Even in the digital age, the phone is still a primary point of contact with customers for most businesses, says The Balance Small Business. Traditional communication methods are just as important as digital methods when developing customer relationships.
Customers can become frustrated when they are unable to get through to your business. They can even develop a negative perception of your company if missed phone calls become a regular thing. Here is what to do if your company keeps missing calls.
Get to the source of the problem
Figuring out why your company is missing phone calls is a good place to start. Phone calls might be missed for a number of reasons, including overwhelmed staff, customers calling after business hours and your company prioritising other communication channels. It may even be that your current telephone systems lack the technology to deal with customer demand.
By identifying why your company keeps missing calls, you can come up with the best solution. Whatever the exact causes of your woes are, there are many ways you can improve call handling in your
business.
Use VoIP to your advantage
Updating to VoIP phone systems brings a whole host of benefits, says Business Telegraph, including cost savings, convenience and advanced phone features. One of these advanced features is the ability to integrate VoIP systems with mobiles.
Even if you are out of office, through VoIP, your mobile can act as an extension of your office phone. This means that you can take calls from anywhere at any time, even if you’re away from your desk.
Solve high periods of demand with SIP trunking
If your company is missing calls due to high demand, SIP trunking could provide you with the answer to your problems. SIP trunks are an easy way to scale your business, as you can have as many phone numbers as you need.
Using SIP trunks lets you configure phone numbers to match your company’s structure. This means calls can be directed to the right place and avoid being missed.
Telephone answering services
So many factors are crucial to giving your customers great customer service, and human contact is one of them. However, when phone lines are engaged or unable to be answered by staff, such contact can be a struggle to achieve.
Fortunately, telephone answering services are on hand to help and are one of the many call handling services offered by Planet Numbers. Such a service allows your customers to be put through to an operator, ensuring your customers speak to a person rather than a voicemail machine.
Call routing plans
Installing a call routing plan avoids missing calls and improves efficiency at the same time. This means calls can be directed to the next available phone line when the first one is busy. Some call routing plans can even be tailored to direct calls depending on the time of day – for example, calls after 5:00 pm may be routed to your mobile rather than to the office phone.
Call routing ensures that every call is answered. By speaking to a human voice, customers will feel valued, even if they need to be redirected further to speak to the right person.
