There’s talk of high streets becoming ghost towns and small independent traders are under threat. But there isn’t exactly a stampede back to the office is there? Bosses are questioning why they need to keep renting expensive buildings. Workers are looking for a better work/life balance. If team productivity is good, working from home is here to stay. It makes sense.
Times have changed. Nobody wants the stress of the commute, increasing train fares and the costs of car parking. People are naturally very thankful to spend more time in bed in the morning. They arrive at their ‘desk’ relaxed, refreshed and ready for the day ahead. That alone is a massive incentive for people to value working from home. Plus they don’t need to feel isolated from their colleagues, there’s video chat, online team meetings and with access to servers. It’s exactly the same as being in the office, or is it?
In the post-Covid dawn there is a danger that companies become selfish about what works for them. Cost cutting will be uppermost in the minds of bosses of course. But the most important people in this whole mix is not the bosses or the workers, it’s the clients.
Keeping the personal touch is a challenge, especially with a smaller workforce. One of the simplest ways to make sure your clients feel loved is to make sure that your phone lines are answered by real people. The automated routing of Voice over IP systems with their “thank you for calling blah de blah… listen to the following options” etc is not exactly telling your clients that they are loved. It’s telling them that you’ve got a cheap solution (or maybe not so cheap) to route their important calls. The phone is often the very first impression that people have of a business. There’s no need for a machine to greet your callers. A real person can answer your calls promptly and professionally and route the calls personally. So much better.
Working from home is fast becoming the norm. Receptionists are in the firing line and professional telephone answering services are in more demand than ever. Not only can you tap into amazing technology and routing capability, but you can have real people at the end of the phones. Calls can be transferred to anyone wherever they are. If it’s not convenient for that person to take the call, then the person who answers the call will take a message and pass it on. It’s so much better than the caller being unceremonially dumped in a voicemail box. We all know how that feels!
With bosses wielding their cost cutting axes, it’s worth mentioning that telephone answering services cost a fraction of the costs of employing people. Plus they don’t go sick or take holidays or give you any headaches. Telephone answering services give you the edge in a world that is weary with automation and longs for that personal touch.
Make sure that your clients feel the love when they call your business. Show them that you care enough about their call to have it answered personally and professionally. Take a free telephone answering trial to see for yourself how this service can transform your business. Your clients, and your homeworkers, will love you for it.
