Business is composed of a number of segments. There's production, operation, human resources, marketing and sales. Each department has a set of responsibilities to honor and among them is catering to customers and affiliates. Given the variety of goals a team has to accomplish within the day, it becomes quite difficult to address this obligation and still maintain effectiveness in delivering results in other tasks. This is where hiring an answering service comes in handy, but there are a few notable advantages and disadvantages to its use that interested companies should know.
First and foremost, an answering service allows you to provide better customer care. Since the company does not have to rely only on one or two receptionists to cater to all of the incoming calls, they experience less missed and dropped calls and can respond to customers at any given time. On top of that, call screening and handling becomes more streamlined. Calls can be prioritized and addressed according to importance. If the person in charge is not present, the inquiry can just be forwarded to his or her mobile line or sent to the next assigned personnel. This reflects well on the company's image and in turn, encourages patronization. Along with that, sales and approval ratings rise. It's also important to emphasize that with an answering service, the wait time for issue resolution is lessened. This equates to less queued calls and therefore, less need to hire more in-house manpower to finish the job. The fees may not be as affordable as getting a dedicated temp. However, when you add hiring and training costs, you will probably save money if you acquire the services of a professional outsourced customer service company.
As for the disadvantages, there is the fact that you relinquish control when you use an answering service. Unless you have a very reliable provider, you may not be able to secure quality customer service for every call your company gets. There are communication issues to deal with, especially if the answering service is outsourced. Unless you get people from an English-speaking country you are bound to get complaints about mispronunciations, accents and incomprehensibility. On top of that, since answering services are typically setup for in-bound calls only, there is no chance for call back if the line is disrupted. Additionally, there is greater possibility for information leakage and privacy infringements since a third party is involved in the relay of important messages.
Given all of this, it is vital that you go over your options carefully and decide, with full knowledge of the pros and cons, in which direction you would like to go. If you are to hire people to help you maintain your accessibility, you need to be smart about who you transact with. Don't just limit yourself with the fees. Look at the service provider's track record as well as their packages' features. Ask for trial services so you get a good gauge of what they have to offer before you commission their assistance.
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