Interesting Facts and Statistics That’ll Lead to Hiring a Live Answering Service

For years our live answering service has been sharing quality and useful content to help you perfect your business. We sincerely enjoy researching and gathering information to make sure you stay up to date with all things relating to customer service and business communications. 

In this article, we round up key statistics and facts we’ve shared in previous articles that’ll showcase the top benefits of outsourcing your business telephone lines. Each section has a highlighted word that, when clicked, will shoot you off to the article quoted so you can read more about each statistic or fact in detail.

Let’s get started!

Benefits of Outsourcing to a Live Answering Service

Outsourcing Telephones vs Multitasking

For small businesses that have little to no administrative support, you’re likely to rely on your multitasking skills. However, in recent years, multitasking has been shown to be ineffective and will actually cost you more time, energy and money in the long run. 

According to Forbes, “It has been scientifically demonstrated that the brain cannot effectively or efficiently switch between tasks, so you lose time. It takes four times longer to recognize new things so you’re not saving time; multitasking actually costs time.”

Bilingual Agents Attract New Markets

There are more than 37 million Spanish speakers living in the U.S. In fact, “As an American business owner, it is important that you know that the Hispanic population is one of the largest racial/ethnic minority groups in the United States.”

Your business doesn’t have to be stunted because of language barriers. Open your business to new and current markets by having bilingual (better yet, multilingual) customer service agents answering your lines.  

Save Money for More Advanced Employees

The basic salary of an in-house receptionist is, “Around $26,325 just for hours worked each year… The business owner must then provide almost $3,400 dollars in paid time off and other benefits an internal receptionist requires.”

The beauty of outsourcing your business lines to an off-site receptionist is the incredible value it brings to your wallet. With virtual receptionists, you:

• • Only pay for the calls you receive (sometimes paying as low as $0.45 per call).
• • Are able to have 24-hour phone coverage for your calling customers.
• • Save your payroll budget for higher skilled, more profitable on-site employees. 

Take Your Full Vacation to Decompress 

In a recent case study, “77% of American workers admit to working while they’re supposed to be relaxing and taking time off.”

All business owners and essential employees need a healthy balance between their professional and personal lives. You’ve spent countless hours working to build a little slice of vacation time. Don’t spoil that vacation by being constantly attached to your business while out of the office.

A professional answering service will handle your day to day business communications and help you prioritize your callbacks when you return to work.

Provide Constant Open Communication

It’s reported that, “67% of customers hang up on a phone connection out of frustration they could not talk to a real person and 75% of customers believe it takes too long to reach a live agent.”

If you’re sending your incoming calls directly to an automated menu, you’re not placing enough value on those leads and customers. Show your customers that they’re important to you by providing live assistance when they need you the most.

Keeping Current Customers Satisfied

Customer service is the core of our business. Since first opening in 1986, our live answering service has been dedicated to handling business’s calls with award winning customer care.

• • We’re experts in nurturing your current customers to help your business deliver exceptional experiences.
• • We keep your current customers happy by attending to their needs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.
• • We offer customer service agents that are highly trained in turning complaining customers into happy customers.     

It’s important for you to foster great relationships to build your customer loyalty. Your business needs to focus on customer satisfaction because, “65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers, and it costs five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one satisfied.”

Giving Customers the Opportunity to Speak

It may come as no surprise to you, but people enjoy talking about themselves. “I” happens to be one of the most favorite words for people to say aloud. Did you ever wonder why people love “me” talk? 

There are physical responses in a person’s brain that go off when they talk about themselves. Scientific studies suggest that, “Self-disclosure—revealing personal information to others—produces the highest level of activation in neural regions associated with motivation and reward.”

Give your customers the opportunity to have a little “I” talk by providing them a friendly and engaged listener.

Working From a Home Office

Do you work from a home office? If yes, you’re not alone, “34 million Americans work from home. This number is expected to reach a staggering 63 million – or 43 percent of the U.S. workforce – by 2016.”

One of the downfalls of working from home is keeping up your brand’s professional image. Your callers don’t want to listen to your personal life interrupting their business call.

A virtual receptionist can help your image by greeting all callers with professionalism and exclusive attention. After ascertaining the reason for their call, the customer can easily be transferred to your office home line after they’ve gotten past your new gate keeper.   

Power Off During Meetings

When it comes to business etiquette, even in this digitally modern world, “86% [of professionals] think it’s inappropriate to answer phone calls during formal meetings.”

A business answering service allows you to power down your cell phone for important meetings. All of your calls will still be answered, but your meeting won’t be interrupted unless there is a true emergency that needs your attention.

Beating Out Competitors With a USP

Quickly approaching the end of 2016 it’s not hard to see that, “We live in a 24/7 world. If you aren’t available to customers that are actively reaching out to learn more about your products or services, you are encouraging them to turn to your competitors.”

Provide your customers with the unique selling proposition (USP) of constant availability for their convenience. Not only will you keep your calling customers, you might also steal your competition’s business if they turn their phones off at 5 pm and over the weekend.  

Cut Office Expenses and Save Big Money 

How much do you spend each year in buying paper, pens or paperclips for your employees? 

Did you know?

• • More than 50% of employees confessed to taking office products for use at home.
• • The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper every year.
• • Telephone answering services can be as low as $19.95 per month or $0.45 per call.

With a virtual receptionist, you don’t pay for office expenses (that’s our job).  

Losing Your Work Phone Can Be Disastrous

Does your personal cellphone pull double duty as your business line as well? What happens if your battery dies and you can’t charge it? We’ll tell you, your calling leads and customers will be sent directly to voicemail.

What happens if your cellphone is lost? If a stranger answers your cellphone and, “Tells your customers that you lost your phone, what your customers really hear is, ‘The person you decided to trust your business and personal information with is not reliable or responsible.’”

In the event your cellphone is stolen, you’ve put your customers at risk. Any moderately skilled hacker can obtain any business or personal information stored on your phone or the apps you use. 

Conversion Rates Improve With a Telephone Number

You might think that because you have an eCommerce website that runs itself, you don’t need to offer telephone customer support. However, you’d be wrong.

In a recent study, an online metrics company made two examples of websites for participating eCommerce sites. One of the mockups predominantly listed a telephone number to call for more information. The site content and design was then duplicated; this time, omitting the telephone number. 

“The overall difference was that businesses that had their telephone number on their website received, on average, 10% more conversions than those websites that eliminated the business telephone number.”

Do the math, what does a 10% increase in sales mean to your eCommerce’s bottom line?

Are You Ready to Take Your Business the Next Level? Call Our Live Answering Service Today!

Have you seen enough facts, statistics and evidence to convince you that your business does in fact need a live answering service? Reach out to us and have a free discussion with our account expert about how we can help your business grow. 

Give us a call now at 1-800-785-6161 or shoot us a message requesting a custom quote for our answering services.