As your business grows, you may be wondering what the best avenue is to take when it comes to getting more help. Without the help, your business could suffer, but are you really ready to bring on another person? If you are keeping up with the bones of the business but are missing incoming calls from current and potential customers, then it is time to look at your alternatives. Hiring an employee may not be feasible due to funds or due to space, but there are other options.
Using live chat on your website or enlisting in an answering service can be just what you need and are great options for you to consider. Based on your needs, these services could actually change how you do business and give you an edge to beat out your competition.
How Live Chat Can Help
Having live chat support on your website can be a big business booster. There are many benefits for a business to utilize this resource.
- Customers find it to be more convenient for answering quick questions about a potential order. If a customer is in the process of placing an online order but needs more information about the product, the customer is more likely to utilize the chat service and continue placing the order rather than placing their order with a competitor.
- In general, live chat leads to an increase in sales. Reports show that businesses realize an increase in sales and conversion rates due to having live chat support for their customers.
- Live chat agents are able to handle multiple calls at once, which increases productivity and saves money.
- This service enhances your customer experience, which will, in turn, keep your customers coming back. Repeat customers are a goal for all businesses.
- No matter what size your business is, live chat can give you an advantage over your competition.
- Provides 24/7 support. You can still have personalized customer support even after hours, during the weekend, or when you are away from your business for extended periods of time.
How a Virtual Receptionist Can Help
Another option to consider in getting the help you need to grow your business is a virtual receptionist. A virtual receptionist gives your current customers and potential customers a live person to talk to rather than a busy signal or a voicemail message. An answering service can do more than just answer your calls. It can also provide you with business growth benefits. Like live chat, you can utilize it to grow your business while you are away working the bones of your business. Special features a virtual receptionist can provide are as follows:
- Call forwarding: Your answering service can take your calls and forward them to you or another employee. They will also forward messages via text, email,voicemail, or to your online account.
- Order processing: Even while you are away or in downtime, your virtual receptionist can answer your calls and take orders for you.
- Bilingual representatives: An answering service can provide bilingual representatives to assist your customers.
- Scripted message: When you provide your service with a script, they are able to personalize how they answer your calls based on your business.
Getting started with an answering service is quick and easy. You will be assigned an account manager who will work with you to set up and manage your web chat and answering service needs. As your business grows, you may need to make adjustments to your account, and you can do this through your account manager or through your online dashboard. With your dashboard, you will also be able to monitor how many calls are taken by your service as well as how many minutes you are being billed. As well, you can change your script as needed.
You made this business, and you know how to keep it going. But you can’t do that if you are missing out on potential future customers or losing existing ones. Being efficient with your time will give your business new ways to grow. Utilizing live chat and live virtual receptionists will give you opportunities to be productive at all times of the day, every day. After all, earning customers and keeping customers is the goal of every business.
