Small business answering service software – what are the advantages?

There are many reasons to outsource specific elements of your business – number one being that it saves you time. Instead of wearing many hats and doing several jobs during a given week, you can outsource to a specialist in a given area. For example, if you need to create a logo, you can spend time learning graphic design yourself and still run the risk of ending up with a sub-standard end product, or you can hire an expert who has been creating logos every day for years. 

Outsourcing also allows you to leverage growth while mitigating financial risk. For example, suppose you run a digital marketing agency by yourself and find that you do not have time to take on any more clients. In that case, you could hire a virtual assistant or a small business answering service to take care of administrative tasks and phone calls so that you can focus on the core of the business. You could also hire a freelance digital marketer to develop the agency’s capacity further and increase revenue.

Through outsourcing, you’re able to hire highly-skilled people without paying for office space, furniture or computer hardware. With no permanent contracts in place, you can also expand and contract or minimise the number of people working for your business, depending on seasonality and the workload you have.

Why use a small business answering service?

The great thing about outsourcing administrative and miscellaneous tasks such as telephone answering is that you can free up more time for yourself. Before you look to outsource work to freelancers with a specialised skill set, consider hiring a small business answering service and note how much more time you gain back on a daily basis.

For example, phone calls – including those pesky unwanted sales ones – can be costing you more time than you think. Consider how many phone calls you get per day, and then multiply that number by 25 – that’s how many minutes per day are taken up by interruptions. And that’s not even including the length of the call itself!

It takes an average of 25 minutes (23 minutes and 15 seconds, to be precise) to get back in the swing of things and focused on work, following an interruption. Several studies confirm that distractions from the work at hand don’t just take up time during the distraction, they also really hamper a person’s ability to focus for up to 30 minutes afterwards. So the actual length of a distraction is the duration of the distraction + 25 minutes. You can read more about the impact of distractions in this research paper, published by the University of California, Irvine.

That’s not all however, a large body of research has shown that not only does it take longer to finish a given task when interrupted, but error rates and stress levels also increase. This study carried out at the University of Illinois demonstrated that when “primary tasks” were interrupted, users took between 3-27% longer to complete a task, their error rates doubled and their level of “annoyance” increased by anywhere between 31% to 106%.

For writers specifically, interruptions dramatically reduce both the quality and quantity of written work produced. With all of this in mind, a telephone answering service can help you stay focused, productive and significantly less stressed.

Never miss a business call again

Business owners can’t afford to ignore their phones. Phone calls are the highest form of sales lead – if someone is taking the time and effort to call you, there is a serious chance they want your product or service.

Despite this, our research suggests that 1 in 3 business calls are missed. What’s more, the vast majority of callers don’t want to leave a voicemail message and will go on to call somebody else, usually a competitor of yours.

With a telephone answering service, small business owners can focus on the work at hand and minimise interruptions, safe in the knowledge that all of their calls are being handled professionally. With Moneypenny’s dedicated PA service, you get someone who knows your business, the type of customers you have and the industry that you work in, all for a fraction of the cost of an in-house receptionist.

Out of hours answering service

Running a business can be stressful, and it can be a challenge to switch off – both metaphorically and literally when it comes to switching off your phone.

With a 24/7 answering service, you can create a real psychological barrier between work life and your leisure time. The fact that you don’t have to keep your mobile nearby or listen out for any business calls allows you to really enjoy whatever it is you are doing during the evenings and weekends.

What to look for when choosing an answering service

One of the first things to look for when choosing an answering service for your small business is where the receptionists are based. If you are a UK-based company, it is much easier for your receptionists to build a rapport with your UK-based customers and clients. Using an answering service based in the UK also helps build your brand and give the impression that you have an in-house receptionist and a UK office.

Another thing to consider is how your service is managed, for example via an app. Moneypenny’s answering service comes with the use of a free app that allows you to update your location and availability, set call paths and contact your dedicated PA – making your working life a lot easier.

Moneypenny is different to most answering services, as our UK-based PAs are hand-picked to each business that comes on board with us. Once we’ve selected the right PA for you, you’ll have a Welcome Call where you’ll be able to brief your new team member, telling them all about your business and how you want your calls to be handled.

Superpowered by our state of the art call-handling software, our PAs will recognise repeat callers, identify any VIPs and give them the five star treatment, and block any spam sales calls. You’ll be confident that your business is being represented perfectly and an outstanding level of customer experience is always provided to your callers. 

With a 7-day free trial and no obligation to continue with us afterwards, why not give Moneypenny a go? Visit our Telephone Answering page, take a look at our Small Business Phone System or call us on 0333 202 1005 to find out more.