One of the main reasons small businesses are under pressure today is the pressure to always stay in touch, as a single missed call may mean the loss of a great opportunity. 

In this digital world, customers expect more from a business. While businesses struggle hard to balance rapid technological changes with growing customer needs, the need of the hour is an effective call management solution.

That’s where answering services come in. With the right service, you can make sure every customer is heard while freeing up time to focus on the most important thing for growing your business.

In this blog, we will go over the top answering services for small businesses and show how they can help you stay ahead of the competition. 

Ready to grow your business with the best answering service options? Let’s dive in! 🚀

🔑 Key Highlights
  • The answering service supports the efficiency of customer calls for small businesses by providing live operators and virtual receptionists and is even available around the clock to ensure calls are never missed, particularly after or before the hours of operation.
  • The major advantages are affordable solutions. These answering services reduce the hiring of full-time workers, thus reducing overheads while maintaining professionalism during the interaction with a customer.
  • It allows the business to handle calls and scripts while scaling up the company to meet the growing volumes of calls.
  • Some of the popular providers in the market right now include Ruby Receptionists, AnswerConnect, and VoiceNation. They offer different pricing for different services, including appointment setting and after-hours support.
  • CRM systems allow answering services to develop call and customer information management, giving a boost to business operations.

 

What is an Answering Service?

An answering service is a specialized external provider that handles incoming calls for businesses.

Answering Services for Small Business

These services ensure that your customers are greeted by a live person or automated system when you are unable to answer the calls yourself.

They can take messages, transfer calls, and provide information as needed.

What Types of Answering Services Exist?

1. Interactive Voice Response Systems

In the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, customers can interact with an enterprise by voice interaction through a pre-recorded menu.

When the customers call, they will be asked to press certain keys on their phone to navigate through the options. 

For example, “Press 1 for support, Press 2 for sales.” The concept of IVR systems automatically handles and routes calls to the intended department without any human intervention in handling calls.

These are efficient, but at times, may frustrate customers if the system is not user-friendly or slow.

2. Call Centers

Traditional answering services have live agents taking customer calls in the call center.

Call centers can handle a number of calls at once, so they usually fit businesses with high-capacity needs like technical assistance, customer questions, and performing order processing. 

Agents are well-trained to answer particular questions, troubleshoot problems, and provide personalized support.

While human interaction is related to the operation of call centers, it sometimes gets overwhelmed and causes wait times.

3. Virtual Receptionists

The virtual receptionist works much like the one in your office, only they do it remotely.

They handle incoming calls, set and schedule appointments, take messages, and handle basic inquiries per customer service.

Virtual receptionists create a more personalized touch compared to an automated system. 

You get immediate human interactions without the overhead expense of a full-time in-house receptionist.

This is very helpful for small businesses in situations where they need professional call handling but cannot fully employ the whole team.

What are the Benefits of Answering Services?

By using an answering service, you will be able to notice a number of benefits derived for small businesses that enhance operations and improve customer satisfaction.

Let’s look further into the most important benefits of adding an answering service to your business model:

1. Save Time

A ringing phone can become a problem for growing businesses. Leaving it unanswered means a possibility is stored.

It is important to pick it up 24/7. Answering services make all calls arranged quickly and professionally.

Using a solution is often more affordable than employing and educating full-time staff members.

2. Affordable

Answering services is competitively valued, especially as you just spend for minutes used.

Working with full-time employees to handle phone calls and live chat messages is expensive.

You need to account for the price of the employment process, the onboarding procedure, income, advantages, employment taxes, etc. 

This provides you with the ability to scale up your services per your needs while keeping expenses in check.

This becomes much more economical in the long run than keeping a full-time call-handling team of your own.

3. Improved Customer Support

An answering service gives 24/7 coverage, so possible and existing customers can constantly contact your business.

A trusted answering service additionally has well-trained agents who can deal with customer questions, process orders, publication visits, or pre-qualify leads.

4. Manage High Call Volumes

For those with seasonal spikes or unplanned increases in call volume, it is too much to handle when running a small business.

In this way, a business phone answering service helps you to manage spikes without overloading your internal staff. 

Whether this be a busy period of sales or an effective marketing campaign, an answering service makes sure the calls will all be responded to efficiently.

This helps your business ensure that the quality standards remain stable even during the demands.

5.  Professional Representation

Answering services often provide highly trained virtual receptionists who serve as an extension of your business.

They handle any inquiry with professionalism, which lets your customers get polite and accurate answers each time. 

Besides, a telephone answering service can customize scripts to correspond with your brand’s tone and messaging, reinforcing a consistent and professional image.

This professional representation means boosting your business’s reputation and giving customers confidence in the service or product you offer.

Take a closer look at some of the most effective answering service options for small businesses.

Each of the providers has unique solutions to boost communication and ensure that your customers are constantly looking for:

1. Ruby Receptionists

Ruby Receptionists is well-known for its knowledgeable virtual receptionists who provide your customers with a high-quality, customized experience.

They make sure that no customer inquiry is unnoticed by offering live answering and message-taking services. 

Ruby’s capacity to manage appointment scheduling is among its highest qualities. This is specifically valuable for businesses that need to handle booking or customer meetings. 

Ruby allows you to customize to communicate the personality of your company, and well-known experience for your callers.

Pricing

Ruby has four live reception pricing tiers, including:

Plan Monthly Additional Cost Per Minute
50 minutes $235 Yes
100 minutes $375 Yes
200 minutes $680 Yes
500 minutes $1,640 Yes

2. AnswerConnect

AnswerConnect is a live answering service that operates 24/7 and keeps your customers always in touch, even when they call after hours.

By addressing messages, phone calls, and incoming leads, their support staff can help you.

Caller ID technology in AnswerConnect makes it feasible to handle client experience (CX) with personalization.

Pricing 

AnswerConnect has three live pricing tiers, including:

Plan Monthly Fee Additional Cost Per Minute Setup Fee
100 minutes $325 $2.95 $75
300 minutes $425 $2.75 N/A
450 minutes $825 $2.75 $75

3. VoiceNation

VoiceNation is a virtual receptionist and live answering service provider.

VoiceNation offers agents without considerable resources and technology support for small businesses.

If you require a live answering instant but do not have the framework to set it up quickly, it provides instant activation.

Pricing

VoiceNation has five live pricing tiers, including: 

Plan Monthly Fee Additional Cost Per Minute
20 minutes $65 $2.19
50 minutes $135 $2.19
150 minutes $319 $2.19
250 minutes $525 $2.19
500 minutes $925 $1.99

4. Davinci Virtual

Live business solutions are part of Davinci Virtual’s all-inclusive service.

It’s an affordably priced answering service that offers services to businesses, consisting of online assistants, customer support resources, and physical addresses.

Instead of offsetting holidays and off-hours, Davinci takes over the call support for incredibly small teams.

This suggests unlike solutions, they do not provide real-time telephone call answering services that are readily available.

Pricing

Davinci Virtual has four live pricing tiers, which are split into two categories, including: 

Plan Monthly Fee Additional Cost Per Minute
Business – 50 minutes $129 $1.75
Business – 100 minutes $239 $1.75
Premium – 50 minutes $249 $2.50
Premium – 100 minutes $319 $2.50

5. Posh

Posh is a real-time answering service with the ability to make outbound calls.

Its representatives are specialists in giving customer support to businesses in property, health, health, wellness, and consulting.

It can help in capturing leads and converting preliminary customer questions to outbound capabilities.

Pricing

Posh has seven live pricing tiers, including: 

Things to Know Before Choose Answering Service

While considering an answering service for your small business.

Here are a few key things to know before you choose an answering service:

1. Customizable Options

Telephone call answering service that supplies solutions that can be customized.

This indicates that call handling and scripts should be personalized to your brand’s voice and values. 

When it involves scheduling visits, managing emergencies, or replying to consumer queries, a telephone answering service that can be customized to your specific business needs will make sure that whenever a customer calls, they get a structured and top-quality experience.

2. 24/7 Availability

Having a 24/7 answering service indicates that your business is constantly open, also on weekend weekends and vacations, this is one of its greatest advantages. 

With answering service, business with a worldwide customer, or those in fields like health care or maintenance services, urgent calls are often obtained and never miss an important call. 

Customer satisfaction can be significantly increased by utilizing an affordable answering service that offers this feature.

3. Scalable

Now your business may be small but you are probably aiming for its growth. It’s very important.

Choosing a small business answering service can grow your business. 

Phone answering services that can manage growing calls can load without managing quality is essential for businesses, regarding whether they are expanding quickly or in call volume.

This service ensures to expand the business growth.

4. Cost-Effectiveness

To take the cheapest option, it is important to balance between price and quality.

Most outsourced answering services have been competitively priced, you need to ensure that the cost down does not compromise professionalism or reliability. 

The service should provide good value, it should not be too expensive but contains most of the features like live operators, call handling services, and 24/7 service availability.

Then will you get the maximum return on your investment.

5. Integration With Technology

Choose an answering service that integrates well with the other technologies in your stack, such as your CRM software.

This could make the work easier and the handling of customer information within your business smoother. 

A service that can interface into your technology will ensure smooth operations and high-quality data handling that adds value to the end experience of the customer.

6. Reputation and Reviews

A strong indicator of the quality of its customer support services can enhance the service’s reputation.

Before starting on with the answering service, check out the reputation and reviews from other small businesses. 

A reputable answering service can meet customer satisfaction and expectations. The reviews can give reliability, professionalism, and responsiveness.

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How To Choose an Answering Service?

A number of factors come into play in determining what is the best answering service that can manage your small business.

An answering service isn’t just about answering telephone calls, but it’s a critical part of customers experiences, brand representation, and efficiency in operations.

Answering Service for Small Business

This requires balancing both your current business needs and those of the future when picking out the right one.

Choosing the best-answering service for your small business requires several key things:

1. Understand Your Needs

Understand the kind of calls your business receives. Customer inquiries, setting up appointments, or sales leads?

Only select the service that has experience in handling all or a few of that specific task.

2. Look at Pricing

Answering services are different regarding pricing, from the volume of calls to response times or additional features, such as call forwarding and message delivery.

Some charge on a per-call basis; others require monthly subscription fees.

Choose one that fits your budget yet also delivers what your business needs.

Beware of other additional costs, such as surcharges for after-hours calls or set-up fees.

3. Read Customer Reviews

It would also be wise to check reviews and testimonials of other small businesses that have used the service before signing a contract.

This will give a better perception of the provider’s reputation, reliability, and professionalism.

Screen for common feedback that is related to responsiveness, accuracy, and customer support that measure overall quality.

4. Free Trial

Many answering services offer free trials or demos. This is ideal for taking in the operation handling of your calls in general and checking whether it fits your needs.

A trial period will give you an understanding of performance with no long-term commitment.

5. Technology Integration: 

Look for an answering service that could be integrated with your current technology stack, such as CRM, email system, or scheduling tool.

This ensures seamless communication and provides advanced call tracking while smooth customer data management boosts operational efficiency in its entirety.

6. Scalability for Future Growth

As your business grows, so do the call volumes and the needs for your customer service.

Look for an answering service that easily scales up with your business.

Whether that is a high volume of calls at peak times or additional services such as live chat or email support.

You can be sure the service will grow with your business without diminishing any quality.

🍞You may also like: 8 Must-Have Mobile Apps for Small Businesses in 2024

 

Take a closer look at some of the most effective answering service options for small businesses.

Each of the providers has unique solutions to boost communication and ensure that your customers are constantly looking for:

1. Ruby Receptionists

Ruby Receptionists is well-known for its knowledgeable virtual receptionists who provide your customers with a high-quality, customized experience.

They make sure that no customer inquiry is unnoticed by offering live answering and message-taking services. 

Ruby’s capacity to manage appointment scheduling is among its highest qualities. This is specifically valuable for businesses that need to handle booking or customer meetings. 

Ruby allows you to customize to communicate the personality of your company, and well-known experience for your callers.

Pricing

Ruby has four live reception pricing tiers, including:

Plan Monthly Additional Cost Per Minute
50 minutes $235 Yes
100 minutes $375 Yes
200 minutes $680 Yes
500 minutes $1,640 Yes

2. AnswerConnect

AnswerConnect is a live answering service that operates 24/7 and keeps your customers always in touch, even when they call after hours.

By addressing messages, phone calls, and incoming leads, their support staff can help you.

Caller ID technology in AnswerConnect makes it feasible to handle client experience (CX) with personalization.

Pricing 

AnswerConnect has three live pricing tiers, including:

Plan Monthly Fee Additional Cost Per Minute Setup Fee
100 minutes $325 $2.95 $75
300 minutes $425 $2.75 N/A
450 minutes $825 $2.75 $75

3. VoiceNation

VoiceNation is a virtual receptionist and live answering service provider.

VoiceNation offers agents without considerable resources and technology support for small businesses.

If you require a live answering instant but do not have the framework to set it up quickly, it provides instant activation.

Pricing

VoiceNation has five live pricing tiers, including: 

Plan Monthly Fee Additional Cost Per Minute
20 minutes $65 $2.19
50 minutes $135 $2.19
150 minutes $319 $2.19
250 minutes $525 $2.19
500 minutes $925 $1.99

4. Davinci Virtual

Live business solutions are part of Davinci Virtual’s all-inclusive service.

It’s an affordably priced answering service that offers services to businesses, consisting of online assistants, customer support resources, and physical addresses.

Instead of offsetting holidays and off-hours, Davinci takes over the call support for incredibly small teams.

This suggests unlike solutions, they do not provide real-time telephone call answering services that are readily available.

Pricing

Davinci Virtual has four live pricing tiers, which are split into two categories, including: 

Plan Monthly Fee Additional Cost Per Minute
Business – 50 minutes $129 $1.75
Business – 100 minutes $239 $1.75
Premium – 50 minutes $249 $2.50
Premium – 100 minutes $319 $2.50

5. Posh

Posh is a real-time answering service with the ability to make outbound calls.

Its representatives are specialists in giving customer support to businesses in property, health, health, wellness, and consulting.

It can help in capturing leads and converting preliminary customer questions to outbound capabilities.

Pricing

Posh has seven live pricing tiers, including: 

Plan Monthly Fee  Additional Cost Per Minute
0 minutes $64 $2.20
50 minutes $119 $2.10
100 minutes $204 $2.04
200 minutes $394 $1.97
350 minutes $664 $1.90
500 minutes $924 $1.85
1000 minutes $1,794 $1.79

Final Words

In the fast-moving world of small businesses, success could depend on customer communication.

The answering services will stop at nothing to find a way to proficiently handle all your calls without letting one important opportunity fall by the wayside.

Whether you want to have a 24/7 service or the cheaper option, there is an answering service that fits your needs.

With Dialaxy, you can Set up a virtual number for your answering service, one of the best virtual number providers.

Dialaxy has various numbers available worldwide, boasts over 100 countries, and is fully packed with more than 100 features like call forwarding, voicemail-to-email, real-time analytics, and many more.

You can then handle your customer communications even more positively, knowing you will never miss an important call, no matter where you are.

FAQs

1. What does an answering service do?

An answering service receives calls coming into your business. It can take messages, provide information, transfer calls, and supply customer support depending on your needs.

2. What is the average cost of an answering service?

This price is with the specific answering service provider and the actual services utilized. On average, it ranges from $50 to $200 a month alone, plus more when higher volumes are encountered.

3. Do people still use answering services?

Yes, answering services are still in use among businesses and even small ones, startups, and service providers who would want to attend efficiently to customer calls.

4. Is an answering service the same as a call center?

An answering service will perform some of the most basic call tasks, like taking messages and providing information. A call center is usually much more all-encompassing, handling customer support issues, sales issues, and technical issues.

Prasanta Raut

Prasanta, founder and CEO of Dialaxy, is redefining SaaS with creativity and dedication. Focused on simplifying sales and support, he drives innovation to deliver exceptional value and shape a new era of business excellence.

Prasanta, founder and CEO of Dialaxy, is redefining SaaS with creativity and dedication. Focused on simplifying sales and support, he drives innovation to deliver exceptional value and shape a new era of business excellence.