A Better Answer Blog

How can a small but burgeoning company in the service industry provide good customer service, meet the needs of its customers, and continue to grow business? The answer considered by many service companies is outsourcing. An answering service is a great place outsource call response for a service company.

Service Industry Sectors

The United States economy is divided into the goods-producing sector and the services-providing sector. The services-providing sector, or service industry, can then be broken down into subcategories such as trades, transportation, utilities, and various other services. The other services include, but are not limited to:

• Landscaping and horticulture
• Hospitality
• Personal services
• Business services
• Automotive maintenance and repair services
• Home maintenance and repair services
• Legal services
• Private education
• Social services

Many of these services are started by owners with a strong entrepreneurial spirit and desire to promote business growth while keeping customers happy.

Opportunity Knocks

Starting a service oriented business means just that –you are offering services. Your customer base is looking to you to provide a service and fulfill an agreement to complete a transaction. Keeping your customers happy can keep you and your employees busy all the time. Staying busy is good. Missing opportunities is not.

In fact, a recent study said that most small business owners are taking calls so often that they are not even allowed a bathroom break from the phone. And yet, business is still being lost. Outsourcing your incoming calls to an answering service may be a better answer. (Pun intended.)

Outsourcing to an Answering Service

When a service company receives a phone call, it will usually be for one of two reasons.

1. A customer complaint or issue that needs resolution as soon as possible
2. A new or existing customer who wants to make an appointment

The phone call to your service company may be the customers’ first impression and the deciding factor if they’re going to do business with you, or continue doing business with you. An answering service can provide:

• Call handling, 24 hours/day, 7 days/week
• Call overflow handling
• Backup when you’re busy or out of the office
• Appointment Setting
• Call Escalation
• Bilingual call answering

Outsourcing your calls to an answering service may help facilitate your scheduling and your customer service. Keeping your current clients happy is easier (and much more cost efficient) than trying to get new ones.

A service company must continue to provide services to stay in business. This requires excellent customer service to keep your current and prospective customers happy. In order to continue growing a service company, some administrative tasks can be outsourced so that you’re able to focus on doing what you do best. An answering service can be the first step in outsourcing part of the tasks of running a service company.