Is your plumbing business growing? If you run a plumbing business and find that you are having issues answering all service calls and new customer calls, you may be considering an answering service. But, what is an answering service, and how can they be beneficial to plumbers and plumbing companies?
What is an Answering Service?
An answering service is (usually) a 24 hour, 7 days a week service that employs customer service representatives, also known as agents to answer on your behalf and act as an extension of your office.
Tip: When choosing an answering service, make sure that your agents are handling calls in a way that aligns with your company's customer service values.
Answering services offer customizable call scripting, which means that our representatives will only gather information from your callers in the manner that you expect. A premium answering service works as if they are sitting in your office (or truck) with you!
Want to create your own call answering script for your plumbing company? Use this FREE script created by Dexcomm experts!
Of course, not all answering services are created equal. In fact, there is a significant difference between a premium answering service and a commodity answering service. Be sure you evaluate an answering service before choosing your partner based on price alone, it could end up costing you!
Can An Answering Service Do More Than Just Answer My Calls?
In short, YES. An answering service can send messages to you or field techs via email, text message, or fax. Some answering services can even integrate with your scheduling software such as ServiceTitan and schedule appointments for your customers. What else can an answering service do for my plumbing company?
Benefits of a Plumbing Answering Service
If you're still on the fence about whether it is a good idea for your plumbing company to partner with an answering service, take a look at the following benefits you'll reap with a plumbing answering service:
- Have Decreased Labor Costs
- Save Time With Training
- Flexibility for You and Your Staff
- Ability to Answer All Calls
- More Clients, More Revenue!
Decreased Labor Costs
If you currently have an in house receptionist or dispatcher who answers all your calls, that's great! Your callers are most likely being answered by a well-informed individual who can provide them the answers they need.
But, a majority of these receptionists and dispatchers are full time employees who have a great deal of additional responsibilites along with answering calls. You may be considering adding a few members to your team just to keep up with answering calls.
**Does your plumbing dispatcher need help? Learn what you can do with, "Plumbing Dispatchers: What They Need To Succeed".
An alternative to hiring additional employees to help answer calls is working with an answering service. A premium answering service will cost much less than benefits and pay of a full time employee, but will still provide value to your customers and callers. Plus, an answering service is available 24/7, ready to answer any emergency calls that your company may get in the middle of the night!
Save Time With Training
Training a new employee appropriately often takes weeks. Along with the time spent, you must also consider the resources you will need to use when training a new employees. Even after a new employee is fully trained, you must still set aside time and money for additional management to supervise and help your employee.
Partnering with an answering service can help cut costs assoicated with new employee training. A premium answering service has highly-trained agents who are prepared to handle your callers and represent your plumbing business in the best way possible.
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Flexibility for You and Your Staff
An answering service can also provide flexibility for you and your staff. You'll no longer have to be tied to the company phone at all times! Whether it be while your in the field working or late at night when you are at home, an answering service will allow you to not always be on call.
Ability to Answer All Calls
The number one reason that home service companies miss out on service jobs is simple-they aren't able to answer all calls!
You may think that missing one or two calls isn't a big deal, but you never know who is behind the call. One missed call could be a new customer calling in to book a sewer main installation or a shower install. This type of missed call could result in your plumbing business losing thousands of dollars in revenue.
With this in mind, it is essential to answer all calls that your business receives. And relying on voicemail or IVR isn't always the best choice.
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Put yourself in your customer's place. If you had a plumbing emergency would you leave a voicemail and wait around for the company to get back to you? Nope! You'd most likely call the next plumbing company that you find online.
Prevent missed job oppurtuniteis and revenue by working with a 24/7 answering service.
More Clients, More Revenue!
By answering all your cutomer calls and handling these calls with professionalism and compassion, your plumbing company is sure to gain more clients. With more clients comes more revenue, and within no time you will find that your answering service pays for itself!
Key Points
Working with a call answering service can have a significant impact on your plumbing or home services business. Be sure to choose an answering service that aligns with your company's core values, that way you know that your business is well represented to callers.
Ready to learn more about how a premium ansering service can benefit your plumbing business? See what Dexcomm has to offer!
