Making the Right Impression
by Stuart Livesey
The way you answer the phone goes a long way to making the right impression with your clients. So what do you do when you’re not in the office?
Obviously some small businesses will have employees who can answer the phone but what about those who of us who have no employees in the office? Of course there’s always the answering machine but so many of us who might sound bright and breezy on the phone fail miserably when it comes to recording a message on an answering machine.
Toni, who usually sounds so professional and personable on the phone sounds like a funeral director if you get her voice mail. My sister, who worked in advertising and hospitality for many many years is no better and my recorded phone messages sound like they came from something out of the crypt.
But there is an alternative service and it’s one we’re going to invest in. When we move our office to new premises we’ll be using a live phone answering service to handle the calls when Toni or I are out of the office.
Search Google for one in your area and you’ll see that they’re not expensive and some will even send a text message to your mobile phone to let you know who has just called. And if you don’t think that they’re all that important to your business then read of one lawyer’s frustration at not being able to offer some great PR opportunities to five others in her profession.
