You look across your office and watch your employees scrambling at their desks and working as quickly and as furiously as they can to help as many customers throughout the day as possible. You sigh and look down at your planner, meetings and messages filling every space and crammed in the margins. There are two whole weeks blocked off on your calendar that are pristine and white, save for one word: holiday! You feel like you’re torn in two. There are endless tasks and calls you want to answer before you leave for the beach, but you know you won’t be able to complete it all, and your employees are busy enough as it is. Should you take calls while you’re away? Would it be too much? You picture yourself sitting at a hotel room desk while the rest of your holiday mates enjoy the sun.
Of course, you can’t leave the calls unattended and hope that it won’t have any effect on your business because without a doubt it will. Missed calls are detrimental to the success of every company because of the frustrations customers face when their needs aren’t met. Every client who calls and isn’t answered or doesn’t receive a response to their voice mail is a customer who puts down the phone, crosses your business off of a physical or mental list, and moves on to your competition. You can be sure that your rival, who isn’t on vacation, will answer their call, satisfy their concerns, and establish them as a client. While you’re on the beach, your business’ money, reputation, and customer happiness will slip.
Even if your employees are able to eventually answer the calls, with you gone your business will be missing the most valuable person it needs. There will be one less hand to pick up the phone, so calls will ring for longer and more voicemails will accumulate, if at all. In fact, studies have shown that 53% of customers call businesses before visiting them in person, and the moment of that phone call – if it’s even answered at all – determines whether or not they’ll consider giving you their business. If they’re not happy with the result, you may never see them again.
Keep Your Customers and Increase Your Revenue
This is because 70% of consumers have cited three major factors that influence their decisions: calls that ring for a substantial amount of time and aren’t answered, calls that go directly to voicemail, meaning they aren’t able to immediately talk to an actual company representative, and calls that are unhelpful, failing to answer their questions or to address their concerns. What’s more is that the majority of your potential customers will actually hang up if the call isn’t answered in three or fewer rings! When each of these occurs, it’s extremely unprofessional and tells your consumers that you don’t care. After all, who wants have an empty conversation with an answering machine and then wait several hours for a response, especially when a more immediate solution is at their fingertips? All they need is a quick, easy call to a different company that offers a similar product or service.
Of course, some companies may consider hiring someone to fill in for an employee temporarily to take calls and ensure every customer is attended to. However, most temps that are hired are actually needed for longer periods of time, such as for a few months. This is because you still need to spend hours crafting the perfect advertisement for the job, sifting through applications, resumes, and cover letters, and interviewing multiple similar candidates vying for the position.
When you’ve finally picked the right person for the job, you need to add your new employee to the payroll, give them a tour of your office, introduce them to the rest of your workers, familiarize them with your business’ needs, and train them for the specific work you want them to do. These are hours that really need to be spent finishing up your to-do list so that you can go on vacation worry-free!
Wouldn’t you rather an easy, cheap and temporary solution that isn’t so much work, so that you can relax on the beach or explore a new city, knowing your business is in good hands? Don’t keep worries, anxiety and questions at the back of your mind when you go away, because you won’t be able to fully enjoy the experiences and relax with your mates. Instead, hire an overflow call handling service. When you may only need temporary telephone cover, they’re ready and more than able to help.
Save Your Worries and Focus on What Matters
Your company’s extra calls will be diverted to their team of experienced, proven and trained professionals. You or another person at your office will receive a text or an email with the message, or the call can even be transferred. This way your customers will be assured that you care about them; they’ll become invested in your business, more likely to use your service than your competitor’s. Their phone call will be answered in three or fewer rings, they will have the beneficial opportunity to talk to a friendly representative of your company instead of immediately being directed to voicemail. They will feel that professional person who took their call helped them to the best of their abilities. What’s more is that your employees will have more time and energy to focus on providing excellent customer service to every client they interact with. This eliminates any and all detrimental effects that the missed calls caused by your absence will have on your business’ success! You’ll be able to return from vacation refreshed, everything running smoothly and in order at work, just as it was when you left it. There are so many benefits, it’s hard to argue with the results. After all, doesn’t your company, and don’t your employees, deserve the best?