80% of people will hang up on a business if they reach a voicemail when contacting the company via phone. And if the number one thing customers are looking for when they call a customer service center is to have their problems resolved quickly, companies are losing out on the opportunity to improve their customer service reach and their ranking among competitors with the automated voicemail and email systems currently in place.

According to a 2016 Forbes report, businesses are losing nearly $62 billion per year due to bad customer service, stemming primarily from a lack of adequate telephone customer service. What if a customer has an issue that requires an after hours phone service? Or what if a customer is unable to wait on hold for hours on end to speak with a live customer service representative? Think about this – if you needed something right then and there from a company you received a service from (let’s say you had a plumbing leak) would you prefer to talk to a friendly and professional voice that can get you the help that you need or voicemail message?

Answering service for your business is within reach and can provide your business with a higher customer retention rate with the right customer service techniques. Having the best answering services for small businesses is as easy as considering a few simple customer service must-haves:
– Your customers can call at any time. Professional answering services can give you the ability to accept phone calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (even outside of normal business hours), so you are never unable to take an incoming call from a client.
– Staffing becomes a breeze. Whether you get seasonal spikes in calls or you have employees calling in sick, there are times when it is difficult to get all of your calls answered when staffing issues arise. Answering services employ operators that are trained to be able to handle calls for your specific business, all based on the instructions that you give to the answering services that you choose. This eliminates the need to make sure that you always have enough employees dedicated to answering the phones. This will help with your payroll, saving money, time, and resources within the company.
– Calls will get answered more quickly with answering services. Nothing is worse than calling a business and hearing the phone ring and thinking you’ll get through to an employee, but of course, you get sent to a voicemail system or get put on hold for who knows how long. Having a 24-hour answering service to support your employees is important because each call to your business can be answered efficiently.
– Answering services can integrate with the company’s brand. A scripting team makes it possible for agents to capture the information that’s most important to your business and often, using it as a guideline for calls. This, in turn, allows for answering services to answer the same calls in the same style as an in-house team would. Customers will never know the difference.

Answering services can collect leads, use customized calling scripts, process orders, schedule appointments and provide great caller insights for small businesses.. A company can get all the benefits of an in-house receptionist at a fraction of the cost with the right Maryland phone answering service. Services are offered to commercial, general, medical, industrial, and residential businesses. Whether it be daytime, after general business hours, full 24-hour programming, or one day per week, ABA Maryland will design an answering service program to meet your needs.