If you are looking to switch your answering services, there are some basics that you should know about this process. There should be a methodical plan in place to check for the inconsistencies and unnecessary issues with a new transition. The process should be seamless for your employees as well. Here are some basic tips to follow:
Assess the Reasons to Switch:
There may be many pain points that you want to solve with a new small business phone answering service. Your old service may have been calling you for issues that were trivial, or they may be contacting you through a mode that wasn’t approved by you. Possibly, they were not recording the calls for quality assessment purposes. Whatever be the reason, you should discuss these issues with your new service provider, so they can address them effectively.
Assess the Process of Phone Connections:
There is a specific process for connecting to the answering services. You should ask about this process when switching the service. If you are using regular call forwarding feature, it is easy because all you need to do is instruct your staff on how to forward the calls to a new number. However, if you are using automated features, you should get the call forwarding feature reprogrammed by your phone company to avoid any hitch.
Begin At the Right Time:
If switching to a new answering service, you should prefer choosing the right time for starting with the new service. Preferably, you should start in the midweek to allow the new call agents adjust to your business and calls. On the weekends or before a holiday, there may be some heavy rush times when you might be extremely busy. If any issue arises, the company may be needed to provide help.
Inform the In-House Staff:
Before switching your small business phone answering service, you should inform your entire staff about this new change. It is essential because you’d never want the designated on-call persons ignoring the new service number as they don’t recognize it. Also, the reception staff should forward every call to the right number whenever the phone rings.
Take Time to Switch:
Mostly, the business owners mistakenly overlook this point. You should never cancel the old service unless you use the new one for a few days. At least, wait for the completion of the free trial period. If you find anything not working as per your expectations, you can still continue with the old service. Sometimes, a few calls will be anyhow routed to the old number and you won’t prefer losing them. So, a service overlap is an excellent idea to prevent any such conditions.
With these easy tips, you can easily switch from an old answering service to a new company without causing disruptions in your organization.
