You have a small business, and you’ve got a number that people can call to get in touch. The problem is, you’re often too busy to respond. Every day, you end up with dozens – sometimes even hundreds – of missed phone calls. Aside from being annoying, missed calls are actively destroying your business.
That’s not hyperbole; missing customer or lead calls can devastate your company in more ways than one. In this post, we’ll explain the problems with missing phone calls – as well as a few solutions to reduce the negative impact.
How missed calls are ruining your small business
We can narrow down all the problems to two main areas:
- Missed opportunities
- Poor customer service
Whenever a possible lead or new customer calls your business, and you don’t answer, you are missing an opportunity. Do you think they’re likely to stick around waiting for a response? In most cases, they’ll go elsewhere. This means you aren’t just losing a customer, but you’re losing one to a rival. The same goes for current customers – perhaps they’re calling to discuss something and you don’t pick up. In this instance, they might sever ties and not bother resubscribing to your service or buying something else from you.
Similarly, missing phone calls leads to poor customer service. People get annoyed when they hear the dial tone and you don’t pick up. Especially if they call multiple times. It gets extremely frustrating, which may lead to negative reviews for your business based on this poor level of customer service.
Ultimately, both of these issues lead to a lack of sales. In turn, you struggle to make money – and it could all be down to missed phone calls!
How to solve the missed phone call conundrum
The main problem is that you aren’t around to constantly pick up the phone and answer calls. That’s completely fine – you have other commitments outside of work, like looking after your kids, etc. There are various ways to dramatically improve the situation, such as:
- Outsourcing – Paying to outsource your customer service means a team of agents can respond to all of your calls for you. It’s cheaper than hiring extra staff!
- Get a new phone system – Some phone systems come with technology that lets customers talk to robot advisers or leave specific messages that are converted into emails and sent to you there. This can help solve simple queries people may have, particularly if the system can navigate them through different menus to find the right answers.
- Provide other communication methods – Realistically, missed calls are plaguing your business because you don’t have other communication methods in place. Instead, provide details for emails or direct messages. Give people other ways of contacting you and they are less likely to be annoyed.
See, it’s not as challenging as it seems. If you constantly miss phone calls, your small business will suffer. Use any or all of the ideas above to stop this from happening again and again. Now, you’re in a position where you barely miss any calls and your business is thriving.
P.S. This post contains affiliate links.
