A SECRET TO SUCCESS

Have you ever wondered how your competitor always seems to be on top of the game, while you feel you are constantly lagging behind?

You look at their website and they seem to have been very busy: they organised a charity tea party for their clients and networking friends, they have been knitting for people with dementia, the business owner launched a book about how to set up a successful company, they won 3 business awards in the past year. You are thinking to yourself, how do they do it? Where do they find the time to organise all of this and also provide their services? Where do they find the budget?

If this is how you feel? It may be time to get in the know of a little secret that more businesses use than you had ever thought.

When was the last time you made an appointment with your physiotherapist? Do you remember who you spoke to? Were you surprised that when you arrived at the clinic, there was no reception desk, but just a note in the waiting area, if you could sit down and wait to be called by the physician?

When was the last time you called a plumber to come and fix the drains? This lovely lady booked you in straight away and the plumber turned up 2 days later at your house. However, when you passed his house the other day, you only saw his van outside and no indication that he would have a receptionist or even an office.

Outsourced telephone answering services is the answer. Some of your competitors, but also your suppliers are using these services without you realising it. Last year contact centres throughout the UK answered over 42 billion minutes of incoming calls for other companies.

Contact centres and telephone answering services are not only used by the large corporations. When we call Natwest, we know that we are speaking to a contact centre. But many small and medium size businesses have also started using telephone answering services in the past years. What are the benefits? Why do they make the decision to outsource their telephone answering?

The answer is simple:

• • Telephone answering is a very cost-effective way of ensuring that all phone calls to your business are always answered. No need to hire a receptionist on a full-time salary, no need to risk that the receptionist will then go off sick or wants to go on holiday. No need to get an extra desk, computer and additional office space.

• Receptionists at Telephone Answering Services are used to answering calls for different companies. They usually pick up the basics about your business very quickly. You will be able to provide them with a script or with a list of frequently asked questions.

• You decide when you divert and when you don’t. You remain in control of your own phone lines.
• Improve your business image for your customers. You may be a one-man band working from home, but the fact that you use a virtual receptionist makes your customers understand that you are serious about what you do.
• Improve customer service for your customers. People prefer to speak to people when they call a company.
• Convert more prospective customers quicker, as they will speak to a real person from the very first phone call.

Don’t forget to look out for the following, before making a choice:

• Not all telephone answering services operate 24/7, some only operate during office hours.
• Some services use a computer to answer the phone, others have real people answering your calls.
• There are contact centres based in countries like India, who advertise their services in the UK. They may be cheaper, but their English could be poor.
• There are also UK companies advertising Telephone Answering Services and then outsourcing this to an Indian contact centre.
• Some companies may tie you into a long term contract, others have very flexible solutions available.

At eDivert, we provide Telephone Answering Services 24/7 and all our receptionists are UK based. Our staff are selected on their good levels of spoken and written English. We have telephone answering packages available for small businesses, as well as for medium size businesses, regardless of the number of calls you receive per month. Our prices are all based on usage. Details can be found on our website: www.eDivert.co.uk. Feel free to call us if you have any questions, on 01628 637900.