Why Use An Answering Service?

We often get asked by business owners "Why use an answering service?" This is great question and the answer may be more obvious than you think!

Our primary function is to answer the phone and provide your clients (current or future) with the information they need when they need it. A good example of this happened to me the other day. Flint, Michigan was enjoying an indian summer with temperatures into the low 90 degrees at the end of September (3rd hottest place in the country!) and of course the air conditioning went out at the office. Hoping it was just overwhelmed with being used so much in September I shut it down and crossed my fingers that it would start working again the next morning.

Fast forward to 7:00am the next day, I walked into the already hot office and flicked on the air conditioner, hoping that it had miraculously fixed itself but knowing deep down that I could never be so lucky. Sure enough nothing but more hot air blowing out of the vents!

I jumped onto my cellphone at 7:15am and started to call some local HVAC companies. Being that it was 7:15am I wasn't expecting anyone to be in the office but I did know that I need to get someone to us as quickly as possible to get this fixed. As I dialed the first company I was mentally preparing myself to leave a voicemail explaining the problem and asking them to call me back as quickly as possible. 'Hello, this is xxxx with xxxx heating and cooling how can I help you'! 'Hello' I said, slightly taken aback 'I was wondering if I could have you come out and fix my air conditioner'.

I won't bore you with the details of the call but the person asked me to explain my problem, if it was an 'emergency or not' and also explained what the costs for repair were likely to be. She then let me know that someone from the scheduling department would be calling me back around 8:30am.

As I hung up I knew that this was going to be the company who would come and fix my air conditioning. I was confident that the problem was something they could fix and I had a good sense of what the cost was going to at least be at a minimum. Plus having actually spoken to someone I was confident that they were going to call me back at 8:30am like they said they would.

Let's now flip this around and pretend that when I called I'd have gotten a voicemail instead. Would I have been so confident this was going to work out? Even though the message might have said 'leave a message and we will call you back when our office opens' could I have been sure they would have? What if they hadn't updated their voicemail and their hours had changed, maybe they are closed on Wednesday's now? How much was the initial cost going to be? What if they call back and I explain my problem and they tell me they can't fix that? Am I going to have to find time to call them back when they open because they haven't checked voicemails yet?

To be honest, I would have called someone else. Even if I had of ended up using the first company I left a voicemail with I would have hedged my bets and called more than one and whoever called me back first would have gotten the job. I needed the air conditioning fixed that morning before it got too hot for my employees to work comfortably and I didn't have time to play phone tag.

So when business owners, especially heating and cooling companies, ask me "Why should I us an answering service I have voicemail on my phone" I tell them this story and ask them, "Can you afford to not use an answering service?"

If you are interested in learning about how Bennett Communication Solutions can help your business be available for your customers when they need you contact us today or call (877) 234-8655