An interesting article in the New York Times titled “You have voicemail. Do you care?” shows that up to 70% potential customers don’t leave voicemails anymore. Why?

The article suggests that even amongst the older population, consumers have become accustomed to ‘instant gratification’ features such as SMS text or even e-mail.

It’s even more compelling that at a couple of dollars per answered call, on demand answering services (can I plug Halloo’s Live Answering Service here?) make ROI sense. It’s not just about better customer service anymore, it’s about making sure you don’t lose your customers to voicemail.

I'll check my voicemail later...

Being small business owners, we go through the joys – and pains – of growth. In 2005 my little start-up (not associated with Halloo) had finally had enough financial resources to make some administrative hires and move into a “real” office. It was a transitional time for technology companies and for many small businesses leasing property at the time, the dot com bust had left a lot of well-furnished offices around the San Francisco bay Area – many of them with legacy furniture, cubicles and even office phone systems.

Like most office phone systems that were inherited as part of a new lease (in our case, sub-lease) we had little to no clue how to operate our Punch-Key PBX system other than to dial out and receive calls. Oft was heard the famous phrase,

“How do I transfer a call on this again?”

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Everybody knows who they are, but nobody is willing to say something to them.  They are the employees who don’t work well with others and you wouldn’t dream of having them talk to a customer. But every once in awhile, you have no option but to ask them to be receptionist for a short time.

Makes me shudder when I think of a socially-challenged employee answering the phone.  Remember Ghostbusters? Remember when Janine, already in a foul mood, picks up the phone and says “Ghostbusters, whaddaya want?”

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Study shows that if you get a customer voicemail, you better call them back – fast.

A study conducted by Insidesales.com and MIT Lead Response Management indicates that response time is critical for the success of closing a sale. While the differentiation between B2B and B2C is clear, the overall trend is still startling for both types of sales. The sales leads call-back time study shows a lot of interesting stats and graphs, but the upshot of them is that -

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Businesses who need an answering service, but don’t want their customers to talk to a robot will be interested in Halloo’s newest feature… Live Answering Service.  Gives you a human touch that can help retain current and potential clients.

Works with your existing telephones

Halloo can route calls to your mobile, office or home telephone. Unanswered calls are routed to one of our professional Halloo Receptionists, on call for you 24×7.

Betty is an extension of your company

Our receptionists answer each call professionally and courteously according to your instructions while providing you with accurate callback information immediately via email. Stop losing valuable leads to missed calls.

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