The most obvious reasons for business failure are poor planning, terrible time management, horrible customer service, lack of capital and little or no marketing to promote the business. So why do so many businesses fail that have perfected the aforementioned scenarios? The answer may lie in something that is so basic that it is easily over looked.

Even with a great business model, adequate funding and total devotion a business is at risk of collapsing if it is not effective at new customer acquisition. The fact is that just because you are running advertisements and the phone is ringing with new prospects doesn’t necessarily mean you are not missing out on new opportunities and first time customers.

The majority of start up businesses simply are not able to employ a full time receptionist at the onset of their new business venture and as a result the owners of those firms resort to answering incoming calls themselves. There are several problems with that solution, including, but not limited to creating a very small business image, loss of customers and a complete waste of time that could be better spent building the new company and managing it.

A proven solution to this dilemma can often be something as simple as hiring a virtual receptionist answering service. In fact, most people are surprised to learn that the inherent benefits of using a live answering service far outweigh the cost. After contacting a few providers you would find the following reasons to seriously consider outsourcing your calls:

Reason # 1: It’s considerably more affordable than hiring even a part time receptionist. Hiring your own employee will cost you a good two to three thousand dollars or more per month. This doesn’t even take into consideration that he or she will receive health benefits, paid holidays and sick time. While all services may bill differently you can usually find one that charges between $1.00 and $1.50 per call. There are not many businesses that will receive calls to the tune of 400 per month but even if they did they would only be looking at a monthly investment of about $600 dollars. Additionally a service is available to take all calls 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, nights, weekends and even holidays.

Reason # 2: The next benefit in line would be the company image. Nothing screams that you’re a little company like answering your own telephone or even worse having an answering machine field the call in the middle of a business day. People judge you by these small items and you need to take them very serious. Having a secretary, or even a virtual receptionist gives the image of a professional and successful firm.

Reason # 3: A quality answering service will absolutely help prevent the loss of new customers. When first time new clients are in need of a service, especially industries like contracting, attorneys, and the medical fields, customers will want immediate attention, and though they might leave a message on an answering machine they will almost certainly hang up and call another competitor that might answer the call live. Whoever responds first will no doubt almost always get the business.

Reason # 4: Virtual Receptionist providers can free up your time so you can transition from being an over paid secretary to doing what’s most important, and that is building your business and focusing on things that generate more revenue. The answering service can screen calls and answer basic questions about your services, including giving out directions, business hours and even scheduling appointments or consultations. The service can determine if a call should be transferred to you and thereby allowing you to only spend time on the phone with callers that require your personal attention. Many services can even process payments, take reservations and field highly complex calls using menu driven technology that makes it nearly impossible to know that they are not talking to your actual office.

The takeaway is that sometimes saving money is the very thing that will cost you money, and in fact the loss often times far outweighs the savings. Whether they are fortune 500 companies or small one man operations, there are hundreds of thousands of businesses using live answering services to grow their business, increase cash flow, improve their image and free up valuable time.

Source by Mike B Cynar