Tips For Choosing The Most Suitable Answering Service Plan
Posted on: 9 November 2020
When looking at answering service plans, how do you know which one is best suited for your business? It all depends on how you are going to be utilizing the answering service. To ensure that you choose the right plan for your organization, here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Determine Your Call Volume
One of the most important things that you need to think about when you are trying to figure out the best telephone answering service plan is the number of phone calls that your business receives and will need the service to handle. You can easily obtain this information if you are currently using a service. Simply request an incoming call report for the month.
If you do not currently use an answering service, then you can get a detailed call report from your VoIP provider. If this is not an option, then you can always go old school and have your employees log their calls for a week. With this number, simply multiply it by four and you will have a reasonable estimate of the number of calls.
Consider the Types of Calls
The number of calls that you receive each month is definitely important, but you also need to consider the types of calls that you handle. The reason this is important is that each type of call will vary in duration. For instance, someone that calls in requesting hours of operation or directions to your office will not take nearly as long as someone calling in about a problem with their order or to make an order. To help minimize your overall costs, a detailed greeting with office hours, directions, and answers to FAQ may be a good idea.
Time of Day the Service Will Be Used
The majority of telephone answering services offer their answering services 24/7, and because of this, you need to determine when you want them to answer your calls. You can forward your calls to them during business hours, after business hours, on the weekends, on the holidays, etc.
Each business will find that a different time is best for them. For instance, if you have a lot of customers complaining that they call in and get a busy signal or no one answers the phone during business hours, you may want to have calls forwarded to an answering service to handle overflow calls to ensure they are answered. However, you may also want to consider having your calls forwarded after business hours to ensure that no calls are missed and that customers do not have to leave a message or refuse to leave one.
For more information on plans, contact an answering service, like AnSer.
Share