How an Automated Answering Service Will Improve Your Business

Connecting customers to the right person can be a challenge, especially if your staff is already overwhelmed with inbound communication. Automated answering services can help you connect your customers to the right person while reducing headaches and lowering cost. And, while automated answering services are often stereotyped as creating a hassle for the customer, they can actually improve the customer experience if used correctly.

What Is an Automated Answering Service?

Automated answering services are easy and effective technology to direct callers to the right person within your company. Similar to traditional receptionists, they handle inbound and outbound calls, and can help clients reach employees working remotely or during non-working hours. Automated answering services are significantly less expensive than hiring an in-house employee, plus, they make it possible for your employees to focus on tasks more relevant to them.

Improving Efficiency

An operator or executive assistant is expensive. Even low-paid employees can end up costing more than $40k a year when benefits, training, and other necessities are taken into consideration. In contrast, automated answering services are significantly cheaper and represent significant cost savings.

Even if you do not have an employee who is dedicated to directing calls and call management, an automated answering service creates efficiency by allowing your team to focus on what they do best. Unknown calls that could be for any purpose including basic information, customer support, or even an unwanted sales call from a telemarketer slow down your team and distract them from their core competency.

With an automated answering service, your employees can take calls that already provide basic information such as why a person is calling and what they are hoping to accomplish. This allows them to use their time on the phone more efficiently and frees up space in their schedule for other tasks.

Positive Customer Experience

Automated answering services can potentially create a better customer experience than a live operator when used correctly. For one thing, they reduce dreaded wait times. Nothing is more frustrating than being put on hold and the need to do this can be significantly reduced with an automated answering service.

Additionally, being connected with the right person the first time a customer calls creates a sense of competence. Multiple phone transfers creates the sense that your company is struggling to come up with a satisfactory answer. This can be avoided with a well-designed automated answering system.

Additionally, an automated answering service puts you in the driver’s seat of your brand interaction. Rather than relying on an employee and hoping they greet the customer in a satisfactory way, you can have complete control of what the customer hears when they first call you with a custom pre-recorded greeting. This allows you to create an initial brand experience that is uniform and professional.

Better Corporate Operations

Automated answering services aren’t just good for your customer, but also for the main operations of your business. They reduce the need for your call management to oversee tedious inbound call operations. By letting a machine handle the workload of sorting initial calls, your team can focus on doing what they do best.

Another way that automated answering services improve your operations is by making it easy to sort and measure inbound calls. At just a glance, you can see how many phone calls and voice messages you received, what the purpose of the calls was, and who the caller was trying to contact. Not only is it easy to sort through and retrieve your phone messages, but you also never have to worry about missed calls when you have an automated response online 24 hours a day. All of this can be easily implemented with minimal disruption and no extra hardware.

Fully Customizable

All of these solutions are fully customizable. You can route callers by task, department, or customer service questions. You can create custom call-in numbers that will offer customized greetings and options based on promotions or different geographies. And all of these customizations can be easily and flexibly modified to keep you in control in and out of the office. With all customizations, ROI is there to help you understand what will work best for your business and help you make a decision that will create the most convenient, flexible option possible.

Why ROI?

Of course, it is important to get the right provider to help you implement an automated answering service. ROI Call Center Solutions has years of experience helping clients implement automated answering services that are convenient, powerful, inexpensive, and flexible. We emphasize quality and efficiency as we listen to and identify our client’s specific needs. Contact us today to see how we can help and receive a free consultation.