Business owners hire answering services for a wide variety of reasons. Maybe your business is booming with new customers and an increased call volume is making it more difficult to maintain the same level of high-quality care and service to all your customers. This slip in customer service is starting to stunt the growth your business was enjoying and, in fact, your loyal customers are starting to complain.

They’re not alone. A Consumer Reports National Research Center survey revealed that 75% of those polled said the most irritating customer service experience is when they “can’t get a live person on the phone.” A “long wait on hold” and “many phone-menu steps needed” both ranked high at 66%.

If you’re using automated voice mail or the hold button too often, you could be losing both old and new customers. Over one-third of callers hang up annoyed and never call back if they’re put on hold or receive voicemail.

Outsourcing your calls is one way to ensure your customer service quality remains consistent during periods of business growth and development. On the other hand, if your business is stagnating, hiring an answering service to handle your calls may allow you and your team to focus on more profitable aspects of your business, like serving your customers in-person so you can build loyalty which generates referrals.

Or you may be like many other business owners who are losing sleep over after hours calls—literally and figuratively. You may be the one handling the after hours call volume, or you may lie awake at night wondering if your person on-call is really on the ball.

If you’ve been asking yourself if you need an answering service it may feel a bit overwhelming to know which questions you should be asking in order to get to a “yes” or a “no.”

For example:

• Does your call volume warrant an answering service?
• Would a bilingual virtual receptionist be helpful to you?
• Is complying with HIPAA guidelines part of your business?

In this quick 8-question free quiz, we’ll get to the “yes” or “no” of whether an answering service might help your business improve productivity and serve your customers better.

And if you’d like to first explore a bit more about what virtual receptionists at an answering service can do for you, contact Voice Link of Columbus, Inc., online or call us at 800-262-2799 for a free consultation.