Small Business Ideas

With so many automated answering services for businesses out there, customers often find themselves extremely frustrated, wishing they could talk to a live answering service instead.  Answering services have gone the route of letter writing – it’s all gone to computers in an attempt to make life simpler.  However, most customers prefer to talk to an actual person when it comes to their concerns, rather than a cold, unfeeling machine.

From the moment that an actual person answers a call made or transferred to a live answering service, a bond begins to form.  Personal interaction begins from the very first greeting, and the feeling that your customer is not just a commodity to be transferred over to an automated recording can be overwhelmingly touching.  Of course, with today’s busy communications demands, your customers may only receive a friendly sounding voice and an upbeat manner, but that’s really all that’s necessary to maintain a positive outlook regarding your business.

With the personalized attention and interaction that goes into a live answering service, the needs of the caller are professionally met, but with a personal touch that makes the customer feel as though their concerns, complaints, and questions are truly important to the business.

This should be kept in mind when looking for a service for your business.  A live answering service will be received by your customers with open arms, as they will be able to voice their concerns to someone who might actually be able to sympathize and care about what problems they may have.  Such a benefit will make your customers feel important and cared for, which is exactly what you want for them.  When a customer feels cared for, their opinion of your business is much higher than if your customer was transferred to a cold, unfeeling automated service.

There are countless articles and studies outlining the high cost of training – each with unique approaches to measuring the impact of training.  During our current recession there is momentum for business’ to scale back all non-essential areas and training budgets are usually the first to go.  Executives often view training as a nice-to-have function, but not required to stay in business.  I understand their dilemma.  If I were writing the check myself, I would be hard pressed to continue to pay for training when my income is less than it was a year ago.

However, it is the high cost of NOT training that should be on the forefront of our minds, especially during a recession.  During a recession, if I am lucky, I won’t have to lay off any workers.  If not, I may have to let some people go, and rely on those left behind to carry the day until brighter times return.  How do I motivate my staff to provide our customers superior and even ‘delightful’ customer service if I’m scaling back?  How? – by making sure I’m giving each and every person who stays behind the skills and tools they need to deliver.

Let’s look at an example in terms of Return on Investment (ROI).  We train one worker for one hour.  From the training he/she receives, they become 1% more efficient at their current job.  They pick up one tip, trick, cost savings, new understanding – just one simple idea they can use on their job.

Let’s do the math:
40 hours / week * 50 weeks / year = 2,000 hours / year
2,000 / year * 1% improved efficiency = 20 hours / year of improved efficiency
This means that 1 hour invested in training = 20 hours returned
Or, a 20:1 ROI.  If you could get that kind of return on investment on Wall Street, you’d be considered a god…
During a recession we’re all scrambling to grow, or at least, maintain our business.  If you can find a line item that can give you a 20:1 ROI, I suggest you take it.  And soon…