Search by keyword, such as: divert, calls, chats …

Prepare your business; the calls are coming

yellow retro telephone

A couple of months ago, we conducted a research project looking at the ways we communicate with businesses.

The results confirmed what we’d always known. Despite a huge proliferation of channels for customers to choose from, the humble phone call remained the most popular – with 56% of businesses citing it as their most valuable channel today.

There are a number of reasons attributed to phone calls still being king for so many businesses, with three of the biggest reasons stated by business owners as;

Urgency – “My query is really important and time-sensitive, I need it answering right now”.
Complexity – “My query is complicated, I want to explain my specific issue and gain clarity”.
Sensitivity – “My query is of a sensitive nature or requires empathy; I want a human to reassure me”.

Our survey found that our respondents receive 34% more calls now than they did 5 years ago, and you can stake your house on the fact that percentage would have increased significantly in the past month. In uncertain times, we return to what we know best – we want human connection, we want confidence we’re being listened to and understood, we want to talk.

The question for businesses is how do they adapt to this new way of communicating in a rather alien situation. We always say customers are precious, and they’re even more so now. Prioritising their needs over your own is key to maintaining their custom over the next few months, or winning them back afterwards.

We’ve spoken with hundreds of businesses, after experiencing an unprecedented demand for our own business continuity solutions, and here are the main things we’ve witnessed many currently trying:

Go it alone
Divert the business number to a mobile, take messages and pass them on to colleagues.

It’s certainly a budget-friendly solution but does not prioritise customers when they come to hit your voicemail due to you being on another call or unavailable. It is also not conducive to productive home-working, or any semblance of work-life balance, when you’re left juggling calls and potentially have young kids vying for your attention,

Invest in cloud tech
Divert the business number to a virtual phone system and triage calls between remote team members directly.

A much more balanced way of working from home; a virtual phone system enables you to transform your mobile into a fully-fledged business system. Using a professional auto-attendant setting, you can manage calls more effectively and route callers through to specific team members or departments. This enables teams to share call volumes and prevent calls from being missed or hitting your voicemail.

Use an answering service
Divert engaged or unanswered calls to virtual PA, as and when you need.

A call answering service can offer respite to homeworkers struggling with work-life balance. It also offers flexible support, at a time when flexibility is vital given the changeable environment businesses are operating in. Choose to overflow your calls to a professional PA, as and when you need; when you’re busy, after office hours, or during weekends. Or opt for fully-outsourced calls while you focus on the core activities at hand.

Download the inbound call report

Download our free report here, to discover your clearest snapshot yet of how customers want to interact with your business today and discover the simple steps you can take to never missing a call again.

How can Moneypenny help?

We’re here to help our clients in any way we can during this challenging time. We have a range of products and solutions to help both small and large businesses transition seamlessly to remote working. Chat to our business continuity experts today to discover how we can help you keep business running as usual. Call us now on 0333 202 1005.

We give you amazing people and technology:

Telephone
Answering

Your own Moneypenny PA to answer calls exactly as if based in your office.

Discover >
Live Chat

Amazing people, briefed by you to manage chats whenever you can't.

Discover >
Pocket Phone System

All the functions and support of an office phone system, minus the hardware.

Discover >
×