you don’t necessarily need to have bought / made a transaction with a company.  Indeed some went on to say that the customer experience continues even after a transaction has been made. 

It was clear that there are many facets to the ‘Customer Experience’  interaction with the website, making a telephone call to the business, the literature and printed material, reviews and blogs as well as social media interaction.  So an awful lot to take in and to manage as a business owner.

Personal thoughts on giving and taking

Personally I keep coming back to the same thoughts though and that is – If the ‘Customer Experience’ is what the Customer ‘takes’ then surely the business has to provide this.  Following this then if the business has to provide it, it is given and is therefore one and the same as ‘Customer Service’ albeit perhaps highlighting the fact that this can be on the different levels mentioned earlier, and not necessarily involve a transaction, but always an interaction.

So is ‘Customer Experience’ the right term or do we need to add ‘Prospect Experience,’  ‘Current Customer Experience’  to the repertoire too?  Personally I don’t think so, but the USA and business speak type people might think so.  Perhaps ‘Service’ on it’s own is a better fit?

Regardless what you call it though, it’s all about caring for all the people who come into contact with your business and creating a brilliant impression on them.  Whether they are your oldest most faithful customer or a passing prospect who might just become your newest raving fan.  So however you interact with them make sure you are sending out the right message.

STOP READING HERE or   How we can help – Simply

Of course I’d like to advocate here the benefits of Answer-it Telephone Answering Service and how we can help you in this quest.  Making sure anyone who calls your business get’s that brilliant impression of your business.  Really something as simple as letting people speak to real people every time they call is getting even more important.  But I’ll stop there!

In short we don’t supply these phone numbers.  Plenty of companies in our field do.  Let’s face it it’s an extra revenue stream another service to offer another string to the bow….

 Transparency

BUT what are the consequences to a client?  We believe this supply ought to be transparent and that our clients should ALWAYS be in control of their phone line when it is their main line into the business.  If bought through a service provider such as an answering service we would always advise that you find out BEFORE you sign up that this number is yours, you own it and it can be moves with you if you decide to change service provider.

Needless to say the consequences of the number not being yours and not being able to move it if you need to change supplier or simply decide to stop using such a service.

It can be a scary time, losing your business phone number.

I have heard all sorts of horror stories all a variation on this same theme, from various sources.  Imagine what you would do if you lost your main business phone number….

We do provide this service through an introduction to reputable company.  So we offer no less of a service and can work with you and take the stress out of organising this BUT we want to be as transparent as possible.  In this way the number you have is yours, all yours and you can do what you like with it, when you want to.  And we don’t charge you for it!

We are offering a Free no obligation Trial Month of the Answer it service to the first 5 business’s that call  or Email us.

If after the trial you decide to stay with the service once you have used the service for 2 months we’ll give you another little bonus too!

So act quickly and call or Email so that you do not miss out!

You’d be MAD to miss out!

(Our usual rule of not taking our trial when you are on holiday still applies)

New Technology

Now don’t get me wrong mobile phones are great and the advent of new technology means mobile phone can be a brilliant tool in business.  You can use it as a GPS device, respond to your Email, access the internet and keep up in the world of social media.  Who knows you might even be reading this blog post from your phone!

A Practical Solution or Not?

 However there are some problems.  If you only have a mobile phone number listed as your contact number for your business, for some it raises issues.  From a purely practical point of view using a mobile can be tricky.  If you are away from your landline phone, you are probably engaged in another activity, perhaps a meeting or performing task for a client so probably unable to answer your mobile phone.  It may also be unsafe to do so especially if you are driving, even if ‘hands free.’  If you are out of the office and can answer your mobile phone, it is unlikely you will be able to look up details a caller needs.  It is also unlikely that you are able to make coherent notes, so that you can return the call later.

 Understandably you may think that using a mobile prevents people from having to use voicemail.  If your phone is in a bad signal area or you cannot answer, the issue you were trying to avoid rears its head again.  Callers are forced to listen to that dreary monotonous voicemail recording.

Professional or Not?

Consider also; how professional it is to speak to a client or indeed a prospect when you have little signal and the sound quality is poor.  Worse still if the call is dropped.

 Factor in also that the public perception of a business operating with just a mobile number is fairly gloomy.  Having asked a variety of people it throws up lost of issues of trust and experience.  Clearly the trust factor is huge and for many the thought of paying a company who operate with only a mobile number is a big cause for concern. Questions such as ‘will they be there tomorrow, or if something goes wrong?’ start to crop up.

In fact someone I discussed this matter with told me that if you accept credit card payments the merchant services provider requires the business to have a landline.  Another I spoke to said simply that they found the practice screamed, home office, and unreliable.’ Also making the point that these numbers as well as 0845 or other non geographic numbres can be pointed enywhere.  Others also commented that calling a mobile phone from a landline is or at least perceived to still be expensive by many.

 If many numbers are listed you do risk sending callers of on a bit of a treasure hunt to be able to contact you, dialling number after number with no success can at best be annoying and at worst why should your customers have to ‘hunt’ for you?

Damaging to the Business and Brand?

So the image and branding of you and your business may also be put on the backfoot if you are only displaying a mobile phone number or indeed a list of numbers.

The Answer?

We may be biased but wouldn’t it be better to advertise / display just a landline number, and have it answered efficiently and professionally each and every time someone calls your business?  There are other solutions but we think that http://answer-it.co.uk fits the bill and judging by our testimonials so do many of our clients.