Telephone Answering Services in Columbus: 6 Need-to-Know Stats

If you run a small company or work as an independent professional, telephone reception can be a bit of a catch-22. On the one hand, you have more important things to do than act as your own receptionist. On the other hand, if you don’t stay on top of incoming calls, you could lose out on leads or create issues with existing clients. To balance workflow and customer service, you may need outside support. One popular solution for small business owners in midtown Columbus is a telephone answering service.

At Office Evolution® Easton Columbus, our live telephone answering services give local businesses the perfect way to manage their phone lines. Every incoming call is answered by a live receptionist, so you can worry less about customer service. At the same time, you can streamline your workweek by eliminating disruptions from wrong numbers, robocalls, and unwanted solicitations.

If you’re comparing telephone answering companies in Columbus, or if you’re wondering whether live answering is right for your business, we want to make sure you have the information you need. Below, we’ve collected key information related to telephone answering services to help Columbus’s small businesses make the right choice for their needs.

Where Do Telephone Answering Services Make an Impact?

1. Spam Calls Are Productivity Kryptonite for US Small Businesses. Small businesses are hit hard by phone spam, losing an estimated $500 million in productivity to spam calls each year. There are two main reasons for this. First, the Do Not Call registry doesn’t accept business numbers. Second, small businesses are less likely to have call screening practices in place for key staff.
2. Customers Want a Real Person to Answer Your Phone Line. Virtual reception services are a popular option for businesses looking to save money on receptionist services. But virtual receptionists are far from popular with consumers. A recent deep dive by HuffPost found that 90% of all consumers prefer speaking with live agents, while only 3% preferred virtual reception.
3. Hold Times More Than Double with Automated Answering. In surveys, roughly 30% of consumers say they shouldn’t spend any time on hold when calling a business. Another 30% say anything longer than a minute is too long. That’s a red flag for anyone using virtual reception. According to Time magazine, hold times are 2.2 times as long on automated answering systems.
4. Nearly 2/3 of Incoming Calls to Small Businesses Go Unanswered. Most small business owners realize that they miss their fair share of incoming calls. But few realize how big that share is. According to a 2016 analysis, 28% of calls to small businesses receive no answer at all, while 38% go to an answering machine.
5. Answering Plans Cost a Fraction of Traditional Phone Reception. The average receptionist currently makes $34,000 each year. That’s far too high a price tag for the average small business. High-quality live telephone answering services cost between 5% and 10% that much, making them an attractive option for small businesses and independent professionals in Columbus.
6. Remote Reception Can Add 100+ Hours to Your Work Year. Telephone answering services from Office Evolution Easton Columbus save the average client 2+ hours a week. Over the course of a year, that’s 100+ hours of additional time for productive work, time you can spend on earnings and growth focused tasks.

Telephone Reception Company in Easton Columbus

If you’re looking for a local telephone answering service in Columbus, OH, then it’s time to call the team at Office Evolution Easton Columbus. Located in Columbus’s Easton Town Center, we offer affordable live answering for independent professionals and small business owners. Our telephone answering service plans in Columbus include key features — like live answering, call screening, and voicemail-to-email functionality — plus discounts on meeting rooms and day office rentals at our location.

Call 614-944-5191 today for more information on our telephone answering services in Columbus.