This blog has been updated for 2023

No matter what size business you are, it can be easy to look at outsourcing your call handling and think:

“I can answer the phone myself. Why would I need someone to do it for me”?

But call answering can quickly become one of the biggest productivity killers for your workforce. Especially if they’re dealing with sales calls rather than working for your customers.

Or trying to figure out how to reroute calls to the right number. And missing a call can easily lose you a customer who’s calling you for the first time.

Or annoy an existing customer if you send them to voicemail when they try to call you. At these times, outsourcing your business’ call handling quickly becomes a good investment.

Especially if you have:

• A large reception
• A busy switchboard
• Employees with direct-dial phones with no receptionist
• More employees working remote or hybrid

Outsourcing call handling can also be great if you rely on incoming calls for:

• Customer service
• New business
• General communication

If you’re not sure about the benefits of outsourcing your call handling, these are the key signs that you should consider it.

You’re missing customer calls during the day

Did you know that according to research by BT Business, the average customer will only call a business twice before moving on to a different supplier?

Some customers only give a business one chance to answer the phone before moving on. hat means for every call you miss, you’re potentially missing out on new business.

But when you’re busy, whether it’s completing a job, or sitting in a meeting, it’s easy to miss a call or be forced to sit there and let it go to voicemail.

If you regularly find yourself finishing a job and being met by missed call notifications on your phone, it could be time to invest in a virtual receptionist.

That way, your calls are always dealt with, even when you’re too busy.

You’re getting a reputation for poor customer service

Customers today aren’t shy about displaying their displeasure at poor customer service. Especially considering that customer service has become a key selling point for many of them.

This could be anything from leaving negative reviews on Google, to writing negative social media comments, to actively encouraging people they know not to use your services.

If you’re regularly missing customer calls or chasing up on messages, it might be time for an answering service to help you handle customer enquiries when they call before you start to see the negative results.

You’re struggling to keep your diary in order

Virtual receptionists aren’t just good for handling calls. They can help you keep your diary in order and help with booking meetings to keep your day organised.

It’s all too easy to accept a job and then realise you’ve already got something booked in.

If you find that you’re regularly having to rearrange appointments because you can’t keep your diary straight, or are spending too much time in the day trying to organise calendars, then a virtual receptionist would be a good investment for you.

You or your employees are swamped with cold sales pitches

When you register your business or move into an office, your number becomes available to all kinds of third party providers who will try to get you to use their services.

These calls can quickly become annoying and stop you being productive – especially if you’re solely responsible for answering the calls that come to your business.

A virtual receptionist can screen all your calls for you. They’ll make sure only the important calls get through to you and your employees.

That way you, and they, can focus on being productive and keeping customers happy. So if you’re getting bogged down telling cold callers to stop calling, you should consider a virtual receptionist.

For the record, at Face for Business if you tell us no sales calls we will turn them away for free and ask them not to call you again.

Your call management is a mess

There’s nothing more annoying as a customer trying to find answers than calling a number, only to be passed onto the wrong person.

Or be rerouted and end up back at the start.

Or to have the line cut out because the company you called messed up the call transfer.

If your company is struggling to manage calls coming in, or employees are missing important customer calls because they’re going to the wrong people, then a virtual receptionist is definitely a good investment for your business.

You don’t want a staffing headache

If you hire a full-time, or part-time receptionist, then you also take on the responsibility of being an employer, or managing another member of staff.

That can mean managing annual leave and cover, managing sick days or dealing with paternity and maternity leave for your employees.

Plus, what are you going to do when your staff goes on lunch, goes to make a cup of tea, or even just nips to the loo.

You won’t have any phone cover, but you’re still paying for a member of staff.

Is that a headache you really need?

How Face For Business’ call management services can help

It’s easy to see a call handling service as a business expense and not an investment.

But the time it can save you to spend completing work and winning referral customers alone is enough to earn you a good ROI.

Add to that the fact your business will never miss a new customer call and reduce the chances of losing customers because of poor customer service, and your ROI is quickly being achieved many times over.

Outsourcing your call handling to a professional virtual receptionist can help you invest more of your time growing your business.

Not only will you never miss a sales call, but you’ll avoid the wasted time and hassle of dealing with cold sales pitches that can easily end up taking important hours out of your day.

Plus, your outsourced call handling can continue handling your calls long after you’ve finished for the day and extend your business’ customer service so you gain a reputation as a reliable business for customers looking for help at any time of the day.

Get in touch with our friendly team today and find out how our virtual receptionists can help make running your business easier and more rewarding.