Have you ever wondered how call screening can increase your efficiency? You might have heard of caller-ID, but what is call screening exactly? Call screening can be an effective tool for large and small businesses.
It has become much more accessible in recent years as technology has grown, and it can be beneficial for any business with a lot of phone calls coming in. In the past, answering machines were the norm for businesses that received many calls.
They could connect to a landline or mobile number and record a message from whoever was calling, including information about the company receiving the call. If you were already on the line when someone called, you might hear their message after ending your call, or they might leave their message while listening to yours.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t always super convenient, so the call-screening service was created to make things easier.
The process of call screening helps protect your business from spam calls. This way, you’ll be more likely to respond to legitimate customer inquiries. And, you’ll avoid delays in responding to client queries.
Your speed to respond matters, and it can build trust with your callers. This support can only benefit your business in the long run.
Keep reading to learn more about what it is, how call screening brings efficiency, and why you should invest!
What Is Call Screening
The process of call screening allows you to gain insight into your incoming calls while giving you control over who gets the calls that you receive. The benefits of call screening are vast. First, it lets you know the name of the caller. This identification can prevent you from engaging in a lengthy conversation with a stranger.
In addition, contact centers enables you to listen to any voicemails before deciding whether to pick up the phone or not. Overall, call screening helps prevent unwanted calls, eliminate interruptions, and reduce spam.
Often, call screening is provided by telephone answering services that will route calls to the appropriate extension. Through a partnership with a contact center, as a result, you can use your existing phone system more efficiently and cost-effectively than an external voice mail solution. Consumers like call screening because it can be built out quickly as a separate service or integrated into your existing phone system. And, most users find it helpful to save time.
This service will improve productivity for business owners and employees because your distractions are lowered. Once you are distracted, it can take up to 26 minutes to refocus on the task you were engaged in. Instead of engaging with the distraction, use call screening to forward calls to a specific agent or send a text message to the caller.
Customer support representatives deal with hundreds of calls each day. While most of them are targeted customers, some are pranksters or troublemakers. The easiest way to block these callers is to use call screening. These services are now widely available. And as VoIP phones become more popular, call screening services are becoming more flexible.
How Does Call Screening Bring Efficiency
The primary purpose of call screening is to eliminate time spent on answering unqualified or scam calls. It also enables you to direct calls to the appropriate extension and record messages to be returned later. Many businesses have found that call screening can be an effective way to improve their efficiency.
According to Microsoft, 49% of consumers, on average, use three to five different communication channels to contact customer service. So, they’re already expecting to experience multiple different communication channels.
Advanced call screening allows users to make rules before the phone rings. These rules can include sending calls to voicemail or transferring them to a specific person. If needed, you can even block specific phone numbers or entire area codes. Advanced services can significantly improve the efficiency of your business by improving your productivity. You can set up different rules for different business areas to make it easier to identify which numbers to move through for support.
Some people do not like talking to artificial intelligence (AI), so call screening features are becoming increasingly advanced. The more sophisticated call screening systems can identify the number of a caller and ask them questions to determine whether the caller needs to be addressed.
There are many advantages, and if you can implement it in your own business, it’s worth it.
The Advantages of Call Screening For Your Business
A screening system is a necessary investment for increasing efficiency. Call screening is a great way to enhance call management.
By automatically transferring unknown callers to voicemail, you can improve the productivity of your employees. Not only will you be able to focus on your core tasks, but you will be less distracted by a constantly ringing phone.
In addition to reducing distractions, the service helps you improve your business’s productivity. The service helps you get rid of annoying robocalls and spam calls. With this technology, you can quickly identify callers and decide whether to take their calls or not. You can even respond to automated messages instead of picking up the phone.
Live call screening services prioritize customer experience over productivity by avoiding interruptions and focusing on customer experience. It also helps you set aside time for productive work without interruption through live agent support.
Whether you choose live agent support or an automated tool, call screening is essential. The sooner you start, the more efficient it will be for you and your business.
Why You Should Invest in Call Screening
Investing in call screening will benefit your business in several ways. First, call screening will help you manage your calls and increase your agents’ productivity. You can use the feature to send calls to voicemail, forward them to an agent, or reject a call entirely.
Your agents can be more efficient and will be less distracted by unknown or low-priority callers. These services are becoming more popular as more businesses switch to VoIP services to reduce phone bills. Next, call screening technology will help you identify priority clients and eliminate annoying spam calls. Call screening will let you know the caller’s name and phone number so that you can respond accordingly. It will also help you determine if the caller’s call is a legitimate one or not.
Finally, it just makes sense. 90% of customers screen phone calls from unknown numbers, so it would only make sense for you to do the same!
Finding the Right Call Center Partner
Choosing the right call center partner can help you avoid common pitfalls and keep costs down. While outsourcing your call center needs can be beneficial, you need to ensure that the partner is reliable and capable of delivering high-quality service. Therefore, it’s vital to work with well-experienced partners. Your partner should make you feel safe, and you should let them do the heavy lifting while keeping a watchful eye on the results. After all, your partner represents you and your brand to the customer, so you need to ensure that they deliver on their promises.
At Call Experts, we’ve been supporting businesses for nearly 40 years. We are here to help. With proper instruction, customer service representatives can attend to each caller and provide the best customer experience possible while also identifying quality leads that would otherwise go unnoticed.
We’ll listen to the caller’s message, determine how to route the call correctly, and point them in the right direction or connect them with one of our customer service specialists who will be happy to help them.
This support will allow you to spend more time working on the most critical aspects of your business while also making sure that no one is left waiting in line.
Final Thoughts.
While it’s easy to think of call screening as another way to make sure you don’t talk to salespeople, the advantages of this service go far beyond that. If you want your business to run more efficiently, you need call screening technology. In business today, there’s pressure to be accessible.
But while it may be efficient to always be available by phone, there are serious downsides to never being able to control how you spend your time. You can’t guarantee that your time is used supporting the people who need you most.
When you’re running a business, it’s impossible to be available for phone calls 24/7. And, it can help to bridge that gap.
How does call screening work? A system enables your team to screen and take only those calls that are relevant while routing all others to a voice mailbox. It’s an excellent option for businesses that want to be more efficient with their time by automatically routing calls and messages to the right person at the right time.
The benefits are numerous: automatic caller ID, reduction in unwanted calls, improved customer service, increased productivity, and better-quality leads among them. The best advantage is saving time from not having to answer every call that comes into your business. Instead, you can direct calls as appropriate depending on who you want to speak with, when you have free time available, or if you’re out of the office.
This tool is beneficial in companies where multiple people handle customer service issues and other responsibilities. When you partner with Call Experts, we’ll handle all call screening for your business so that you can ensure that the people that need your time get it.
Contact us now for more information.