As a small business owner, it’s important that you spend your time doing what earns your company money to survive and thrive. Telephone calls can be the life blood bringing new customers or clients your way, but they can also eat into the time you have to do the doing and meet your existing obligations.
How may I direct your call?
Filtering your calls and having a way to receive messages in a timely way and route important calls directly to you, wherever you are, can make a huge difference in terms of making best use of your time and getting the value from the calls you receive. One way to do this is to employ a receptionist, but if you’re just starting out the overheads of taking on a member of staff and all the responsibility that entails can be daunting and unrealistic.
Another way to manage your calls is using automated telephone answering. The service gives you the chance to select the options your callers hear and sort the wheat from the chaff. See our main page on Automated Call Answering for me details on how this could help you business.
Control over your calls
The phone can be your best friend and your worst enemy when you’re just starting out in business. You want the phone to ring with the next venture that could take your company to the next level but on the other hand, it takes time to answer calls and deal with callers. That time could be golden if it leads to your next big contract, but could be less beneficial if it’s a cold caller or routine admin matter that could be dealt with at a time when you’re better placed to answer such queries.
The last thing you want is your calls going unanswered.
Selecting the options on your automated phone answering service can take all the guesswork out of taking calls. With the option to have calls sent to a landline or mobile phone number or directed to a voicemail service, you can more easily sort out which kinds of calls you want to answer immediately when you can and which you can deal with later. So, for example, new sales enquiries could route directly to your phone while existing account queries can hit a voicemail to be collected at a time that’s convenient.
Professional image
While people sometimes grumble about the multi-option telephone systems used by many companies, all would probably agree that it’s something they would expect from an established organisation rather than a new business. By opting to route your calls through an automated system, you have the benefit of conveying a professional impression of your company with minimal investment. This means that not only do you get more control over your phone calls; you also get the fringe benefit of generating an image of your business that speaks of establishment and security.
Share responsibility with multiple colleagues
If your business has more than one employee or more than one location, that needn’t mean a complicated list of numbers for clients and suppliers to call. Automated call handling allows callers to phone one central number and choose the option for the person they wish to speak to before being redirected to their number. This works even if your employees or partners aren’t in the same location, and can take a mix of mobile phones and landline numbers depending on what works for each individual and takes the guesswork out of calling for your clients.
Of course, the benefit of easy contact is that clients are more likely to call. More calls hopefully mean more work, and that is good for business.
Conclusion
Automated call handling systems are affordable, easy to set up and create the right impression of your business with your clients. With the option to sift calls, route to the right people and deal with callers out of hours, they give you security that you won’t miss the next vital call heralding a big contract.