The age old question every business owner has asked at one point or another: Callers to my business are waiting too long or are hanging up before we can answer the call. Why can’t the telephone be programmed to fix this problem?
We hear this complaint frequently, but sometimes the solution is not only in the telephone system.
A telephone system is a fairly simple tool. When a customer dials a number to call your business, that simple action drives us to a simple solution. Where can we program the telephone system to ring that gives us the best chance of having that call answered?
Simple.
What happens if you have a higher call volume than can realistically be answered by existing staff members? This raises a number of additional programming questions:
- Can we stack callers until someone becomes available? Yes.
- Can we take a message to call them back? Yes
- Can we send the call to someone else in the company? Yes.
Programming the telephone system to solve your problems is only one piece of the puzzle. Without knowing basic information about who’s calling and when, it’s difficult to address the exact pain points of those handling incoming calls. This is where call reporting comes into play.
Reporting your company’s call patterns answers some pretty important questions.
- It gives you the number of calls that come into your business
- It give you the time of day/day of week when calls come into your business
- It tells you which of your employees are taking the majority of the calls
- It gives you average length of your calls
Knowledge is power. Call reporting gives you knowledge!
When you know the number of calls and the average length of calls, you can figure out where your staffing hours are best used:
- You can plan more efficiently to ensure that you have people available during your known high call volume time frames
- You can schedule breaks, time off, meetings, etc so that you are responding to your callers in a timely fashion
- You can see where hiring new staff would be justified
A telephone can only ring where it is programmed to ring. It can’t make sure that a person is sitting there to answer it. With these tools, you have the knowledge to make decisions that will give your callers the best possible experience whenever they dial your number.
Simple.
Learn more about call reporting and the best products for your business today!
