Read any business book or go to any business seminar and one of the first things they will usually tell you about productivity is that you need to delegate tasks that others can do. But what parts of your business do you delegate? One of the easiest things to move off your plate and onto someone else’s is your office phone system.

By hiring a 24 hour answering service, you can become more productive. You can spend less time taking calls and  focusing on growing and building your business, all while trusting that your phone calls are properly handled.

Let’s take a look at a few of the ways that a business answering company can help improve productivity in your company.

Focus more on production and less on taking calls

Calls come into your business for a variety of reasons. Many calls are simply requests for information such as pricing, business hours, etc. While it’s important that these calls are answered in a professional manner, you don’t necessarily need a member of your own team to take them.

In fact, in many cases, these types of calls end up taking your staff away from a job that is more important. Hiring an answering service for tasks such as providing information, booking appointments, and even taking sales orders can free you and your team up considerably to be more productive.

Take calls 24/7

Most businesses do not need to be open 24/7, but with people’s busy schedules, they may want to call you after regular working hours. Since the call centres are usually open seven days a week, 24 hours a day, it means your potential customers get a better experience when they call your business.

This often translates into more business for you!

Less time transferring calls between team members

Another problem that growing businesses often face is that callers will often just call the first telephone number that they see on your company website – whether it is the proper department or not.

Not only do you or a member of your team have to take a call that shouldn’t go to you, but you must then transfer it – possibly having to take up valuable company time looking up the number for the correct department.

When you hire a call answering service, a trained CSR can transfer incoming calls to the correct person or department every time. This is more productive for your business and a nicer experience for the caller.

Cost efficient

Hiring a 24 hour answering service can also be much more cost-efficient than hiring an on-call employee.

The money that you save in payroll can then be reinvested into your company to buy equipment, supplies – or yes, to hire another staff member to help with the production or service side of your business.  This too will help to make you more productive.

If you are running a business and feel like there just isn’t enough time in the day to do all you would like to get done, then hiring a business answering company may be the solution. Contact TOUCH Communications today to learn more.

Learn More about Live Call Answering

It may be the most wonderful time of the year, but it can also be one of the most stressful times of year for business owners. As the holiday season rapidly approaches, many businesses notice an influx of customers all the while they are dealing with vacation requests from employees and an increasingly hectic personal life. Even if you don’t require a call answering service year round, using one during the holiday season can help make things a lot less stressful.

Here are five reasons why so many Touch Communications customers choose to use live call answering during the holiday season:

1. Manage an increased volume of orders.

If your business sells products that just might be on someone’s Christmas wish list, then there’s a good chance that come November and December, you’re going to see an increase in sales. Rather than hire additional seasonal staff that you have to train and then say goodbye to in January, it makes good economic sense to use a call answering service that employs professional customer service representatives.

2. Manage an increased volume of appointments.

Whether your business is an automotive shop, pet clinic, or a dentist, there is a good chance that you will start to see more customers booking appointments this time of year. To manage the influx of callers who are looking to get their snow tires put on their vehicles or have their nails trimmed on their pet,  many businesses choose to make use of a call answering service. This frees up their own staff to better serve customers who are physically present at their place of business.

3. Offer extended hours to your customers.

This is a busy time for your customers as well as for you. Making use of a live call answering service allows you to offer your customers the convenience of extended hours. At Touch Communications, our call centres operate 24/7 which means we can take customer orders and book appointments any time day or night – something your customers will appreciate this time of year.

4. Offer more vacation time to your staff.

The Christmas season is a time that many people like to take more time off to spend with their families but this can be hard to do when things are crazy at work. Hiring a call answering service can take some of the load off your own staff – which allows you to play office-santa and grant more vacation time.

5. Take more time for yourself.

While we’re on the topic of spending time with family, don’t forget that this is important for you too this time of year. When business picks up, it can be easy to feel tied to your cell phone. With live call answering from Touch Communications, you can let our CSRs take care of all the routine calls and only put through to you the ones that you designate.

Remember the holidays can be a busy time of year, but there are ways to make them less stressful. And live call answering from Touch Communications is one of those ways.