With so much competition around, small businesses are constantly looking for anything that will give them an advantage, help them to grow and help them to get an edge over their competitors.
One thing that all businesses have in common is the need to streamline their communications to ensure that customers can get through quickly and easily, and staff don’t waste time dealing with misplaced calls.
This is where an IVR phone system can make a huge difference, allowing your company to be well organized and efficient and giving your customers a great user experience.
What is an IVR phone system?
An IVR phone system is an Interactive Voice Response telephone system. This means that anyone calling your company will be greeted by a welcome message and then given options for how they want their call to proceed.
They can interact with the system using either their voice or the numbers on their telephone keypad, selecting different options from the menu as they go.
This means that calls can be forwarded to the right people in the right places, whether they’re in the office, on site or even in another country.
Callers interact with the system using either their voice or the telephone keypad
How do they improve efficiency?
Interactive voice response systems can help your business to become more efficient in many ways.
Firstly, it allows you the freedom to leave the office, safe in the knowledge that customers can still contact you wherever you go.
So if you’re a sole trader or a small company juggling lots of jobs you can get on with the work that is crucial to your success, while still fielding calls about new or other ongoing work.
It also means that instead of having a secretary or another member of staff trying to route calls on to the correct recipients, the phone system will do it automatically, freeing up another member of staff to get on with other work.
Installing an IVR system is also great for your customers as it allows them to contact the right department for their query immediately rather than having to spend time on hold or being passed between offices and departments.
If there is ever an instance when a call cannot be answered, a voicemail system will be activated so your customers can leave a message. Helping to ensure that you never miss out on an inquiry again.
How can they help your small business to grow?
The freedom that an IVR system will give you will help you to get on with your work without having to worry about missing enquiries or directing calls to other colleagues or employees.
So you can concentrate on completing the jobs in hand and on bringing in more business for the future.
Employees who would otherwise be tied up answering calls and dealing with customers can take on other work, increasing the productivity of your businesses instantly.
An IVR system can also give callers the impression that your company is much larger than it is, improving their confidence in your services and making you seem even more professional and capable.
You can have a personalized message played to callers or even a virtual secretary
To further improve the corporate image of your small business, you can combine an IVR system with other virtual office solutions. For example, you can hire a virtual secretary or have a virtual address in a prestigious location, both of which will give the impression of a large corporation rather than a small, but growing business.
If you’re looking to take the next step in growing your small business, installing an Interactive Voice Response telephone system is a great idea. See http://www.office-answers.com/ivr-phone-system.htm for further details.
Not only will it help to give your customers confidence in your services, it will also allow you to concentrate on the most important aspect of growing your business and maintaining the highest standards in the services that you offer.
Picture credits: Wikipedia 1 & 2
