What to Expect from Small Business Live Answering Services?

Whether you run a local plumbing business or are a general contractor, you know the pain and effort that go into acquiring customers. People have limited attention spans these days, which means if a service provider isn’t available, they will automatically find the next available option. Scaling the team isn’t the most effective step for many small businesses, considering the costs are high. Also, more technicians are required on the field, and the focus is often on hiring them. 

If you want to stay accessible and available to existing customers and leads, consider using a live answering service. Top names, like signpost.com, offer the option for hundreds of small businesses and service providers in the United States, with a team that’s based in the country. The onboarding process is equally simple. Here’s what you can expect when partnering with one. 

• Always-On Human Call Coverage: It is a common myth that live answering services are expensive. Today, many companies have designed solutions with pricing that smaller companies can afford. The first advantage is availability, which spans beyond business hours and even on holidays and weekends. You don’t have to rely on voicemail anymore, which frankly cannot engage customers. 

• Custom Scripts:  Just because you are using outsourced agents, you don’t have to worry about the responses being generic. Instead, you will be able to tailor and share scripts with greetings and relevant service protocols. The agents will take calls accordingly, and depending on what the customer needs, they will provide an answer or share answers to common questions. 

• Message Taking and Fast Delivery: With live answering 24/7, you can expect to capture messages accurately, including names, requests, locations, numbers, and other details. These messages will be recorded and saved in the system, or if your team is available, the agent can route the call to them. There is little risk of losing customers. 

• Emergency Dispatch and Call Transfers: When someone calls for a major plumbing leak, they don’t want to know about your USPs or offers. Instead, they want prompt support. Always choose an answering service that specializes in optimizing workflows and can offer real-time dispatching. Your service teams should be informed about emergencies at all times as per your policies. 

• Appointment Scheduling Support: Live agents are also expected to take bookings and schedule appointments on the booking platform you use. They should be able to confirm or reschedule on behalf of your company and must be capable of maintaining calendars. The idea is to ensure all slots are booked as available. 

• Pre-Qualification of Leads: As more people call to know about your services or get estimates, live agents should ask predefined questions to identify real leads, which your team can follow later. That is helpful for ensuring that your internal staff doesn’t spend much time on spam or wrong numbers. Agents ask predefined intake questions to qualify real leads

• Seamless Office Integration: Check whether the answering service can use and integrate their system with some of the existing tools that you use. This is critical because the agents should become an integral part of the business organically, and the overall workflow shouldn’t be disrupted. 

• Scalable for Seasonal Needs: Service providers often experience spikes in call volume during certain months, and the selected answering solution should be able to align with such needs. This is particularly true for companies offering plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and pest control services. 

Hiring more front desk support staff is expensive and time-consuming. Also, you never know how many people would be enough for your small business. A live answering service is way more flexible and allows you to grow and scale your solutions without the extra financial burden.