Having a receptionist answer your phone when customers call promotes a positive image for your business and is the best way about handling customer phone calls. Having a telephone number on your website instills confidence in a customer so that they’ll do business with you. It shows the customer that they can get help whenever they need it. However, if the telephone is answered in a poor way the client might form a negative outlook about your business which might cost you money.
There are several different ways to answer the phone that you should avoid. First, we will discuss answering the phone yourself. This looks bad because you are running a business and shouldn’t have time to answer the phone. It also does not look very professional. You should also avoid answering your phone out in public. The noise around you can turn off the caller and give them an overall negative reaction regarding the phone call. Potential clients may also get frustrated if they are transferred to voicemail immediately. It is known that most people do not leave messages, so you are likely to lose that customer. Lastly, no one likes to navigate through a menu to reach a live person. Odds are good they’ll just become frustrated and hang up.
You can avoid all of this drama over a simple phone call with live answering services. For a small monthly payment you can have a live receptionist answer your phone calls during business hours and direct them to you. The only difference between a typical receptionist and one at a virtual office is that the one at the virtual office isn’t occupying office space you have to pay for.