'We don't need call answering, we've got a receptionist'

Paperclip has just spent two rewarding days at an exhibition in Liverpool. We had some great conversations with existing and prospective customers. However, many delegates seeing our stand made the comment: ‘We don’t need call answering, we’ve got a receptionist.’ This is a misunderstanding on their part of the services we provide but, more importantly, a wake-up call to us at Paperclip for us to be clearer in our communications.

First things first. It is not Paperclip’s mission to replace in-house receptionists. We are both an admirer and a supporter of experienced and skilled receptionists; they are worth their weight in gold. Around 50% of our clients have one or more receptionists and, like us, recognise and value their services. With such clients, our role is to provide a back-up service, a second line of support.

But, I hear you say, ‘Why would we need a ‘second line of support’ we’ve already got a receptionist.’

Firstly, despite their exceptional communication and organisational skills, receptionists still eat lunch, need the bathroom, fall ill occasionally, go on holiday and greet visitors. What happens then?

Secondly, because they are so competent, good receptionists are often asked to handle other administrative and organisational tasks. What happens then?

Well, you may say, ‘We transfer calls to a hunt group, or we get another member of the team to stand in.’

This is good practice. Training other members of your team to answer and deal with calls professionally is an investment well worth making.

If you employ a skilled receptionist, and have back up plans for when they are absent, you obviously value inbound calls, recognise the importance of answering them promptly and effectively, and understand that missing calls can damage your reputation with existing customers and, worse, potentially hand a sales opportunity to a competitor.

Consequently, a third reason for re-evaluating your opinion of call answering is this simple fact: all businesses - regardless of whether they have one or more receptionists, hunt groups or training – miss calls. Sadly for businesses, inbound calls do not arrive in a constant, steady flow allowing a receptionist to answer a call and then move seamlessly on to the next call. If you track the flow of calls into your business (it should be possible to extract this data from your phone system), you may notice that patterns emerge. There will be peaks and troughs; there will be periods of intense activity, and times when the phones fall silent. For businesses with receptionists, Paperclip’s call answering service takes care of the additional calls received at peak times, as well as when the receptionist is unavailable.

Supporting your receptionist by answering the additional calls received at peak times is achieved by using a ‘delayed divert’. If an inbound call has not been answered after, for example, ten seconds, it is diverted to the Paperclip team. The screen of the Paperclip team member ‘pops’ to inform them that the incoming call is one destined for your business. They answer as though they are an integral part of your own receptionist staff and handle the call in line with the instructions provided.

This is what I meant when I referred to ‘second line of support’ earlier in this article. Far from being a replacement for your in-house receptionist team, Paperclip is there to ensure they can do their job professionally and without the stress of worrying about missed calls.

You may still be sceptical that your business ever misses an inbound call or be unaware of the profile of the call activity your receptionist has to deal with. If this is the case, Paperclip offers a free trial where we monitor you call activity and report on calls missed and activity profiles. The report enables you to make decisions from a position of knowledge and understanding.

As I mentioned at the start of this article, around 50% of our clients choose a ‘delayed divert’ option. This gives their own staff the opportunity to answer the call first, whilst ensuring, at the same time, that no calls are missed.

The other 50% of our clients choose to use Paperclip to answer all their calls. We operate, in effect, as their reception desk. This may be because they don’t receive enough calls to warrant the expense of a receptionist; they may want to promote the fact that all calls are answered within ‘three rings’; their receptionist may have proved so effective that they have moved on in the organisation; or it may simply be that they have found it hard to recruit and retain a receptionist with the skills and personality they require.

After all, an experienced and skilled receptionist is an increasingly rare commodity, and one to be nurtured and valued.

To find out more about how Paperclip can help make your current reception services more resilient, simply call me on 01246 418 181. We will always do our best to help and support you.