Customer service has become just as important as products and prices when it comes to winning or retaining customers.

With so much competition and many companies often selling the same products, the customer experience can be the only differentiator you can compete on.

And it’s worth paying attention to, with 58% of customers willing to pay more for the same product if they’d get better service.

There are many areas of customer service, especially when you’re looking online or through instant, electronic communication like messaging, email or via live chat.

An often overlooked part of customer service is Telephone Answering and simply making sure you have a voice on the end of the phone when a customer calls.

Being available to answer every incoming call and deal directly with customers is just one of the benefits of hiring a Remote receptionist.

Cost Benefits

Remote receptionists provide a more cost effective telephone answering resource, especially compared to other options like hiring a full or part-time receptionist. There are several ways a Remote Receptionist can help with costs, including:

• Reduced Overhead

A remote receptionist is much more cost effective than hiring a member of staff because you don’t have the salary or associated costs with taking on an employee.

The salary alone for a receptionist can sit between £19,000 and £30,000 a year, depending on experience, and can be higher for receptionists with specific industry expertise – like those working in law firms, for example.

On top of that you have holiday pay, sick pay, insurance, tax and other costs involved.

That’s before you even think about the time and money it will take to train your new receptionist.

A remote receptionist service solves this because you won’t have any of these costs. Instead you usually sign up to a service package (based on calls or minutes used for example) and then you only pay for the service you use.

Even at the top end of a telephone answering service package (which can be close to £1,000 a month) it’s still considerably cheaper than hiring staff.

• Flexible Pricing Options

Another benefit of remote receptionist or telephone answering services is the flexible pricing options.

Telephone answering packages usually work on a monthly basis and you’ll either pay for the number of calls answered, or the time spent on the phone.

How much you pay is based on the amount of service you need.

This flexibility ensures you’re only paying for the service you’re using and allows you to adjust your package in line with your needs, so you’re always getting the best value from your investment.

That’s compared to hiring a member of staff, when you’ll pay a fixed cost regardless of how much telephone answering you actually need.

Let’s say for example you pay for a telephone answering package including 300 minutes of call answering. Over a three month period you realise you’re only using 250 minutes. You can simply reduce your resource down to what you need, and reduce your costs.

If you’ve invested in a good telephone answering service, this package optimising will be done proactively so you’re always on the best deal based on what you need.

Customer Service Benefits

The primary job of remote telephone answering services is to ensure your business never misses an incoming call and that all callers are met by a real person, not a voicemail.

This ensures a more personal, professional level of customer service that delights customers, and creates the right first impression for callers whether they’re existing or potential customers.

Here are the main customer service benefits of a remote receptionist or telephone answering service.

• Out of Hours Availability

Remote receptionists allow you to expand your business’ opening hours beyond the standard 9-5, enabling you to answer more enquiries without needing to work extra yourself.

At Face For Business we offer weekday out of hours services from 8am-8pm, Saturday call answering from 9am-5:30pm and Sunday call handling from 10am-4pm.

This availability can be especially useful for businesses whose customers are at work during regular hours or those that need to be available on the weekend.

• Personalised Call Handling

Remote receptionists offer personalised call handling, ensuring customers receive the best service possible. They learn about the business, products, and services offered, allowing them to communicate with customers in a tailored and personalised way.

Increased Productivity and Efficiency

Remote receptionist services greatly improve productivity and efficiency of businesses in multiple ways. By taking call management out of the hands of employees, it allows them to focus on their core jobs, and improve overall productivity.

• Streamlined Call Management

Remote receptionists use call management software that ensures all calls are answered professionally, calls are always routed to the right people, and customer enquiries are handled correctly.

This helps streamline the call management process and fits in well with businesses that are largely office based or those that have taken a more remote or hybrid approach to work.

• Reduced Distractions for In-House Staff

One of the biggest disadvantages of asking staff to take on phone calls is that every call is a distraction from what they’re supposed to be doing. And when your team is busy, a phone call can be viewed as a disruption, rather than an opportunity to help a customer.

This attitude can easily translate into how they answer the phone.

Remote receptionists take this potential hassle away from your team. By having remote receptionists take on call handling, your team can focus on their jobs and completing valuable tasks.

• Seamless Integration with Existing Systems

Remote receptionists can fit right into your business by integrating with your existing communication systems. This means they can use your existing phone systems or sync with other services like Teams.

This integration ensures that critical messages and inquiries are transferred to the relevant departments or individuals, improving collaboration.

A remote receptionist can also standardise how your calls are handled.

With a dedicated client portal, all your messages are taken and delivered to you instantly in a single place so you know exactly where to get them.

Compare this to most offices when messages can be delivered via email, message, or on a sticky note placed on your screen.

• Adapting to Business Growth

Investing in a remote receptionist makes scaling your telephone answering in line with your business much easier compared to hiring receptionists.

If you need more resource, you can just increase your payments to get additional PAs to work on your calls.

This not only means you get instant call management resources for your business, it also removes the costs involved with recruiting and training new members of staff.

It also means you can more easily scale your call management down during quieter periods when you don’t have as many calls to deal with.

Investing this way creates a more cost effective and efficient level of customer service that matches what you need at all times.

Scaling better, more cost effective customer service

Remote receptionist services offer several benefits to businesses of all sizes, from increased productivity and efficiency to enhanced customer service.

Businesses can save money by reducing overhead costs while providing additional availability and personalised call handling.

With a customisable pricing structure and services, remote receptionist services are an attractive and viable option for businesses looking to improve customer service quality.

Interested in remote receptionists for your business? Speak with Face For Business today

Face For Business offers remote receptionists to businesses of all shapes and sizes across the UK. 

Our vast experience in customer service means we’re ideally placed to help relieve the pressures of incoming calls from your business, at a rate and a schedule that works for you.

Plus, with over 200 years of combined experience in our team and almost 3 million calls answered, our results speak for themselves.

So get in touch with Face For Business today and let us handle your customer calls, so you can spend more time building your business.