5 Customers You Are Losing Without an After-Hours Answering Service- Pt.1

Are you a business owner that is still sending consumers to your voicemail? Don’t limit your business’s potential by sending potential and existing customers to an antiquated answering machine. Read on to learn more about 5 types of customers that you are losing by not having an after-hours answering service.

How an After-Hours Answering Service can impact your customer growth: 

1. “I’m ready to buy.”

Picture one of your ideal customers sitting in front of their laptop or thumbing through their smartphone. They have done quite a bit of research on your product or service and are ready to commit to a purchase. They push the button “click to call,” on your website and the telephone starts ringing.

After 3 rings, your voicemail greeting kicks in, “Hi, you have reached ABC Company. Please leave your name, phone number and a brief message, and someone will call you during normal business hours. Thank you for calling.” Beeeeep.

The potential customer, of course, feels disappointed. They were primed to make a purchase but you weren’t available to close the sale. In order to be a successful business owner, you have to treat each incoming call like a customer who is ready to buy.

How many calls (a/k/a sales) do you miss because you don’t keep your communication lines open all day, every day? #DoTheMath 

2. “I just got out of work.”

If your business telephone lines are only answered Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, what happens to your customers that work during that time? You are potentially losing quite a bit of business because you are not offering after-hours customer service and telephone support.

Think about the commute to work for most American employees. Chances are, there is a major highway on their route that is congested during rush hour traffic. Did you know that there is a specific time frame that’s referred to as Internet Rush Hour? Internet Rush Hour is, “the time period when the majority of Internet users are online at the same time.” The peak hours are seen between 7 pm and 11 pm.

As you can see, the majority of your customers are browsing the web at night. Don’t send away new customers that are trying to reach you when it’s most convenient for them. Be available 24 hours a day and see a boost in your company’s profit margin.

3. “I can’t sleep tonight.”

An after-hours answering service satisfies and assists your late owl customers that make their purchases when the world is sleeping. By opening your business telephone lines 24 hours a day, not only are you able to assist local consumers, but you will also be able to cater to different time zones as well.

Infomercials have a lot to teach us when it comes to marketing tactics that work in a late-night realm. Priceonomics points out that, “Collectively, the U.S. market for infomercial products stood at $170 billion in 2009 and could exceed $250 billion by 2015.”

Let’s take a closer look at the main components of a successful infomercial to understand their marketing and sales strategies that cater to late-night consumers.

• • Provides Details of Product
• • Shows the Product in Action
• • Shares Reviews and Testimonials
• • Makes a Specific Offer
• • Encourages to Act Now

When you hire a team of professional virtual receptionists, you can accomplish the majority of these winning marketing strategies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We are able to assist you in a one-step marketing campaign that is the main marketing tactic featured in all infomercials.

Give your potential customers a “Call now to purchase” offer and allow us to process sales while you and your in-house team sleep the night away.      

4. “I have a quick question.”

Sometimes your customer needs just one question answered before they’re ready to purchase your product or service. In some service industries, your customer needs to call in and make an initial consultation to learn more about your services before choosing to do business with you. What happens when you don’t answer their incoming calls during nights, weekends and holidays? 

“67% of customers hang up on a phone connection out of frustration they could not talk to a real person,” as reported in our recent article, Customer Service Statistics Every Business Owner Should Know. If you forward your business calls to a voicemail or antiquated answering machine, you’re losing out on growing your company.

A professional after-hours answering service can help you combat this time-consuming business obstacle. Virtual receptionists act as an extension of your office. We answer your phone lines according to your exact specifications and are trained on how to answer your customers’ frequently asked questions.   

If you’re just starting to look into hiring a digital call center, allow us to share with you the variety of services that are customized to fit your specific needs.

• • Telephone Answering and Message Taking
• • Customer Service Phone Representatives
• • Professional Dispatch Unit
• • Telephone Order Taking and Payment Processing
• • Virtual Scheduling Assistants
• • Subscription and Account Management
• • Virtual Help Desk and Contact Center
• • Multilingual and Bilingual Telephone Agents
• • Outsourced Billing Department
• • Virtual Personal Assistants and Virtual Receptionists

Our basic answering rates can cost as little as $19.95 per month so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t let us help you turn researching-leads into purchasing-customers.    

5. “I want what I want, when I want it.”

You constantly have customers looking at your website; checking out your social media reviews; clicking on your on-line ads; and, being exposed to all of your off-line advertising efforts. At any given moment your leads are knee deep in their purchasing journey and you need to be available to help when they reach out.   

McKinsey & Company supplies us with a highly detailed article, The Consumer Decision Journey, that sheds light on a modern look at the purchasing funnel. According to this highly successful global management consulting firm, “[There are] four primary phases representing potential battlegrounds where marketers can win or lose: initial consideration; active evaluation, or the process of researching potential purchases; closure, when consumers buy brands; and post purchase, when consumers experience them.”  

For the most part, your target market has been trained to expect instant gratification when it comes to purchasing products and services. When you are able to assist your customers through all of the phases of their purchasing process, you’ll have a greater chance to earn their business.

Start the Conversation, Call Our After-Hours Answering Service Today

Hold on to these 5 types of customers that are currently being lost because you forward your calls to a voicemail. Hire an after-hours answering service and provide customer service support for your leads and customers 24 hours a day.  

Start the conversation at your convenience by giving us a call, day or night, at 1-800-785-6161 to speak with an account specialist about your business’s telephone answering needs.