If you are looking to work smarter – not necessarily harder – then making the best use of technology and outsourcing can help you.
There are now many mobile apps that can make managing a business more straightforward. For example, apps to help with filing your accounts or manage tasks and projects. Outsourcing allows you to employ talented individuals worldwide to do anything from email filtering to web development.
One affordable way to reform your working day, free up time and enhance your productivity is to employ a telephone answering service.
The best telephone answering service depends on your specific needs. Moneypenny offers an award-winning small business phone system with the option to add-on a virtual receptionist service.
A telephone answering service enables you to reduce interruptions from unwanted sales and spam calls and focus on the work at hand.
With scientific research concluding that a single interruption takes 25 minutes to recover from, unwanted phone calls can be a significant issue when it comes to productivity. Research from the University of California, Irvine, showed that after a single interruption, it took workers 23 minutes and 15 seconds on average to get back into the swing of things and focused on the work at hand.
To add to this, interruptions from unwanted phone calls can also reduce the quality of our work. Research from the Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois, demonstrated that when interrupted whilst working on a task, individuals require up to 27% more time to complete it and commit approximately twice the number of errors.
Interruptions can impact your wellbeing to a certain extent too. Research has shown that people compensate for interruptions by working faster, but this comes at a price. That being:
“experiencing more stress, higher frustration, time pressure and effort.”
If you want to get as much work done as possible and produce the best possible end product, then a telephone answering service can certainly help.
What’s more, a telephone answering service gives you the peace of mind that comes with knowing you’ll never miss a business call.
With an out of hours answering service, you can completely switch off and enjoy what you are doing without worrying about where your mobile phone may be.
Our research suggests that 1 in 3 business calls are missed – and not only are missed calls bad for the consumer, but they’re bad for business too. Callers are unlikely to leave a voicemail message, and chances are they will go on to call one of your direct competitors.
With a reliable telephone answering service, all of your business calls will be answered professionally.
Another great benefit is that you won’t have to deal with unwanted calls from unsolicited salespeople.
A telephone answering service is a little like outsourcing. That is, you don’t have to employ someone full-time and worry about pensions and other legalities.
You can also hire a telephone answering service on a seasonal or an overflow basis, and you are not tied into any lengthy contracts.
With a dedicated receptionist service, you are allocated an individual receptionist who specialises in your industry.
The receptionist will get to know your business, your team and how you’d like your calls to be answered so they can handle them to the same standard as a full-time in-house receptionist.
Cheaper telephone answering providers will often offer a call centre ‘style’ service, where a single receptionist has hundreds, if not thousands of clients to answer calls for.
This type of service will prevent you from missing any important calls, but a dedicated receptionist service also provides a great customer experience.
This dedicated service, with UK-based receptionists, reflects well on you and your company’s reputation and brand.
With Moneypenny’s dedicated service, we match your business to the perfect receptionist – also known as your Moneypenny PA.
Getting to know you, your customers and your business, we make sure that your PA is someone you trust, and is the type of person you would employ if you were looking to hire in-house. This relationship starts with a short Welcome Call that allows you to build a rapport.
From here, your Moneypenny PA will represent you perfectly so you can focus on the work at hand and not have to worry about missing any important business calls. They’ll be part of your team, and you can keep in touch over the phone, via email, or by using the Moneypenny app & online portal.
There are many advantages to using a 24/7 telephone answering service.
If, for example, you sell products or export and import from around the world, you may be dealing with people in several time zones.
In this case, it can help to have someone on hand to answer calls, and deal with fundamental and frequently asked questions for you during evenings, early mornings and weekends.
One significant benefit of an out of hours telephone answering service, however, is the ability to switch off your phone (and your mind) and relax at the end of a busy working day.
You will no longer have to keep an ear out for the phone ringing; you can focus on whatever it is that you are doing, safe in the knowledge that your calls are taken care of.
With Moneypenny’s 24/7 answering service, our PAs will look after your calls outside of regular working hours, ensuring your customers receive an exceptional experience no matter what time of day or night they call.
The Moneypenny app allows you to send messages to your Moneypenny PA, updating them with your availability and altering what you’d like them to tell your callers, for example if you are in a meeting or driving.
The app also has a clever GPS feature that shows your PA where you are – great if you only want calls transferred to you when you’re in the office.
We also give you access to the Moneypenny online portal, where you’ll find reports, company details, call statistics, and a log of past calls and messages.
Leading calendar and diary software, such as Microsoft Teams and Calendly, can now be integrated with Moneypenny, allowing your PA to have full visibility of your real-time availability, informing callers and booking appointments accordingly.
Moneypenny’s Telephone Answering service comes with the option of using a local, national or freephone landline number.
With thousands of numbers to choose from, this can be great for your brand if you only use a mobile phone for business as it ensures a professional image.
You can also make outbound calls from your mobile which display as your chosen number, so even if you’re working from home, you can give the impression that you have a “bricks and mortar” presence.
After a 7-day free trial, if you choose to sign up to our Telephone Answering service, there is a minimum of a three-month contract for our smaller schemes. After this time, we require one month’s notice to close your account from the date of your next invoice.
With a dedicated Telephone Answering service offering the same benefits as a full-time hire but for a fraction of the cost – why not take a 7-day free trial and experience the benefits for yourself? Click here or call 0333 202 1005 to find out more.
12 Feb 2024
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