Improve Your Advertising ROI with a Live Answering Service
Marketing isn’t just creating a small brochure or placing an ad on Craigslist. It’s creating (and sticking to) a dedicated strategy to increase your sales.
To continue growing you need new customers, but to gain new customers you need to invest in marketing. Many small companies don’t invest enough in marketing, which leads to slow or zero sales growth.
How much did you spend to acquire your last customer? How much did you spend on flyers, brochures, print, and/or radio ads? Depending on the size of your business and your marketing budget, the amount you spend to acquire a new customer could be as little as a few bucks or more than a couple hundred dollars.
Tracking which advertising dollars are working for you and which ones aren’t working is time-consuming. It doesn’t matter if you only have a one person marketing department or a team of marketing professionals performing the tracking for you. They have to leave the office at the end of the day.
By investing just a part of your marketing budget in a live answering service, you can make sure your marketing strategy stays on track even after your company’s regular business hours.
Here are a few things to keep in mind before launching your next advertising campaign:
1. Don’t Lose a Customer Because You Couldn’t Answer the Phone
Customers of a business now expect to be able to reach a live person 24 hours a day. You can meet that expectation by hiring a live answering service. If your office closes at 5pm, you can have your phone number transfer to a live receptionist that will answer customer’s questions and deliver any messages to your office the next morning.
A live answering service can also help with your sales leads. By having a receptionist capture names and contact information when your office is closed, you can dramatically improve your advertising ROI. Don’t potentially lose a customer just because you weren’t there to answer the phone.
[Tweet “3 ways a live answering service can improve your #business’s #Advertising #ROI.”]2. You Can Start Small and Then Upgrade
You don’t have to spend a significant amount of money to have the benefit of a live person. Most answering service plans are on a monthly basis and allow you to pre-pay for a specific number of minutes for a live receptionist. Do you only need someone to take customer messages? You can start with a smaller plan and then scale upwards from there as needed.
3. Spend Your Advertising Dollars Where You Need Them
A live answering service will let you find out quickly which advertisements are bringing in sales leads. Was it a flyer or a brochure? Did the magazine ad or the radio spot get their attention? Just let your live answering service know where you are advertising, and they can track your results for you. A report can be sent to your marketing team, which will give them a better idea of where your advertising dollars should be spent.
Maximizing the value of every marketing dollar is essential for your business. Make sure the money you spend on advertising is giving you the highest possible ROI. If you haven’t tried a live answering service yet, now is a great time to start.
Parker Davis is the CEO of Answer 1, a leader in the virtual receptionist and technology enabled answering services industry. He believes that the application of data analytics, investment in technology, and fostering a positive company culture together create highly efficient and scalable growth companies. In 2016, Answer 1 will achieve record revenues while also being awarded the Top Companies to Work For in Arizona award. Parker is also the Managing Partner of Annison Capital Partners, LLC, a private investment partnership.
Check out list of small business books for suggested reading