When it comes to hiring live telephone answering services, your first thought might be that all you need is an after hour answering service to keep you covered when you’re out of the office. But actually, there are many types of businesses, large and small, that can benefit from round-the-clock coverage. Here are three reasons you might want to consider a 24 hour answering service:

1. Fewer Distractions

   What happens to your and your employees’ workflow when the phone rings and the call is totally irrelevant? It throws off your groove, meaning you can lose more productivity than you would expect based on the length of the call. And even if a call is technically relevant — such as a customer asking directions to the store — it still takes trained workers away from their core competencies. If you have a 24 hour answering service, no one will be interrupted unless the call will enhance, rather than disturb, your business.

2. Happier Customers

   Answering phones is easy, but answering them well is another matter entirely. Having trained customer service agents who consciously work on tone and phrasing will ensure that your customers are treated in a way that will always give them a good impression of your business. Plus, having an answering service means you won’t have the phones ringing for too long or be placing customers on hold often — both things that consumers hate.

3. More Legitimacy

   Especially if you’re running a small business without a dedicated receptionist or in-house customer service team (whether that’s your sole entrepreneurship or something larger), having an answering service take your calls full-time can give your customers an impression of legitimacy. That means no more giving out your personal cell phone number to clients or forgetting to answer the phone in a businesslike way. Each call will be answered by someone who gives the impression that your customer or client has reached a professional receptionist or personal assistant.

What’s your current phone setup, and what improvements would you like to see? Join the discussion in the comments.