So you are looking for a phone answering service. You have identified that you need help answering your calls so you can free up your time and get more done in the day. You do not want to miss out on leads. Everything is clicking and making sense. You get to the pricing page of a phone answering service and you see all sorts of plans ranging from $69 to $500+. You wonder: can you get call answering for just $69 per month? You certainly do not want to pay more than $500 per month. You are confused. Now what?
Do not worry. Part of our job at Easybee is to help you understand our service and find the best solution for you as every business is different. Read along to find how you can identify how many answering service minutes your company needs.
Are you looking for a 24/7 virtual receptionist? Or perhaps you only want an answering service that can handle overflow (when calls get forwarded to the answering service if you do not get to them within a certain number of rings). Some clients only use an answering service for when the office is closed. Identifying what times and dates you will be delegating your call answering to an answering service helps you identify how many calls fall withing those time frames.
Let’s say you will forward all your call answering. You want your new answering service to handle your phones 24/7. Do you know how many calls you get per day or per week or per month? Once you arrive at a number, try to equate it to the billing period of the new answering service. For example, if you get 20 calls per week and your answering service bills per month, you can expect to have a volume of about 80 calls per month.
Notice how we specify “operator”? Remember that operators can only do so much compared to you. While you may be able to go over a case with a current client or go into great depths about your services during a sales call, operators are mainly here to collect basic information and dissipate small doubts. For that reason, calls handled by an answering service tend to be between 1.5 and 3 minutes on average depending on what the goal. Message taking calls are much shorter than calls where operators are required to schedule someone.
Once you know how many calls per month you expect to forward, you can multiply that by the average talk time you calculated and you will have the estimated number of minutes you need from your answering service!
Honestly, trying to estimate the number of minutes you will need is quite hard. There are a lot of moving pieces. For that reason, Easybee provides a no-commitment 2 week free trial. During the 2 week free trial, you will have no limits as to how many calls you can forward. At the end of the trial period, you will get a report with how many calls were processed and how many minutes it took. It is much easier to find the best plan for you after 2 weeks of service.
Whatever your needs may be, Easybee has an excess of qualified professionals ready to answer your calls promptly and professionally. Sign up for a free trial today to find the best plan for you and to experience first hand how much your business can benefit from an answering service.