7 Ways A Call Answering Service Can Help Small Businesses

When your business is thriving, things can get quite busy at times. Answering phone calls can often distract you from other important aspects of your business.

Of course, the phones need to be answered, so one solution is to use a telephone answering service. Here are seven benefits to your business by using a call answering service.

1. Boost Productivity

Answering phone calls can be a huge distraction. This distraction is not only for the person receiving the call but also for those nearby the call. Distractions reduce staff productivity, and even after the call has ended, it may take some time to get back into their work.

A call answering service can remove this distraction, freeing staff to concentrate on what they need to. The result is a boost in productivity.

2. Reduce Staff Costs

Maybe you have already considered hiring someone to take on the burden of answering calls. A receptionist will certainly allow other staff to concentrate on their jobs. However, they will come with a hefty financial cost. If you are hiring them merely to answer calls, you will undoubtedly find a call answering service to be more cost-effective than a staff member.

3. Eliminates Training Costs

A new member of staff will rarely hit the ground running. You will likely need to spend time and resources training them before they become effective in their role. This training takes up not only their time but also that of a mentoring staff member. A call answering service needs no training or mentoring and is ready to go immediately.

4. Take Calls While You Sleep

You may not be able to have your business open 24/7, but with a call answering service, your customers can speak to someone every minute of every day. Think about how that might boost your sales?

5. Increase Customer Faith

Having an actual person answering your calls all hours of the day means that your customers will have more faith in your reliability and customer service. Even merely to hold a conversation over to the following morning, your customers will appreciate the human interaction dealing with their queries.

6. Manage Surges in Business

A sudden surge in business might be great for sales, but it can also lead to orders being missed or queries not being answered. If you use a call answering service, you will be able to manage surges, making sure that no customer gets forgotten about

7. Schedule Management

Missing a planned appointment is not only unprofessional; it can lead to missed opportunities. A call answering service can also help you manage your busy schedule, calling you with reminders of pending meetings and appointments.

Conclusion

For any business, answering the phone is something that you must do, and do it right every time. These seven ways a call answering service can help your small business be more efficient, increase your productivity, and ultimately improve your bottom line.

5 Essential Qualities For A Telephone Personal Assistant To Have

The role of a Personal Assistant (PA) is entirely subjective, as every person that they serve is different and will have a different set of needs and expectations. Telephone PAs work closely with senior management and executives, whose priorities will vary.

So, rather than possessing a defined set of qualifications and skills, a PA should have certain qualities that they can use in various roles and situations.

Here are a few of the essential attributes a PA must possess:

Proactive

The executives and senior management that PAs work for are busy people. They do not want to have to hand-hold a Telephone PA or cover every nitty-gritty detail of the role. A good Telephone PA should have a proactive approach and anticipate the needs of their boss. Telephone PAs should be aware of their boss' priorities and take pre-emptive action to facilitate positive outcomes and situations.

A Telephone PA needs to have outstanding judgment when making decisions so that their boss has the confidence to rely on them while the boss is otherwise engaged. When a PA has been with their boss for some time, this confidence develops and becomes mutual, in good working relationships.

Effective Communicator

The position of the Telephone PA means that they have to be great communicators and be able to engage with people at all levels of the organisation. A PA will be able to converse with workers from the shop floor and members of the board. Their personalities should be outgoing, friendly, and likable. They should be expert communicators on the phone, and in writing.

Organised

A PA will be responsible for organising almost every aspect of their boss' work life, and may even some parts of their activities. To stay on top of these busy schedules, the Telephone PA must be highly organised.

Flexible

The pace of change at the top of an organisation can often be hectic. Full diaries, last-minute rescheduling, and unforeseen cancellations are aspects of everyday life for executives and their PAs. So, flexibility is another essential quality that the Telephone PA must possess.

Continually juggling a whole range of tasks, with ever-altering priorities, might not be everyone's ideal job. However, a good Telephone PA will take this in their stride, and consider it the norm.

Reliable

The last thing an executive wants is to have any doubts about their Telephone PA. Ideally, they want their PA to be their right-hand-person, someone they have absolute confidence in. Reliability in all aspects of their job is a quality that a PA must-have. This reliability will eventually place a Telephone PA in a position of trust and reliance upon by their boss.

Conclusion

The role of the Telephone PA is unique in every organisation and to every executive. The qualities outlined here will place a PA in a position of being more than just another employee, but an asset to the organisation.