There are many benefits of voicemail, which is why it has become an essential part of everyday life. If you’re trying to contact a friend or family member on the phone and they are not available, you can easily leave a quick message that fills them in on the important details of your call. This often saves them from having to call back or gives them the information that they need to be up to speed when they do call you back. The same goes for the voicemails that you receive, especially if you are a business professional who is intent on being as efficient as possible. However, there is one area in life where the disadvantages of voicemail really shine through, and that is when a customer calls a business.
If you run a business, it is important to know the benefits and disadvantages of voicemail. The number one downside to a customer reaching your voicemail instead of you directly is that they get a much more impersonal experience. Customer want to feel like they are special, and having to leave a voicemail really causes them to doubt that. All in all, customers dislike voicemail. There are many scenarios in which a company just doesn’t see how they can get by without voicemail, though. For instance, what you should do in instances of high caller traffic? If you have six phone lines at your small business and eight people are calling, how do you go about managing the calls?
One of the easiest ways that you can start diverting calls is by hiring a third party answering service. This will ensure that every call you can’t take directly will be redirected to someone who can get to the phone. Managing caller traffic in this way will ensure that every single customer feels special and well taken care of because someone is answering them and helping them out. Even if they have to wait on the phone for a few minutes, this is a better solution than having them be forced to leave a voicemail that they may be worried won’t ever actually be listened to.
Many businesses worry about the cost of this method of business call diversion, but they fail to take into account the extent to which customers dislike voicemail. You can end up losing potential or existing customers by forcing them to leave a voicemail and then making them wait for a reply instead of just taking care of their question or concern at the time of their call. Diverting calls is actually essential to your success and does affect your bottom line. Managing calls is just one small piece of running a business, but it is definitely an important one.
If you absolutely cannot manage business call diversion for each one of your customers, remember to magnify all the benefits of voicemail. Make sure that your greeting is both professional and friendly and promise your customer that you will return their call as soon as physically possible.
