Managing the affairs of a general contracting business is no easy task. Getting one contract often takes numerous meetings and negotiation sessions, which certainly underlines the importance of delivering services on time and ensuring adequate customer support. To add to the woes, the competition is severe in this sector, making it important to retain customers. With limited staff and front desk executives, how can you serve your customers? The best option is to get a live receptionist for general contractors. In this post, we have answered common questions related to such services.
How are live receptionists different?
Live or virtual receptionists work for answering services that, in turn, serve businesses. Many answering services dedicate their work to small businesses, such as contractors, HVAC companies, plumbers, and electricians. A live receptionist works as your extended team member but is located in a remote location.
Why consider answering services for contractors?
Firstly, your front desk team can only handle a certain number of calls. You may receive calls on weekends and beyond the standard work hours from 8 am to 5 pm, and it is important to remain accessible to your customers and leads. With virtual receptionists and answering services, it is possible to ensure availability 24/7. You can also benefit from the professional work and reduce the overhead costs of expanding your team. In fact, if you have a seasonal spike in demand, the answering service can scale its services accordingly.
What can a live receptionist do?
Today, live and virtual receptionists do more than just receive calls. They can take care of emails, customer messages, inquiries, and responses. Many answering services have additional features like payment management and integration with other software, such as QuickBooks and Square. Your live receptionist can also book appointments and take care of questions related to your services.
What if someone needs more help?
Usually, you will provide all the scripts and supporting materials to the answering service, which will train their receptionists accordingly. In the event that a live agent cannot help your customer, they will either forward the call to your team or note down details if the situation doesn’t require emergency assistance.
How to find an answering service?
As we mentioned, you should look for services dedicated to small businesses. If an answering service company has experience with general contractors or your industry, that’s an added advantage. You should also check the kind of features they offer, whether they have an in-house team and the company size. A large company that has many business clients is likely to stick to its 24/7 commitment. Another critical factor is the location of the virtual team, and you may want to select an option with receptionists in North America. Don’t forget to check the pricing models. Businesses use virtual receptionists to keep costs in check, and therefore, the price should justify what you get.
Redesign customer support for your contracting business
General contractors are required to adhere to schedules, manage contracts, and deliver on promises, and with all that, they should be considerate of client requests and needs. You don’t want to leave your front desk executives overwhelmed with calls and a flooded voicemail. Instead, team up with an answering service and streamline how you interact with your customers and help them beyond business hours. If this is the first time you are using live receptionists, we recommend asking for a demo. You need to be sure the team is professional and knows how to handle complex issues.
Find a dependable answering service for general contractors today to maintain your competitive advantage and serve your customers better than ever!
