Top Best Live Answering Service for Small Business: Answering services can be a tremendous asset to any small business. They’re beneficial for small businesses, as they allow you to focus on running your business and not have to worry about missing important calls. The best call answering service will allow you to record messages for callers, receive faxes and emails, and even match voice mail messages to contact information.
Top 9 Best Live Answering Service for Small Business
In addition, an answering service will provide you with a professional presence both inbound and outbound. When callers call your business, they’ll be greeted by a receptionist (the answering service) who will ask how they can help them. Answering services are also a great way to expand your company’s name among clients or customers.
If you are looking for a live answering service that provides a professional, personable, and knowledgeable staff, you have come to the right place. Today, this article will review and discuss the 9- best companies that provide Live Answering Services for Small businesses.
1. PAT Live – Answering Service & Virtual Receptionists
PAT Live has been helping businesses get the most out of their phone calls since 1990. They help your business start having good conversations with your customers. You can let them help you provide top-quality customer service for your customers.
Moreover, Pat Live is a fast, friendly answering service that can handle your calls 24/7. Their friendly receptionists will help you create a great first impression with every call. Their friendly receptionist provides a warm reception and greets callers to make them feel free to share their problems.
Besides, PAT Live is more than just an answering service. It is an extension of your business. Their receptionists can customize your calls. They can answer the calls in any way you want and easily handle various customer inquiries. PAT Live is fast and reliable, too.
However, PAT Live’s average answer time is 8 seconds, and they can handle a large number of inbound calls, which reduces the chance of customers experiencing a busy line. Their receptionists are trained to answer every call with a smile and always get ready to help you in-house.
Afterward, their smartphone apps allow your clients to reach you, easily making your business seem more professional. Their app can view real-time notifications of calls, messages, leads, and appointments by generating built-in reports. Also, their extensive suite of integrations helps you stay organized and efficient.
2. Ring Central
Ring Central Call Answering Service provides a full range of cost-effective call answering solutions that enable you to strengthen relationships, open up new opportunities and be more productive.
Ring Central Cloud Call Answering is designed to protect your business against lost revenue, missed sales opportunities, and customer service issues due to unanswered calls by routing them to the most appropriate destination automatically. It also gives you the flexibility to answer calls from anywhere at any time with a comprehensive suite of features, including voice mail, call forwarding, and auto attendant.
Ring Central helps increase customer satisfaction by improving your front office communications. You can enhance productivity by allowing remote employees to answer calls wherever they are, freeing them from their desk phones and increasing employee flexibility. By using Ring Central’s Web-based interface, you can access call data.
However. Ring Central, a cloud-based unified communications platform, is an all-in-one call answering service for small businesses with big ambitions. This Call Answering Service lets you route your calls to wherever your team needs to be – whether it’s on the phone, at their desk, or in a meeting room. You can pick up calls wherever they are answered in one seamless video call and video chat with Ring Central.
3. Money Penny – Outsourced Live Chat Service
Moneypenny Answering Services gives you access to a virtual receptionist who will answer your calls in the same way as if they were in your office.
As a Moneypenny customer, you’ll be able to make use of our wide range of services, including Virtual Receptionists, Remote Call Handling Teams, and Live Chat, all from their Atlanta, Georgia offices. Trusted call-handlers will answer calls. Our Live Chat Service ensures that more visitors to your website become paying clients by managing chats on your behalf.
In addition to 24/7 answering and professional business numbers, Moneypenny offers dedicated account management and a range of other options to help you run your business smoothly. Realtors, attorneys, home service providers, and accountants are just a few of the types of businesses they serve.
When you use Moneypenny, your firm will get the optimal mix of technology and people. As a result, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) will have access to world-class communication technologies at a cheaper rate.
With their years of experience, they’ve developed service-enhancing switchboard features that no one else can offer for larger companies. They build and maintain all of their systems in-house, so they work smoothly in your environment for the ultimate customer experience, from rapid caller identification to sales call blocking and VIP flagging.
4. Specialty Answering Service
In the call center market, SAS has a well-deserved reputation for being the finest, having been in business for nearly 30 years. It is a live phone answering platform that offers all of your professional activities with amazing virtual receptionists to serve your customers 24 hours a day.
Their agents receive twice the industry standard training, and their quality control systems ensure that every caller receives the best possible service. They assist businesses like yours in attracting and retaining delighted consumers.
SAS is more than just a phone answering service. Their virtual receptionist services are well-equip with capabilities that may assist any size company increase communication. They can take orders, communicate in Spanish, respond to SMS and emails, and even provide customer support!
Moreover, SAS virtual receptionists work for you with their customizable app. You can change your live operator call handling, script how we’ll handle phone calls, or update your messaging. SAS can act as your answering service if you’re experiencing a high volume of calls and need someone to attend your calls.
Whether you are talking about improved software or agents who are better, everything you need to give world-class customer service is right here. Their greater level of service is already used by thousands of businesses worldwide.
5. Voice Nation – Answering Service – Virtual Receptionist
Voice Nation is the industry’s most experienced and professional agent for superior call handling.
Their award-winning software enables them to exceed your expectations and strengthen your company’s image. They handle your calls by 100% American-based agents that use your custom scripts to communicate with your customers just as you would.
Moreover, Voice Nation is a cloud-based call center service that helps you deal with customers’ incoming calls, messages, and emails. Their app lets you track your calls in real-time, lets you make calls through the app with your Voice Nation number, view all of your interactions in one place, and sort, filter, and tag calls to generate valuable insight on how to improve your business.
However, they’re on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, to answer your calls and deliver your messages. You will never miss a lead or a phone call. Even on the weekends and public holidays, they deliver outstanding customer service by being available to your consumers around the clock. In addition to customer retention, word-of-mouth marketing is also a benefit of this strategy.
Once you join VoiceNation, you can schedule your calls and answer at any time. They’ll respond just like a receptionist at a business would. Their customized software gives the impression that the operators are seated in your workplace. They take a message or pass the call when you’re unavailable.
6. PCMSI – Answering Services
Listening to a cheerful and informed voice on the other end of your phone is the best part of using an answering service. If you work in the service sector, you’ve probably experienced this issue before. A ringing phone disrupts your professional meeting.
Making a customer wait on hold is worse than having them leave a message on the phone. Therefore, PCMSI is dedicated to providing its clients with the best call answering service in the industry.
When using a PCMSI messaging service, you can be confident that a friendly, live human voice will greet every caller. Because all of our calls are answered and managed in the United States, your customers won’t have to worry about language or communication barriers.
As a result, they answer calls faster than the industry standard and never leave callers on hold while dealing with other incoming calls. Before hanging up, they make sure your customer is completely satisfied and has all the required information.
However, they’re not only here to take your calls. It is possible to customize your services to meet your business’s specific needs, adding value, efficiency, and professionalism. It’s also possible to appoint them to answer your calls around the clock or only when you need to focus on something else.
Calls can be routed directly to your phone, or you can be alerted via text, email, or even social media, so you can instantly interact with an important customer. Also, their receptionist is available around the clock, 365 days a year. To maintain a high degree of professionalism, they don’t miss any calls or messages yet.
7. Ruby – Receptionists and Live Chat Specialists
Ruby helps its customers to build strong relationships. It’s because they know that first impressions create lasting loyalty, which leads to successful businesses.
Therefore, Ruby always makes a great first impression and helps their customers build meaningful relationships. It’s because they know that building relationship is central to every business’s success.
Furthermore, Ruby’s call answering service is more efficient in managing your calls and scheduling appointments. Their call answering service deals with every incoming call. They will tell your customers about the status of your business and handle your calls when you’re not available. Ruby allows you to record greetings for each line, providing your customers with information about your business.
Overall, Ruby is an intelligent phone answering service that provides personal receptionist services for businesses. The service answers and tracks all incoming calls, manages your Voicemail, sends out email confirmations, and tracks call volume and data at a glance. Ruby’s virtual receptionists can also take messages for you and leave voicemail notifications for prospects.
8. Abby Connect: #1 Rated SMB Answering & Receptionist Service
Abby is a solution for small businesses and entrepreneurs who want to improve customer service, grow their businesses, and save time. They are a virtual receptionist service available in the US. Their staff of dedicated receptionists answer your calls and provide professional receptionist services to your clients, customers, or patients.
Abby, a family business for over 15 years, is built with core values that have not changed. Their founders believe in excellent customer service and teamwork to help their clients grab more opportunities and turn more potential customers into clients.
They are friendly, trustworthy, and available to customers. They want every customer to feel like they are being treated as individuals. For making this a reality, their staff is trained to empathize with each caller by creating a sense of trust & understanding. They believe that good business starts with creating a human connection between people.
9. DAVINCI Virtual
Davinci Virtual Office Solutions specializes in providing business services to busy professionals worldwide. They provide outstanding service and cutting-edge solutions that help you balance work with life.
DavinciVirtual’s receptionist services include answering phones, checking your availability, and forwarding calls, as well as making outbound calls and answering customer questions. Their virtual receptionist staff also provides the same benefits as a front desk receptionist at a fraction of the cost.
Moreover, Davinci gives your consumers a live webchat service that allows them to speak directly with a real person who can assist them. Their live chat service generates leads and allows you to create a consistently pleasant client experience.
Furthermore, it doesn’t take long to get a virtual address when choosing Davinci. Once you find the location and select services you want to be included, it’s only a matter of logging in to your Davinci account and completing your payment.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire an Answering Service?
The cost of hiring an answering service depends on how many people you need answering your phone, whether or not you want them to be able to take messages, what kind of services they offer, and how long you plan to keep them on retainer.
If you’re looking for a basic answering service that will answer your phone when someone dials from any number in the US, then expect to pay about $0.60 to $1.30 per call. By putting this in context, the average remote phone answering service costs roughly $58 per month for 45-75 calls. But if your company has a lot of incoming video calls, then you may find yourself paying as much as $10.00 per call to get through to a live person.
What Is a Live Answering Service?
Live answering services are telephone answering services that allow businesses to have their phone number and handle all incoming calls directly from clients. These services offer many benefits for small businesses, including:
- A professional voice answers incoming calls from clients
- You can choose who will answer your calls.
- You can customize your message before it’s played to the caller.
- You can record messages for repeat clients.
Do Answering Services Still Exist?
Yes, they do, and there is no need to feel old-fashioned if you are one of the people who think they are a thing of the past. They were created in the 1960s and have evolved to provide an efficient, professional, and affordable alternative to a business telephone answering service needs.
The introduction of the internet to businesses has dramatically reduced the need for call centers and other expensive telephone systems. But many businesses cannot afford or do not want to run their call center and therefore rely on third-party suppliers.
Answering services will continue to play an essential role in the future as more businesses become global and start outsourcing their customer service departments.
What Is the Difference Between an Answering Machine and an Answering Service?
An answering machine records and stores a message on the database server itself. Voicemail transfers a caller to a separate system to collect and store messages.
On the other hand, a live answering service is a service that allows a company to have its phone number and handle all incoming calls from your clients directly.
How Do I Set Up an Answering Business?
Starting a business answering service is a great way to earn extra income and get your home business off the ground while still building it. You can start your own business with a few companies on board and a phone for each activity. Follow these steps to set up an answering service.
- Research the market by talking with representatives from companies that provide this type of service. You can find out how much they charge, what services they offer, the minimum and maximum number of calls, and other information that will help you decide if this is right for you.
- Get everything in writing when starting your contract with customers. It includes information about the rate structure, which will depend on the type of call they are making (local or long distance), what time they are calling, how often they call, whether they will have multiple numbers and more. Also include details about cancellation policies and rules related to their name being used as a reference for other customers.
- Decide whether to use one phone number for all incoming calls or give customers several alternative numbers to choose from. Make sure the phone system can handle all types of calls (direct-dialed calls, automatic dialing system, and fax) simultaneously, so no one is left waiting in line.
How Does Virtual Answering Service Work?
In the past, an answering service was a business that had staff to answer calls and handle messages. This operation is outsourced to companies that provide virtual call center services to many clients.
A virtual answering service will come with a range of features, including:
Call Forwarding
If you want your calls to be forwarded to another number when you are out of the office or unavailable, you can do this with the help of a virtual answering service.
Message taking
A virtual answering service will take your messages and store them on their system. They can then forward these messages to you at your convenience.
Automated Attendant
This feature will connect callers directly to the person they are calling without entering a lengthy phone number. The automated attendant will allow callers direct access to the department they wish to speak with and then forward them to a team member after being connected to the first point of contact.
Final Word
Overall, a live answering service for your business is better than a virtual receptionist because it’s real people who answer your calls, not an automated machine that can’t understand your personal touch and needs.
A Live Call answering service will enhance how you communicate with your customers, prospects, and clients. Also, it is a moderate way to ensure that all of your calls are handled professionally.
So if you want to improve your customer service and grow your business without the hassle of hiring an employee, get started right away with any of those, as mentioned above, best live answering services for small businesses with a free trial!
