Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Right now my office phone forwards to my cell phone.

It works decently, but sometimes I still miss a call and it goes to voice mail (which NO ONE leaves a message on), sometimes it`s just not a good time to take the call, and sometimes I take it but they can certainly tell I`m on my cell.

I just want to raise my level of customer experience. Now maybe I can turn it into a positive...or maybe I need to get an answering service. It`s not a lot of phone calls, most of my contact is through email.

What do you do? What do you as a customer like?



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Michael Buckingham | founder, creative director | Holy Cow Creative
holcowcreative.org | holycowablog.com

Never might be a bit harsh, but rarely. Now we are a service firm, we work with churches to help them communicate better, so it`s a bit different than if we were selling a product perhaps. Most of our new customers come through our websites contact form or through direct email.

We have a answering service company that is local that is affordable ($65 for 150 calls) but like everyone we watch every dollar and only want to spend it if it really makes a difference.

I also wonder if an answering service hurts and not helps...are there negatives attached to it? They certainly aren`t going to be very informative and are really a live answering machine.



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Michael Buckingham | founder, creative director | Holy Cow Creative
holcowcreative.org | holycowablog.com

I think you answered your last question yourself.   I would use your own voicemail, save the money, and just try to answer the phone as much as you can. 

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Our Mission is to Serve our Clients with Professionalism and Efficiency.
www.SupportMyOffice.com

I think you`re being paranoid. I say this because I`m increasingly astonished at the number of people who feel they have to be constantly in contact with someone at all times. Cell phones and their abuse are almost ridiculous enough to have become a charicature of themselves.

If people want your service, they`ll call. If you`re not available, they`ll leave a message. If you`re "never" available, and "never" call back in a timely fashion, then the word will get around and nobody will call.

In today`s world, with web sites and email, if people really have a massive bugaboo about leaving a voicemail message, they can check your Web site. You can leave the URL, clearly spelled, on your answering message.

Why do you feel you have to instantly speak with every possible caller? What could possibly be that important? If you have common business hours, and you`re answering the phone routinely during those business hours, I see no reason why you can`t have voicemail for incomming calls when you`re talking with someone.

An interesting survey result I came across in this book I`m reading, points out that in the first half of the 20th century, when asked, "Are you important?" only 1 in 10 people said yes. Nowadays, 6 in 10 say yes. This time we`re in has been called the "Age of Narcissism" by many psychologists and analysts. I tend to agree.

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Our Mission is to Serve our Clients with Professionalism and Efficiency.
www.SupportMyOffice.com

The issue here isn`t one of overall business process, where ALL incoming calls are sent to a machine. Rather; it`s about the *few* calls that might be missed for a variety of reasons. If I understand the original posting, it`s a question of how to guarantee that 100% of incoming calls are met by a human assistant.

That`s fine, and I, for sure, hate the increasing use of "round robin" voicemail menu systems. On the other hand, to cost-benefit issues of attempting that guarantee, I think are problematic. In a way, it`s getting so lost in what might have happened "if only" that one customer had gotten through that it gets into losing sight of the overview.

We had a topic, long ago, about when to "fire a customer." One of the underlying ideas was associated with adapting to a changing world. I mostly agree with the phrase, "If a million people say something stupid, it`s still stupid." I don`t subscribe to consensus reality, and neither do I agree that just because the "world" may be changing toward a foolish direction that we should accept and adapt.

Again, I`m not saying that it`s a binary option of either accepting all calls, or ignoring all calls. I`m saying that sending overflow to voicemail is a rational option. If the voicemail is constantly being hit----there`s a very long queue or most calls are being missed, THEN it`s time to review the business structure.

From the sound of it, there only are a few calls being missed. And that`s another option: to see if there`s a way to track the "missed calls" on the existing system.

Hi There,
I can highly recommend 1-800 We Answer Answering Service.  They`re nationwide, and can do all of the things that you need an answering service to do, including making appointments with a 24/7 live operator and they are available 365 days a year.

1-800 We Answer Answering Service provides telephone answering service, call center, voice mail, telemarketing, order taking, virtual office, and mail receiving services, phone installations and sales business and individuals.

Tel: 1-800 We Answer
       1-800-932-6793
Local Tel: 212-868-1121
Website: http://www.efls.com

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