Never miss a call again
If you don’t want to miss that all important call, or maybe you don’t have anyone to cover the phones whilst your busy working, you have staff off sick, on holidays or on a break, then this is service you can’t do without.
There are companies out there that offer a call handling service, for a small monthly fee plus a per call handled rate or some offer a fixed monthly price. For this price your calls can be handled efficiently and effectively as if they person was working for you.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
So you have your landline number, with one of the major providers or maybe you use a mobile number for your business calls and you are wondering how on earth you can get these calls answered by someone at the other end of the country?
Well the call handling company will provide you with either a divert number, which you give to your provider, (they might charge you for the calls to be diverted or they might have a package you can add on to your current one, to reduce this cost). The caller then dials your usual business number and just like magic without the caller being aware the calls are being secretly diverted to the call handling company for them to answer on your behalf. They even answer the call in the greeting you have provided.
Or, if you prefer the call handling company can give you a number from their system which you can display on all your promotional material, if you don’t want to use your home number or personal mobile for your business. The price for this number is significantly less than a traditional landline number with a major provider. I explain a little bit more about this in the “what equipment are they using to answer my calls” section below.
If you use a mobile number for your business calls, it also works in the same way as if you had a landline number but you divert the calls directly from an option on your mobile phone. Again, there might be a charge for diverting your calls from your mobile phone provider.
For both options you can set the calls to divert at all times, as and when you wish or when you are unavailable to take the calls yourself.
WHO IS ANSWERING MY CALLS?
So you have the calls being diverted but who is now the giving the first impression of your business? Which counts right?
Call handling companies have staff who are fully trained, professional call handlers. Some companies have an office and all the call handlers work there on site together, others choose to use remote workers who work together, efficiently, but they could be placed all over the United Kingdom. The call handlers usually have other skills, which could be utilised by you, for instance, admin tasks, email management and calendar management to name a few.
WHAT EQUIPMENT ARE THEY USING TO ANSWER MY CALLS?
The majority of call handling companies use a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) system and phone, to answer your calls.
These phones don’t need to be plugged in to a traditional phone socket and only need to have a power source and a connection to the internet. They can either be wireless or wired directly in to a broadband router. The call quality is exactly the same as a traditional landline phone but the best bit for you is, they are a lot cheaper to run and the call fee’s are also a lot less than a traditional service. Win, Win!
WHAT SERVICES DO THEY OFFER?
As well as answering your incoming calls, a call handling company can also make outgoing calls on your behalf, once given access to your software, they can manage your diary and book appointments for your clients to see you. They can also manage a live chat feature you might have on your website or your social media messages. They can provide you with all your customer service needs under one roof.
WHAT TYPES OF COVER DO THEY PROVIDE?
A call handling company, can offer you full time and part time cover and when they are closed they usually have a personalised voicemail set up, which is unique to your business. On the next working day, they either forward the voicemail messages to you for you to deal with or they can listen to them on your behalf and deal with the message themselves. They also offer, daily, hourly, weekly, holiday or ad-hoc cover, they are there when you can’t be.
As you can see this is a service that you can’t do without, just think of it this way, if you don’t answer that call and it goes to a voicemail message, what impression are you giving about your business to new clients? If you don’t answer the call, the caller might go elsewhere.
HOW DO I FOUND OUT MORE?
To find out more on how I can help you to never miss a call again, please click here to book your FREE 30 minute Consultation Call with me to discuss this.
