Modern business owners are increasingly focusing on building an online and automated customer experience that they ignore a powerful channel for creating meaningful relationships and sales conversions: Traditional phone calls.
Many assume traditional phone call, assuming it is not “cool” enough for the digital economy. However, statistics show something else.
A report from eConsultancy.com shows that over 60% of consumers prefer phone over mail, 57% prefer live chat, and 34% prefer click-to-call automation.
It means that any missed call could mean a missed opportunity. Avoiding missed calls can help you turn more leads into customers, hence higher revenue.
In this post, we share insights on how you can reduce missed business calls to increase your revenue. Read on to learn more.
Why Reduce Missed Business Calls?
Businesses spend most of their marketing budgets on lead generation. Up to 94% of marketing budget goes towards SEO, paid advertising, content marketing, public relations, and influencer marketing, according to KissMetrics.
This effort is meant to make people visit your website and do business with you. But do you care to ask how they will contact you after getting to your site?
Someone who calls or wants to call your business is highly engaged and is a hot lead. But callers begin to lose interest if they struggle to find a valid phone number on your site.
The same applies if they call and wait for too long in a queue before speaking to an agent. If prospective customers find it difficult to contact you, they will most likely contact your competitor, leading to revenue loss for your business.
So, you must do everything to ensure you are always reachable by phone.
How to Reduce Business Missed Calls
So, what can you do to reduce the burden of reduced missed calls? Here are some tips to get you started:
Enable voicemail messages
Enabling voicemail messages is the most straightforward step you can take. That means when you miss a call, the caller can leave a message so you can call them back.
While voicemail does not reduce the number of missed calls, it allows you to call back and respond to the caller’s query.
Set up multiple extensions
Businesses use a single, central phone number through which customers can reach out without confusion about the number they should call. However, having a single number can be problematic if only one customer can call at a time.
A viable solution is to set up multiple extensions, allowing many people to answer calls simultaneously.
Also, try setting up a call menu that directs callers to the right agent or department, such as press 1 for sales, press 2 for accounts, etc.
Multiple extensions make it easy for customers to get the assistance they need. It also saves callers the time they would otherwise lose when using a central switchboard.
Put callers in a queue
When phone lines are congested, you risk missing calls when another person is on the line. You can handle each call in an orderly manner by placing callers in a queue.
Reports show that callers can hold for more than three minutes when there is on-hold messaging. But beware that leaving customers in a queue for a long time can cause them to hang up.
According to a recent NewVoice study, 25% of customers hang up and opt not to try contacting a business again if they feel left on hold for too long.
Switch to a virtual phone system
Missed calls will continue to be a problem if you are still using a traditional business PBX system.
A virtual phone system, also known as (VoIP) can manage more call functions and provide better integrations with call center software.
With VolP, you can shift your phone network to the internet instead of a fixed phone line running into one location. Managing calls over the internet makes it easy to answer calls on any device linked to the system.
A virtual system also integrates business phone calls, messages, and video calls under one platform.
However, the initial investment of getting VolP phones is high, making it unsuitable for smaller businesses.
Hire a receptionist
The most traditional way of managing calls in an office is hiring a full-time receptionist or staff member to handle calls.
A receptionist can help handle large call volumes, keeping you and other staff members from constantly interrupting work.
But you may want to avoid purposely hiring a staff member for this role if you receive only a few calls daily. In such a case, you can delegate other admin duties to them beyond answering calls to keep them busy.
Outsource call answering
Alternatively, you can outsource the job of answering calls to phone answering service providers.
Outsourcing could be cheaper than hiring a designated receptionist because you only pay for the service you use.
Unlike having a receptionist handling all calls, you get a team that will manage your business calls and cover for each other when one is away.
That means you get all your calls answered and will not have to worry about one being missed. A phone answering service could be the best solution to avoiding missed calls and improving call quality.
Summary
Your business sales and reputation will most likely suffer if you continue missing business calls. Working to improve your call-answering processes is a smart move.
Consider setting up multiple extensions or upgrading your phone system to minimize the number of missed calls. Alternatively, you can outsource answering services to a reputable company if you are too busy to answer all incoming calls.
At PALO, we understand the importance of answering business calls because we are experts in running pay-per-call campaigns. We understand the importance of answered calls in driving business revenue.
Contact us today to learn more about our offers and how we can help your business move to the next level.
