Does your company really need an answering service?  Why would you want to invest so much money in hiring new staff members when you can just order a fancy new answering machine?  Come on, who doesn’t love a voice mail message?  Actually, very few people do.  Wouldn’t you know, the answering machine craze of the 80s and 90s is over.  People no longer respect machines.  Who’s to blame?  Probably those awful “automated systems” that the phone company uses to screen calls.  

In any event, rest assured people do not like voice mail machines.  Unless you are a major corporation that can afford to keep people waiting, it is not advisable—all the more so if you are a new or growing business.  Customers want a human voice to talk to.  They want to share information and ask questions of a real, living person.  At the very least, they want someone who can feign a bit of empathy and compassion.  

This is how you ultimately make your sales—by connecting with your customers on an emotional level.  An answering service gives your company that warm touch that is sorely missing in automated machines.  We human beings enjoy the Q and A and the back and forth of a conversation.   

Of course, hiring a new staff just for personal interaction is not cost-feasible for most businesses.  You really only have two options—be personally available at every minute of every day (or get your family to answer the phone when you sleep) or hire a virtual answering service to take your calls and record messages for you.  Customers do not notice the difference.  They are happy to talk to any living person.  Rest assured, customers will feel a connection to your company right away if the person they talk to seemed nice and interested in their concerns.  This is marketing 101 for the new age—always make it personal!