A surprising 60% of customers would rather call their local small business on the phone. That’s a huge majority, considering email is closest behind with a mere 16%. 

With this information, it’s clear to see the importance of phone communication in your own business. The better your business manages its calls, the more successful it’ll be.

If you’re unsure of how to improve your business’ phone presence, worry not! 

Our Auto-Attendant feature will make your business seem like a professional corporation to anyone who calls in!

The Virtual Receptionist

Auto-Attendant acts like a virtual receptionist. It answers incoming calls and plays a custom message to the caller. It can also direct calls to multiple extensions with the press of a button or a voice command from the caller.

While it seems like a useful, but simple system, you’ll quickly discover what a significant difference Auto-Attendant can make!

Save Time with Auto-Attendant

The first way Auto-Attendant can help your business is by saving time.

1. Free up busy employees

In most offices, employees sit at a desk, constantly picking up phone calls. 

A lot of the time, these are wrong numbers, questions about store hours, accidental dials, or other calls that end up simply wasting time. A 10-second phone call is using up your employees’ valuable time for a response that could easily be automated.

Thanks to Auto-Attendant, employees no longer have to pick up every phone call that comes in. The system acts like a filter that catches the unnecessary calls, and lets the important ones – the ones that require a human touch – through.

This gives your employees the freedom to only answer the calls that pertain to them, and work on other important tasks in between those calls. 

2. No more backed up phone lines

How many times have you dialed up a business only to be met by a hold message? How many of those times have you gotten impatient and hung up? 

It’s the natural response for a large number of potential customers, and yours will be no exception. People don’t like waiting too long, especially if they have a quick and simple question. That’s why you need to make sure they don’t have to.

Unlike a human-only team, it’s not possible to overwhelm Auto-Attendant with calls. It can handle tons of calls at once, so customers will never have to wait. Auto-Attendant responds to each and every call that comes in. 

Calls for the employees will come through to their respective extension, while your virtual receptionist handles the simple calls.

This means less of your customers will have to wait for an employee to get to their call, and your employees will be less exhausted since they won’t have to deal with every single call. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Cut Costs with Auto-Attendant

Rather than acquiring more resources to grow, save by using your existing resources more effectively.

3. Use fewer phones

If Auto-Attendant handles a substantial portion of the calls, you may even be able to deal with many more customers without having to purchase a single extra phone!

And when you do end up needing more phones, it’ll be farther down the road as long as your virtual assistant is active.

If you’re looking to expand effectively, Auto-Attendant will become even more valuable over time, saving you more and more money each time more hardware is needed.

4. Save money on hiring employees

Hiring additional employees to man your phones and manage high call volumes isn’t necessary until there’s been a large influx of customers.

And any employees you do hire can work on other tasks rather than being tethered to the phone 24/7. 

Improve Customer Experience with Auto-Attendant

We’ve touched on the general benefits of using Auto-Attendant for your business, but there’s even more you can do with it using some creativity.

5. Voice Recognition

Auto-Attendant has recently been updated with an AI-powered interactive voice response. Rather than having customers press a number for their call to be forwarded to a particular department, callers can simply say the name of their desired department, and Auto-Attendant will redirect the call automatically!

You can use this feature for other uses as well. For example, you could automate it so that it tells customers your opening and closing hours automatically when they ask “What are your hours?” when prompted.

The Voice Recognition feature was recently added to SelectCom’s Cloud Phone system in a massive update. 

Here’s everything you might have missed in the update.

6. Extensions for common issues

Everyone knows the typical extensions: sales, returns, customer service, etc; but thinking outside the box can give your business an edge. Are there any specific types of calls that seem to come in often? Make a special extension for these, even if it seems unorthodox. 

Your customers will be pleasantly surprised that you not only understand their issue, but are fully prepared to deal with it immediately. This strategy also allows you to designate expert employees to a specific type of call.

Use this in conjunction with voice recognition to give your customers the best possible experience.

7. Seasonal greetings

Customers enjoy receiving a warm greeting when they call a business, and it’s even better if it’s a message that suits the season.

Adding a seasonal greeting not only grows a connection with the customer, it shows that your business is always fresh and up-to-date – especially for recurring customers.

Just make sure you’re changing your message when appropriate. A Christmas message during the spring usually won’t reflect well!

8. Answer FAQ’s right off the bat

Many customers call in asking for information that’s easily accessible via your business’ website or other avenues. Rather than requiring your employees to spend time giving out this info, let your virtual receptionist handle it! 

Auto-Attendant is easy to use, and customizing your message requires little more than a brief recording with the click of the mouse.

Just add frequently-requested information such as hours, holidays, etc. to the custom greeting that plays to each caller. You’ll free up your employees, and save your customers time.

9. Free advertisement

As with the FAQ’s, you can use Auto-Attendant’s custom greeting to advertise deals, sales, promotions, and seasonal events. Just program the custom greeting with the info, and every caller will be updated without having to read a single ad.

It’s free advertising, so take advantage of it!

Set Up Your Own Virtual Receptionist

With all these user-friendly benefits, Auto-Attendant is the ultimate solution for your business. From enhancing customer satisfaction to saving time and cutting expenses, there’s no doubt you’ll get your money’s worth.

Contact a SelectCom associate to know more about Auto-Attendant or the other services we have to offer.