How a Telephone Answering Service Can Help Win New Customers For Contractors

Posted September 16, 2015 in contractor answering services by admin

As a locally owned business, you need one main thing to put you ahead of the larger, chain store using a telephone answering service competitors: excellent customer service. The 2014 Global Customer Service Barometer study found that 60% of respondents who intended to conduct a business transaction or make a purchase decided not to do so after a poor customer service experience. In fact, the quality of service was the second most important factor that people consider when choosing a company to do business with. Luckily, the study goes further to describe what constitutes great customer service:

Knowledgeable representatives who can satisfactorily answer questions
Personalized service
Thanking customers for their business

Of these three crucial factors to customer service success, how many can be done by sending an after hours phone call to voicemail? When faced with survey results like this, it’s easy to see why your HVAC, plumbing, electrical, or other service business needs to consider a professional answering service. It may be the difference between being in business this time next year, or being forced to close your doors.

Hiring a 24/7 telephone service is a great idea for contractors looking for new business, because it will ensure:

Calls are Answered Promptly

No one likes to wait around, and customers appreciate the fact that you value their time. Answering any and all calls promptly ties into all three important factors for customer service. You’re giving them personalized service instead of sending them to voicemail, a knowledgeable representative is answering the phone, and you’re able to thank them for their business.

Receptionists Will Use a Professional Script

Hiring a friend of a friend may be conveniently cheap, but what kind of message does that give your potential customers? Just because someone will answer a phone doesn’t mean they can provide acceptable answers to questions about your plumbing or electrical services. Receptionists who work for a professional answering service will be able to provide you with a consistent dialogue and the personal touch that only live, well trained agents can deliver. It all starts with the perfect answering service script.

You Can Monitor and Improve Your Calls

It is important to monitor and continuously improve key metrics such as average number of rings before answer, hold times, conversion percentages between callers to customers, and more. Multiple rings and lengthy hold times can cause your prospects to abandon the call. By hiring a reliable telephone answering service, this data can be used to continuously grow your contractor business.

Make sure “excellent customer service” is permanently on your radar. Your business may be running on a small operating budget, but that’s all the more reason to look for an answering service that gives you the best value for your money. Main Line TeleCommunications provides many answering services that are perfect for contractors, including emergency service, 24-hour answering, after hours support, and more.

Download 10 Tips for Choosing a Telephone Answering Service to learn more.

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