How call handling can improve your business

Whether you run a small company of 20 team members or a large, multinational corporation of over 1000 employees, running a business is no easy task. From monitoring the latest trends in your field to making sure your employees are paid on time, there are lots of responsibilities to undertake as a business owner. For this reason, you’ll want to put measures in place to make work life easier for you and your employees and to make sure that the day-to-day running of your company goes smoothly.

One of the most useful measures to consider putting in place for your business is call handling. This is where you outsource your incoming telephone calls to an external call handling provider, typically a dedicated team of service providers based in a call centre, to make sure your customers’ calls are always picked up. This is just one reason to implement a call handling system in your office, but of course there are many more.

Below, we discuss how call handling could improve your business and why it’s a service all companies should consider. First, however, we’ll answer the question: what is call handling and how does it work?

What is a call answering service?

As a business owner, you’ll know that opening up a line of communication between your company and its customers is an important way to making sure you stay ahead of the competition and offer a top-quality service. However, with busy schedules and a constant stream of tasks to complete, it can be difficult for your employees to answer the phone – and give the caller their full attention – at all times of day. This is where a call handling service comes in.

With a call answering service, your incoming calls will be redirected away from your office towards a team of professional call handlers. They will be trained in all areas of your business to ensure they give the caller the most accurate and up-to-date information possible, before passing on the details of the conversation to your employees.

For instance, if you have a specific hotline dedicated to booking MOTs, hair appointments or health check-ups, your call handling team will access your company calendar to arrange these on your behalf. You can then process the information at a time that suits you. Your chosen call handlers can also pass along voicemails and take messages to make sure you never miss a memo.

How could call handling services benefit your business?

For many businesses, call handling services are a lifesaver! There are many benefits to consider, as we’ve touched on already, which we discuss in more detail below.

Make sure you never miss a call

Anyone who has worked in a busy office will know just how easy it can be to miss a call. Whether you’ve stepped out for a minute to use the bathroom or the noisiness of the work floor means you didn’t hear your phone ring, it can be frustrating to realise you’ve missed a call. As a business, it’s important that your customers and partners can contact you quickly and easily, but after a few missed calls, they aren’t going to be impressed.

For this reason, many businesses decide to employ a call handling service. With a team of professional phone handlers dedicated to taking your calls, you can rest assured that you’ll never miss a call. Your callers won’t have to deal with the frustration of calling back again and you won’t miss out on important business deals or the chance to secure a new customer.

Operate outside of normal business hours

Do you work with customers or business partners from across the world? If yes, you’ll want to find a way of offering your customers the chance to contact you outside of your normal business hours. For close business partners and international employees, communicating via email will suffice, however, you don’t want to come into work and have to reply to hundreds of emails sent by customers overnight.

To resolve this issue and make sure there’s always someone there to represent your business, invest in a call handling service. If they offer a 24-hour service, you’ll be able to offer your customers an around-the-clock service that’s convenient for you and them.

Improve your customer service

Positive customer service can take a company from good to great, so making sure your customers feel valued and appreciated at all times is essential. One great way to do this is to make sure they are spoken to by a professional, polite and efficient member of staff whenever they call. Unfortunately, when your employees are rushed off their feet, it can be difficult for them to dedicate 100% of their attention to the person on the other side of the phone, which is where a professional call handler comes in.

Your dedicated team of call handlers won’t be snowed under with other tasks, meaning they can dedicate their time to answering your customers’ questions comprehensively and politely. Your customers will put down the phone feeling appreciated and with the information they need, which will go a long way in creating customer loyalty.

Deal with customer complaints quickly

If a customer is dissatisfied with the service they’ve received, it’s important to resolve the issue at hand quickly and appropriately. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing a valuable customer and tarnishing your reputation. Clearly, this is something you need to avoid at all costs – so make sure you put measures in place to ensure all customer calls and complaints are dealt with quickly and professionally.

Hiring a call handling service is the most efficient way to do this. The team at hand will make sure your customers’ complaints are dealt with quickly and to the highest of standards, and will be able to pass over the details of the complaint to you as soon as possible.

Free up valuable employee time

Your employees are likely to be rushed off their feet at all times of day, and may not have the time to answer every incoming phone call. It’s impossible to predict how long a phone call might take, especially if you have a customer with lots of questions or feedback to share, and if your employees have important meetings to attend or deadlines to meet, expecting them to complete their day-to-day tasks while answering every call that comes through is unrealistic.

To take the pressure off your employees and make sure they aren’t too stretched, consider the benefits of a call handling service. By outsourcing your calls, you can make sure your customers are receiving the attention they deserve without giving your employees additional stress. This will free up valuable time for your in-house employees and make sure they have the capacity to focus on the most important tasks.

Minimise stress caused by employee absences

Employee absences are to be expected in any business, and while you can do your best to plan around holidays and other types of pre-planned annual leave, it’s difficult to prepare for unexpected sick days and so on. It can be particularly difficult to put a plan in place if your receptionist is away for the day, as this is a job role that few other employees would be able to take over without warning.

Fortunately, by hiring a telephone handling service, you can make sure there’s someone dedicated to many of the tasks your receptionist would usually be responsible for, such as taking phone calls and writing down messages. This is a great way to make sure you never miss a potential sale or business deal, even during periods of unexpected absences.

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