The phone rings for a while at your small business, and no one gets to it. That’s not a big deal, right? Actually, unanswered calls can be a death sentence for small businesses, and can be a major harm to larger businesses too. This article will give you a sense of what unanswered phone calls say about your business.
For starters, unanswered phone calls mean lost business. That phone call may have been a customer. Now that their call was not answered, they are going to move down the list to one of your competitors, and they will get that customer’s business instead of you.
That phone call also might have been a business associate or supplier. Not answering their phone call could have a range of negative effects – from establishing a negative relationship with a business associate to missing a shipment that could offset your business for weeks.
Unanswered calls also affect your business in other ways; it affects your reputation. When potential customers are looking up your business, they will likely come across a review. One of the first things that people will say in a negative review is whether or not they felt appreciated as a customer. If a potential customer sees an array of reviews saying that your business does not answer the telephone, you can be assured that potential customer will look elsewhere for their needs.
None of these scenarios are ideal. The best advice is to make sure that you are always answering your phone. After all, communication is key. Sometimes, though, it can be hard to always answer the phone. You might be busy with other customers, other business, or any other number of distractions.
A great solution to this problem is a receptionist. But those can be expensive, and they can be even more work than just answering a phone. A virtual receptionist, then, is the modern solution. If you are worried about your business’s reputation and the number of calls that you are leaving unanswered, then you should investigate virtual receptionists, and see for yourself how much your business can benefit from them.
