Question:
I’m anxiously waiting for the economy to rebound. Until it does, I need
to reduce my expenses. Although I don’t want to temporarily cancel my
answering until things rebound, I feel like I have no other choice.
What alternatives should I consider?
Answer:
The out-of-pocket expense you pay to your answering service is only part of
the equation. It is important to remember that opportunity costs, or
sales and customer contacts lost, because a real person does not answer
each call.
Often, the results
of one call are sufficient to cost-justify the cost of an answering service for a month or
more. Even so, if you are
set on saving money in the short-term, there are many steps that can be taken
to help you cut costs while still providing you with a vital
communications link. Although your answering service will need to specifically look at your
account, analyzing it and reviewing your needs to determine the best
solution, there are a few steps that will generally help lower your
monthly bill. Common steps include streamlining your instructions,
simplifying your on-call procedure, making sure our answering service has up-to-date
information, considering a different means to receive your
messages or orders, and using automation for specific routine tasks.
Your answering service can also look
specifically at the functions that contribute the most to your bill and
target those items for optimization. If they can streamline the
work they do for you, they can likely reduce your bill.
Learn more about telephone
answering services and discover how the might be able to help you.