Self-sufficiency is an ideal that many business owners aspire to: rather than spending money on outside agencies to handle key business tasks, they prefer to take care of all aspects of running their businesses in-house. However, while this sounds like good business sense, especially for small and startup businesses, there are advantages to outsourcing certain office tasks. Even small businesses can benefit from hiring a call answering service – not only can they actually save money on overhead, but a call answering service can even facilitate rapid growth. More and more businesses are recognizing the value in hiring a call answering service to handle their customer service, and there’s no reason why aspiring entrepreneurs can’t take advantage of it for their own businesses.

Saving money through outsourcing can seem counterintuitive at first: how can hiring an outside agency to do work for you possibly cost less than an in-house receptionist? First of all, consider the hidden costs of having an in-house receptionist. Not only do you have to pay their salary, but you also have to pay for their equipment: computer, headset, high-speed Internet connection, etc. You also can’t always rely on having them around to do their job due to vacations, holidays, and sick leave, and worse still, you have to pay them for the time they spend away from work. If there’s bad weather or heavy traffic on their daily commute, they might show up for work late – or not at all. There’s even the possibility of them quitting, with or without putting in their two weeks’ notice. Finding a suitable replacement, temporary or otherwise, can be a trying task – and training them to do the job amounts to yet another expense.

By contrast, offshore agents not only work for much less than in-house personnel, but they also provide their own training and equipment – no extra costs involved. Better still, a call answering service can provide professional customer service 24/7: no more losing work to vacations, sick leave, traffic, or other variables. Whenever your customers need them, day or night, rain or shine, offshore agents will be there to take their calls and answer their questions. Outsourcing your customer service means that service quality is no longer tied to the whims of a single person: all of your customers can expect service with a smile from an agent who will treat their issues with the importance they deserve. If the quality of your customer service leaves a good impression on your customers, they’ll be more than happy to keep doing business with you.

Another advantage of offshore call answering services is that your customer service will be nearly impossible to interrupt for any reason – power outages, technical difficulties, natural disasters, etc. Offshore call centers are prepared for any and all kinds of potential disruption: if the power cuts out, they even come equipped with backup generators so they can continue to operate as normal. Even if your business is hit by a tornado, a hailstorm, and an earthquake all at once, your customers will still be able to get through to someone who can take their calls.

Outsourcing call answering services can seem like overkill for a small business, but it can be an effective way to reduce your overhead and improve the quality of your customer service. Small businesses can take advantage of all the benefits that call answering services can provide -try them out and see for yourself!

Source by Mary D Dawn