Managing phone calls is among the most significant challenges faced by elderly home care service providers. It is a business characterized by large workloads round the clock, including the weekends and public holidays. In a workplace like that, you will probably not find the time to receive all your business phone calls and attend to other matters. Most calls coming through an elderly home care service center are from patients and their concerned families. You must find a way to strike a balance before losing more business opportunities. A home care answering service for your elderly home care service may be all you need to work effectively and satisfy your clients. Here are some of its benefits:
Gives Your Patients a Tailored Human Connection
Most businesses rely on automated answering machines to receive messages in their absence. Patients do not want to leave a message, especially in times of distress. They want to speak to a real person, one who understands them and can provide the answers they are seeking. A virtual receptionist is what you need. All your phone calls will be received and acted upon without delay. Urgent messages can be accepted and sent to you in real-time, regardless of the time or your location. None of your patients will feel left out.
The elderly seeking your services and their families feel great knowing that they can always reach you, even at odd hours or during non-working days. They know that you have someone to handle the emergencies and other issues that may come up in your absence. New patients seeking your services will be eager to call for guidance and help.
A virtual receptionist working for your center will be well-trained in the operations of your business. Besides providing generalized information, the receptionist will provide personalized help to your patients and their families. You don’t need to worry that your potential customers will not understand your services if you cannot speak to them. You can comfortably work and carry on with other tasks as the virtual receptionist handles everything else.
24/7 Answering Service for your Elderly Homecare Service
Elderly home care services should be available round the clock. There should be no specific time when patients or their families should seek your services. Some problems will be experienced very early in the morning; others during the day, and others at night. Thus, your business phone lines should be open round the clock.
The challenge is in having an in-house customer care desk that is operating round the clock. It would cost your business a lot of money, more than you can afford. Fortunately, you can find an answering service for your business that operates 24/7. It means that you are business will be accessible throughout the day and night, including over the weekends and public holidays.
Your patients will be satisfied to know that they and their families can contact you anytime, whenever needed. It gives families peace of mind since they can find out how their loved ones are doing without physically coming to your office. Families in need of your help can call any time for advice and assurance, book and cancel appointments, and make inquiries.
Taking good care of your patients should always come first for you and your workers. However, you cannot be there all the time. You need some time off work to take care of personal matters. Your workers must rest too, and take care of their families.
An answering service ensures that your services are still available in your absence. Patients will speak to someone whenever they call, even in the middle of the night. Their questions will be answered, and your business will keep growing.
Take Advantage of Caring and Professional Call Handlers
Elderly home care services must portray an attitude of care in all their dealings, including answering phone calls. Patients seeking your services require care and attention, and they must feel it in every conversation you hold with them. Building trust in your business starts from the first conversation you have with your client. It determines whether or not they will want to seek your services in the future.
Professional call handlers are well-trained in various skills that are essential in a working environment like this. They know the worth of every person that calls your office. Thus, every word and phrase they use in their conversations are selected carefully. They are trained to make every customer feel important and appreciated.
Caring call handlers will provide a general picture of how your business might be. If your callers feel cared for, it speaks a lot about your home care service center. Without the right training, nurses, and other employees in the center may not provide that impression.
Seamless Management of Your Business Calls
Managing business calls is a daunting task for most businesses, especially those who already have much on their plate. It is not possible to receive all incoming calls and give them the attention they deserve. Most businesses miss important calls every day. If this costs your business, consider an answering service that will seamlessly manage all your phone calls. Proper management is necessary for all business areas, which reflects how the center is achieving its goals.
When your calls are well managed, patients have confidence in your business. They feel good knowing that you will be there to advise, guide, and direct them no matter what happens to them. Their families can go about their days without worrying about their loved ones’ welfare. If anything comes up, they can quickly call, and their concerns will be handled.
Properly-managed business calls mean that your business will never miss any important calls. If an important call comes when you are busy, at night or over the weekend, the professional call handler takes the message and sends it to you in real-time. Anything that requires your quick attention is handled without delays, leaving all your patients satisfied.
Saves you Money
Professional answering services will save your elderly home care service a lot of money. As mentioned earlier, you are probably operating on a strict budget. Thus, you may not afford an in-house customer care desk. Hiring a receptionist comes with extra costs that a business like yours may not afford. You will need an office, additional equipment, and a monthly budget on top of what you are already spending to run the business. Outsourcing call handling services will considerably cut your budget, leaving you with enough money to cater to other business needs.
An agency offering answering services will have all the equipment and personnel in place. It will handle the training and offer an office from where call handlers will be operating. You will only be required to pay a monthly subscription for them to manage all your business calls. For a single payment, your patients will be handled when they call, emergency calls will be handled on time, new customers will have all their questions answered, and all-important calls will be redirected to the right people in real-time. On top of saving you money, an answering service will make your job easier.
Bilingual Answering Service Opens Your Business to All
We all don’t speak the same language, your customers included. The language barrier is a problem that is affecting many businesses across the globe. Families and the elderly may be shy to seek your services if they feel that they will not be understood. Some people are still struggling with English in our country today. Though they can understand and speak some words, they may not fully express themselves in English.
A bilingual call handler makes them comfortable, no matter what language they speak. If a Spanish-speaking family requires your home care services, they will comfortably call your business and explain their situation in their language. The call handler will explain your services, schedule an appointment, and anything else they may like.
Therefore, the person handling your phone calls should understand and respond in more than one language. It ensures that all your customers are treated equally, no matter the language they speak. Give your callers a chance to express themselves in a language they are comfortable with. They should also find answers regarding your business in their language of preference. If you are open to serve all people, no one should feel left out just because they do not speak the common language.
Prompt Response In case of Emergencies
Your home care service is also handling emergencies. It could be the elderly who need immediate medical attention, and you must rush them to the hospital. If you are busy with other tasks or on another call, you may miss the chance to attend to that kind of emergency, leading to disappointments. Families of the elderly you are taking care of want to be sure that you will be available whenever they need your help. If not, they might be forced to seek help elsewhere.
In short, your callers want an immediate response whenever they make that call. Most people do not want to get an answering machine whenever they are making an urgent call. When it comes to a loved one, families want to get prompt answers and not wait until a particular time. That is why you need your calls answered by a real person, even after office hours.
Patients will only call for help when they are sure that they will get a prompt reply. This is what keeps your relationship with your patients good.
Reliability Keeps You Ahead of Your Competition
Do you serve in a market that is flooded with similar businesses? You may have to provide extra and unique service if you want to stay ahead of the competition. Make yourself dependable, and the elderly, together with their families, will think of your business first whenever there is a need. Families will feel more at ease, leaving their loved ones with a service they can rely on.
A reliable answering service sends a positive message of reliability to everyone who calls your business. People want to associate with a dependable business. Again, an elderly home care service must be reliable. This is what gives families peace of mind whenever they leave their loved ones in your care.
Reliable answering service means that no call slips through the cracks as there is a person present throughout the day to answer your business calls. It also keeps you up-to-date with what is happening in and out of the office. There is not a single time you or your partners will miss out on something important related to the business.
It Adds a Professional Touch To Your Homecare Service
Professionalism will never go out of fashion as far as businesses are concerned. Your patients and their families are essential to your business. Therefore, you need to ensure that they are treated well whenever they call your office. What kind of response do they get when they call for your services?
A professional call handler will make them feel important and appreciated. He will patiently pay attention to everything they say and respond accordingly. Your customers should get all their questions answered without being required to wait in line or to call another day.
A professional call handler will also be familiar with your business operations to provide reliable and accurate answers to everyone that needs them. He/she will understand the needs of your customers first, then give them the available options.
Conclusion
There are many reasons to engage the services of a phone handler for your elderly home care service. It takes the load of managing business calls off your shoulders and leaves you with plenty of time and energy to take care of other vital aspects of your business. It also brings greater satisfaction to your patients, their families, and members of your staff. Therefore, if this is an area of your business you have been struggling with, it might help to work with an answering service agent.
