Growth is a good problem for any small business or budding startup to have. However, if that growth isn’t managed properly, it could mean the end of your business. So, how does a growing business handle the new customers and responsibilities that come with growth without having it all get out of control? A good, yet inexpensive, solution is a call answering service.
What’s a Call Answering Service?
A call answering service is essentially a virtual receptionist, someone to help take calls, set appointments, and answer the phone when you’re out of the office or busy. Growth probably means an increased number of incoming calls, so having someone to handle them all will be helpful, and it’s not always within the budget of a small business or start up to hire a full-time secretary. Even with the growth, that brand new income might not come instantly, and might not always go toward additional employees when the business might first need more space or more equipment.
Why Invest in a Call Answering Service
With increased growth comes increased responsibilities. You now have more clients and client work to get done on top of your other duties. One of the last things on that long To Do list is to answer phone calls and to set appointments, but it has to get done so as to sustain this growth. A call answering service can do that at the fraction of the cost of a full-time or part-time assistant, while giving you one less thing to think about and one less person or task to manage. With an assistant, you would have to take time to hire them and to train them, and then work with them to follow up with calls or to check the appointments. A call answering service can ensure that the calls that you do take are worthwhile, such as a current client, versus forwarding a sales call or a potential customer with a whole bunch of questions.
How is it the Next Step?
With growth, you’re going to need additional help. Getting help that gets the job done on a dime is ideal, and a call answering service fits that bill. A call answering service may not be able to do the client work, but client work is something better suited for the business owners and current employees anyway. No one goes into business to take calls and to set appointments (unless you run a call answering or a virtual assistant business, that is.) The service can help with tasks that have to get done, and that sustain the growth, but aren’t part of the core business.
A call answering service is also the next step by moving you away from being the face of the business and much more into a management or executive position. When starting out, you had to be the face of the business and take the calls because the business was just you, or just a few people. With this growth, and with possible plans to expand to more employees, or more offices, you simply can’t take these calls. However, a call answering service can handle the increased load, and can be where you always can’t.
Overall, a call answering service is a great addition to your business if you have the problem of growth. The service can be where you’re not, it can be there when you’re not there, and it can allow you do to things that are part of the core business. It’s a much cheaper addition than a new employee, although it can be just as helpful. It’s the next step from taking all of these calls yourself and doing all the mundane, day-to-day activities.
