As the head of a CPA or Certified Public Accountancy practice, you know that your business revolves around people. If new, existing, or potential clients can’t get hold of you or your practice partners, it can leave those clients feeling somewhat disillusioned. And when the word spreads of poor communication levels at your firm, those clients will ultimately end up going to your competitors instead.
That’s not something you want to happen, but there are times where you or your team can’t get to the phone quickly enough. The good news is there’s something you can do about that predicament: you could use an answering service for your business!
The importance of answering calls from clients
You already know that your accountancy firm is essentially part of a multi-billion dollar industry. There are CPA practices of all sizes out there, ranging from small, independent operations through to multi-national accountancy firms.
As with any business, your practice needs to stand out from the crowd. But, for the right reasons! The last thing you want is for your CPA practice to have a reputation as one where clients seldom get to speak to anyone!
Sure, your clients can reach you by email, fax, or post. But, the majority of your customers will want to speak with you by telephone. Sometimes, it might be to answer a quick question, and others may demand a bit more of your time. Regardless, those clients are paying you for a professional service.
So, with all that in mind, what are the benefits of using a CPA answering service?
You won’t miss out on new business
As with any business, your CPA practice needs a constant stream of new clients to grow. If you only have a small selection of customers, your CPA practice is unlikely to grow. Even if those clients generate a lot of income for your business, it’s never a good idea to rely on a select few customers.
It makes perfect sense to use a telephone answering service for your CPA practice. They are ready to answer and deal with all inbound calls when you’re busy, such as in meetings or on other telephone calls. Plus, they can even answer calls from people when your business isn’t open.
You don’t need to pay for an in-house receptionist
Like with all businesses, there will be times where your employees and business partners won’t have much to do. Such “slow” periods are typically just before important public holidays or perhaps on a Friday afternoon!
The thing about paying for an in-house receptionist is that they will have nothing to do during those quiet periods. Sure, you could ask them to carry out other duties, but it’s unlikely they will occupy all of their free time.
When you use an answering service, you don’t have to waste money paying in-house receptionists for doing nothing! Also, there are significant savings to be had when using an answering service versus an in-house receptionist. What that ultimately means for your firm is you can divert the difference between those expenses towards other areas or business costs.
Outsourcing makes it easy to scale your operations
As your CPA practice grows, so too will the need for more staff. More businesses opt for outsourcing as it saves them money while still offering the flexibility to scale their operations quickly and at any time.
If you have to hire extra receptionists, for example, your choices are to take on agency staff or carry out a long-winded recruitment process for permanent staff. In either case, your CPA practice will take a while to get the right people for your needs.
When you use an answering service, you don’t have to worry about any of that. They already have the staff in place to provide a professional and reliable answering service. That means it won’t matter if you need more than one person to deal with inbound calls to your main number, or if you need call handlers for other, new departments.
All you need to do is contact the answering service provider with your updated requirements, and everything gets arranged for you swiftly and without any stress. You can then concentrate on growing your CPA practice and streamlining your operations.
Client satisfaction will grow exponentially
A happy customer is more likely to keep coming back to your business and spending money with you. They’re also going to recommend your CPA practice to colleagues and their professional contacts.
Conversely, if your CPA practice builds a reputation as one where clients can never get hold of people, both potential and existing customers will go elsewhere. And when that happens, it can be hard to shake off such a reputation.
When people contact an organization, they expect to have their calls answered promptly and be treated professionally. Thankfully when you use an answering service, you can expect nothing but growing client satisfaction! The call handlers in an answering service are professional and courteous to your customers at all times. They’ll also listen to their inquiries and concerns, and deal with all calls in the appropriate manner.
Your CPA practice can offer 24/7 answering
It doesn’t matter whether your CPA practice consists of just two people or two hundred. One thing that both new and existing clients alike prefer is the ability to speak with someone when they need help. The thing is, some of your clients will work unsociable hours, or might even be based in different timezones.
One of the amazing benefits of using an answering service for your CPA practice is you’ve got call handlers that can deal with clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So, even if your CPA practice only operates during office hours, you can still have your calls answered.
An interesting thing to note about call answering services is they represent excellent value for money when you need a 24/7 service. It goes without saying that they save your business a bundle of money compared to hiring in-house receptionists 24 hours a day!