If your business’ call center is not open 24/7, you may notice an influx of calls after regular business hours. As a small business owner, this can be understandably frustrating. Missed calls are bad for business. You could be losing either prospective customers or continued relationships with established ones. You might be wondering: why do people call after hours, anyway? That’s what we’ll address today.
There are plenty of reasons why people call after hours. Here are a few of the best reasons for your call center to operate 24/7.
The Service You Provide
If you’re wondering why you receive so many after-hours calls, ask yourself a few questions about the service you provide. Is there some reason that you tend to get an influx of calls after regular business hours?
Unless you deal primarily with other businesses, then the chances are that you will get a majority of calls after 5 pm. That’s because this is when a majority of people have time to devote to matters apart from work. In some industries—such as healthcare, hospitality, or recreation—it is only natural that you would receive an influx of calls after your office has closed.
People are Working Remotely
Earlier this year, a staggering number of businesses made the sudden shift to remote work. While working from home does have definite quality of life benefits for a majority of people, it also comes with a few surprising consequences.
One of the unexpected—or, depending on your perspective, expected—by-products of working from home is that people, on the whole, work longer hours and spend more time in meetings. Business used to end sharply at 5 or 6 o’clock. Now, the lines are increasingly blurred. This might account for the reason you’ve suddenly found yourself with an increased volume of after-hours calls.
Business Emergencies
If you’re in the field of healthcare, it’s obvious why you should offer your services 24/7. Emergencies happen in almost any industry, but they are of special importance in healthcare. What if someone urgently needs their medication, or can’t access their HSA funds when they need it most?
But the truth is that, whatever your industry, you should take emergencies seriously. If a client suddenly and urgently needs your attention, the last thing they want is to be greeted with an answering machine. Having 24-hour support shows your clients that you genuinely care about them and about their business.
Thankfully, you don’t even have to hire new customer service representatives or expand their hours to provide after-hours support for your customers. If you’re looking for an easy and affordable way to implement 24/7 customer support, consider hiring a telephone answering service.
Contact TeleRep Today!
If you are ready to install telephone answering services for your business, TeleRep is here to help. If you still have more questions, our trained professionals are ready to answer them. We know how important customer feedback is to you and your business, so let them know that you care with an answering service. To learn how TeleRep can help you today, visit us online or give us a call at 1-800-638-2000. To keep up with our work and to see what we have been up to, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.