How to increase sales with an Order Taking Service
This is why an Order Taking Service is powerful for businesses.
Businesses are constantly looking for opportunities to increase sales and deliver a better customer experience. Even with the advances in social networks and other online technologies, businesses are still relying heavily on the telephone as the main channel to communicate with current and potential customers. According to a study by Verint, 24 percent of consumers prefer the telephone as their preferred channel of communication, while less than 5 percent prefer social media or live chat.
What is an order taking service?
An order taking service is typically provided by an answering service whose live agents manage the order taking process. This includes answering questions, sending information, taking the order, and providing ongoing support. Order taking services provide specific benefits that are hard to reproduce on other communication channels.
Okay, what about increasing sales?
When you hire an answering service to manage your order taking, you gain access to other solutions to help your business. Order taking is just a small part of what an answering service can do. People tend to think that an answering service only takes messages and forwards calls. An answering service can do much more than that. They are able to seemlessly integrate into a wide variety of processes within an organization. Sales and order taking is a perfect example. Below we will explore how organizations are using an order taking service to increase sales.
Scalable Sales Team
Growing a strong sales team can be a difficult and expensive proposition. For many businesses, hiring new sales people is not an option. An order taking service immediately solves this dilemma by providing a team of live agents ready to support your sales efforts. This eliminates the headaches related to hiring and maintaining quality sales personnel. When people call, they will get a professional live person to help them with their order.
An answering service is setup to deliver the experience your customers deserve. This is possible because of the time dedicated to implementing your processes and the training provided to the agents. For instance, at Unicom, agents go through a multi-level training program, which on average can take 6 months to complete. Also, all agents are centrally located at our call center. This allows us to be directly in contact with all the agents to ensure the highest level of service.
Expert Tip: Ask the answering service for the opportunity to hear their agents in a real call scenario.
Around the Clock Sales Team
Even when you go home for the day, your marketing dollars are hard at work. While you take a much-needed rest, an order taking service is working to capture every sales opportunity. Give your customers access to your products or services 24/7. Making your organization available around the clock will build trust with customers. What if you don’t need 24-hour support? Some organizations choose to answer sales calls during the day and only forward calls when they leave the office.
Expert Tip: Not all answering services are open 24-hours a day, holidays and weekends. Ensure your service provider is available when you need them. Avoid companies that want to charge you extra for weekends, holidays, and after hours.
Immediate Accurate Responses
Delivering accurate responses to customers is vital for a positive experience. professional order taking service will work with you to understand every aspect of your service or product. When a new client’s account is being setup, it is important that the answering service takes the time to understand not only the process but also what you’re offering. This knowledge allows agents to quickly provide relevant answers without having to rely on a script. Conversations with your customers should be fluid and natural, and not one that relies on canned answers.
Expert Tip: Ask questions about the account setup process, and understand the information you need to provide. Evaluate how thorough the setup process is.
Higher Levels of Engagement
Creating a positive customer experience is good for business. A key benefit of speaking with a live person is it offers the opportunity to create higher levels of engagement. Sales calls are typically very dynamic. Sales calls are not always straightforward, and it is normal for customers to have questions and concerns. A live person can assist the customer through the process, and this type of engagement will decrease abandonment rates and increase your sales conversions.
Expert Tip: There are instances where calls need to be escalated from the answering service to your organization. Verify the scenarios to be escalated to you, versus being managed by the answering service.
On-going Support
After a customer purchases, they could have questions or need product support. It is common for answering services to provide post-sales support as they are familiar with the product or service. By hiring an answering service, you not only gain a sales team but also a support team. This is simple to setup and only requires you to provides pertinent details of the product or service.
Expert Tip: See how the answering service optimizes your account over time. Are they looking for opportunities to deliver better service and even save you money?
Ready to Hire the Best Order Taking Service?
Whenever someone is looking to hire an answering service, I always give the following key points to help in their search:
- Ask questions
- Avoid unnecessary contracts
- Only Pay for Live Agent talk time
- If there is a free trial, read the fine print
- Take your time, don’t feel pressured
- Ask for references
- Verify industry experience
- Listen to their agents to verify they are professional
Unicom is a leading answering service based in Chicago, IL. For over 25 years we have been supporting organizations with our strong portfolio of services.
Request a custom plan with no obligations today. Learn how Unicom Teleservices increase your sales with our order taking service.
