Imagine a scenario where a long-time client needs to get in touch with you after hours. No one is answering the phone, so they can’t get in touch and become frustrated. Would they stay with you or leave for another company? You might be surprised by how many customers will take one negative experience and use that as a reason to leave. Could you benefit then from an after-hours answering service?
Here are a few statistics you cannot ignore as a home care agency manager or owner. Nine out of 10 Americans list customer service as the deciding factor as to whether they’ll use a business or not. More than half admit they will stop using a customer after a bad customer service experience, and a third admit they hate being put on hold.
If your customer service is lacking, you risk losing potential business. What can you do to ensure excellent customer service? Make sure your phones get answered!
Arrange On-Call Staffing as Your After-Hours Answering Service
To avoid having phone calls go directly to voicemail or leave clients with nothing but a ringing phone, arrange on-call staffing to answer all calls during the night. How does it work?
When your office closes for the night, calls are forwarded to the nighttime phone service professionals. Provide them with the information they need to answer common questions. They’ll take the calls, address the customer’s concerns, and ensure the customer has the information that’s needed.
For questions or concerns that your phone staff cannot answer, they can take down the information and send it to you to address. This is a crucial step because another common complaint customers have is telling their story to one person and having to repeat everything. On-call staffing professionals take down all of the pertinent information to eliminate this problem.
When your regular staff arrives the next morning, the forwarded phone calls are switched back to your office phones. Your staff takes over until the office closes at night. No matter when someone calls, there’s always a live person answering the phone and addressing the caller’s issue.
Consider These Other Customer Service Channels, Too
In addition to having phone calls answered 24/7, have you considered some other trending customer service channels? Some people are not comfortable using the phone. They prefer email support, text, or live chat.
Email support is one you can handle during daytime hours. You can send an auto-reply to after-hour emails and take care of them in the morning or direct people to call your on-call staffing at night. Text and chat support are other possibilities that you may want to research.
When you arrange on-call staffing to answer your phones all night, you avoid frustrating your clients or potential clients. They always have a human on the other end to answer their questions or address their concerns. Talk to an on-call staffing specialist for an after-hours answering service to get started.
Sources: https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-service-stats
If you are considering hiring an After-Hours Answering Service that is dedicated to the senior care market, contact 24/7 Coastal Contact today at (251) 260-0226.
Let us show you how and why we are different from any other service you may have tried in the past. Our team approach is the standard that sets us apart from the rest.
Prior to establishing 24/7 Coastal Contact, Ms. King worked for 30 years in the health care industry. Her experience began providing direct patient care. Eventually, she transitioned into home care and home infusion, then acquired her HCS-D certification as a Home Health specialty coder where she learned about the administrative burden facing Home Health and Home Care providers.
It became clear that after-hours customer service was a major toll home care industry and it was with this need in mind that 24/7 Coastal Contact was founded. In the three years since its start, 24/7 Coastal Contact has grown explosively. Now, we provide service to over 40 agencies in over 24 states with a 95% retention of service rate.
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