Every Accounting Firm Needs a Reliable Answering Service and Here’s Why

Accounting firms bring some of the best technological pieces to keep track of the numbers. One of those techs is the answering service. In layman’s terms, an answering service is a service that allows firms to simply answer their client’s calls even if the line is busy. 

Basically, it filters or sorts out the calls based on their urgency. According to statistics, nearly 80% of business calls go unanswered, costing companies thousands in missed opportunities. Hence, it becomes a key technology that each firm must have.

Diving deeper into the details of this service, keep reading this article to know why you should also get one.

Enhancing Client Retention and Satisfaction

A huge part of running a business is ensuring that your customer service is always good and clients know that they can always get a hold of someone at your company. The perfect solution is to implement a reliable answering service into your call system. This way, clients can easily navigate through a series of questions that may provide them with the answers they need.  

These automated systems can answer routine questions like hours of operation and the address of the business, as well as direct calls to specific employees, take messages, and forward urgent matters to the powers that be. 

If done efficiently, it will leave clients satisfied with their experience without them waiting for minutes. When basic phone services work well, clients are more likely to stay with a business because they know that their questions will be answered correctly and in a timely manner.

Boosting Productivity and Efficiency

If compared to hiring an employee, an automated system can pick up multiple calls at a time. This boosts productivity and makes any phone service as efficient as possible, meaning that employees will not spend all day on the phone answering questions, and clients will get their basic questions answered and move on with their days.

24/7 Availability: Always There for Clients

One of the greatest advantages of adding an automated system to your accounting firm is that it will run all day long, every day of the week. This means that if a client has a question at 10 pm on a Sunday, they can call an answering service like www.alwaysanswer.com/ and get the answer they need without ever having to talk to an employee. 

DID YOU KNOW?
Studies show that 67% of customers hang up the phone out of frustration if they can’t reach a person.

Before the introduction of this type of technology, there were human employees even on weekends, just in case a client had a question. Now, the program can provide answers or take messages so that employees can listen to the voicemail first thing on a Monday morning. 

Cost-Effective Solution to Staffing

In accounting or similar sectors, sticking to a budget is paramount. Instead of dedicating a certain amount of your budget to hiring an extra receptionist, invest in a reliable system that can do the same tasks at a fraction of the cost. With such a program, your accounting firm will only pay for the time the service is used, which means it will end up costing less than an annual salary.

Professional Image and Consistency

Since first impressions matter, having an answering service that automatically has a scripted speech for each client makes an accounting firm appear professional and organized. When setting up, you can plug in as many prompts as you need so that the service will be able to answer a plethora of questions that come its way. 

With a set list of options, clients can quickly and easily find their answers whenever they call in. This gives clients peace of mind as they know that there will always be a consistent service available whenever they require something. 

DID YOU KNOW?
Answering services can reduce interruptions, increasing the firm’s efficiency. Research shows that employees are interrupted every 11 minutes on average, and it can take up to 23 minutes to refocus after a distraction, such as answering phone calls.

Prioritizing Urgent Calls and Emergencies

It can be set up to categorize calls by urgency. In other words, employees will only have to pick up the call if there is a question that cannot be answered by the automated bot. If a client has an urgent question, they can choose to surpass the answering service questions and get in contact with a real person. 

In this case, emergency cases will be noticed quickly and solved promptly by an employee. Since the system can handle most other kinds of calls, this leaves the lines open for employees at the accounting firm to pick up the phones in their office right away when there is an emergency. 

Maintaining Confidentiality and Compliance

In the accounting industry, firms are in charge of a lot of confidential financial information, making it extremely vital that they use only systems that can understand data but also keep it safe. 

A high-quality answering system should be capable enough to figure out when a client tells it account numbers and amounts, but should also be trained to handle sensitive information correctly. All data shared on the phone should be confidential and not shared after the phone call is over.

Improving Client Communication

You may have a huge list of clients from all over the world who speak different languages and have different needs. Here too, an answering service can be of your rescue. You can offer your services in multiple languages, making it easier for your clients of all backgrounds to get their questions answered in the language they are most comfortable with. 

Ultimately, you will not need to hire someone to translate for you but can use the answering service as a tool to help with client communication.

Keeping an accounting firm up and running requires a lot of effort and time dedicated to other people’s finances. If you feel like your day is already full enough with balancing accounts and running numbers, then bringing in a reliable answering service will help alleviate your stress and keep your clients happy.

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