Category: Answering Service
Use an Answering Service to Save Time
Not only can you use an answering service to save you money, you can also use an answering service to save you time. Imagine that, saving money and time.
This is just one more reason you can’t go wrong when you use an answering service – provided, of course, that you use the right answering service.
Ways answering services can save you time
Reduce Interruptions:
Every time the phone rings it interrupts someone in your organization. Often the disrupted task is more important than the phone call. Plus each time you stop doing something to answer the phone you lose momentum. Not only is this inefficient, but interruptions are also a huge cause of errors. Use a telephone answering service to answer your calls and take messages so you can focus on tasks that are more important and minimize costly mistakes.
Screen Calls
Answering services are great at screening calls: they can take messages on routine (non-urgent calls) and alert the appropriate staff of urgent matters. This balances your need to have minimal distractions and get work done, with the callers’ need for a quick response. Since most calls don’t need an immediate answer, answering services can take messages on those calls and hold them for later. They can transfer pressing calls to the needed party or send a message via text or email to the appropriate individual for a timely response.
Batch Calls
When is your peak workplace efficiency? Everyone has a prime time each day when their focus is sharper and their decisions, better. Identify your ideal window of effectiveness. Have your answering service hold all calls during your time of optimum productivity. Then set aside a block of time each day to respond to all calls, often during your time of lower energy. Also by going from call to call to call, you maximize efficiency.
Dispatch Emergencies
Answering services can also alert staff of urgent calls during the day and your on-call personnel of emergencies after hours. In doing so the time-critical calls are handled quickly, while the routine calls are held for the office. Don’t make your on-call staff answer every call themselves to determine which ones they should handle, let your answering service do it for them and only notify them of the truly important ones. Imagine how much time you will save your afterhours on call staff. They’ll love you for it.
Do Data Entry
Your answering service is an expert at gathering information from callers. Although they can email or text you this information, they can also enter it into a database or contact management system. They can even schedule callbacks for you. There is no need for you, or someone else, to rekey everything. Let your answering service do it for you.
Take Phone Orders
What happens when someone calls to place an order? While your answering service could take a message for you to call them back or even obtain all of the order information, with the appropriate access to your order-taking system they can directly enter the order for you. This saves you from calling the customer back or rekeying information.
Your answering service can do so much more than just answer the phone and take messages. They can save you time by reducing interruptions, screening calls, batching calls, dispatching emergencies, doing data entry, and taking orders.
Your answering service can save you and your staff so much time.
Peter DeHaan, PhD, is a freelance writer and publisher of TAS Trader that covers the telephone answering service industry.
