Why your business needs call queuing

Owning a small to medium sized business with hundreds of incoming calls sounds great doesn’t it? Of course, providing those calls can be managed effectively and turned into answered queries and sales.

What is call queuing?

Put simply, call queuing is a process that involves holding incoming calls in a queue until a member of your team is available to take the call. This process can be a game-changer for your business, providing numerous benefits that can help improve customer satisfaction, increase efficiency and ultimately, ensure all of your calls are answered.

Call queuing is a system that puts callers on hold in a virtual line until someone is available to answer their call. It works like a real-life queue that you might see while waiting for a table at a popular restaurant or while waiting to pay for your shopping in a busy supermarket, where customers wait their turn to be spoken to. When a business receives multiple calls simultaneously, call queuing ensures that each call is answered in the order it was received, so no one is left waiting indefinitely.

This feature is especially helpful for small and medium-sized businesses that might not have enough staff to answer every call immediately. By using call queuing, businesses can prioritise calls based on their importance and route them to the appropriate team member or department, which can help to reduce wait times for customers and prevent missed calls.

Why is call queuing required

Call queuing is an essential feature for business with anything from 1 team member to 50 team members because it help your team to them incoming calls more efficiently and provide better customer service.

In a business environment, every call is an opportunity to connect with customers and provide them with the information or assistance they need. However, when a business receives a high volume of calls simultaneously, it can be challenging to handle each call effectively. That is where call queuing comes in.

Call queuing is a system that allows businesses to queue incoming calls, ensuring that customers are not left waiting indefinitely. By implementing call queuing, businesses can prioritise calls based on their importance and route them to the appropriate department or team member, reducing wait times for customers and preventing missed calls. This feature is especially critical for SMEs like yours that may have limited resources and staff to manage incoming calls.

With call queuing, you can ensure that all customer calls are answered promptly and professionally, which can improve customer satisfaction and retention. Furthermore, call queuing can also help SMEs track call volumes and performance metrics, providing valuable insights for optimising your operations and improving your customer service.

The benefits of call queuing

Let’s take a closer look at some of the benefits of call queuing for SMEs.

Reduced wait times for customers:

One of the biggest benefits of call queuing is that it reduces the wait time experienced by your callers whether that be existing customers, prospects, colleagues, or suppliers. As a business owner, you know that customers or prospective customers are often short on time and expect quick, efficient service. By placing incoming calls in a queue and providing customers with information about their expected wait time, call queuing can help reduce frustration and enhance the overall customer experience. Plus, it is likely to reduce drop off rates which is ideal when your callers may be prospective customers.

Improved productivity:

Call queuing can also improve the productivity of your representatives. Instead of receiving multiple calls at once, representatives can handle calls one at a time, resulting in less stress and improved focus. Additionally, representatives can use their idle time between calls to catch up on administrative tasks or training, which can help them work more efficiently. This, in turn, can lead to increased job satisfaction and reduced employee turnover. After all, happy employees often lead to happy customers or in this case, happy callers.

Cost savings:

Call queuing can help your business to save costs in several ways.

Firstly, it reduces the need for additional staff to handle incoming calls. That’s right, an increase in calls doesn’t have to mean an increase in staff levels. With call queuing, you can efficiently manage a high volume of calls without hiring more people and having to pay out additional wages or salaries.

Secondly, it helps to minimise the number of missed calls (and with it, the frustration your callers have when not being answered!). Missed calls can lead to lost business opportunities, which can be costly for any business. By using call queuing, you can ensure that every call is answered promptly and professionally, reducing the likelihood of missed calls.

Thirdly, call queuing allows you to prioritise calls based on their importance. This means that less urgent calls can be placed on hold, freeing up staff to attend to more critical calls. This can help to reduce staff workload and increase productivity.

Finally, call queuing can help businesses to improve their customer service, which can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business. By providing callers with a better experience, businesses can retain customers and reduce the need to spend money on acquiring new ones. Overall, call queuing is a cost-effective solution for managing incoming calls while providing high-quality customer service.

How to choose the right call queuing software and provider for your business

To make the most out of call queuing, it’s important to choose the right software and customise the options to meet your specific needs. With a cloud phone system like Enreach Contact, you can utilise the easy-to-use admin portal to set up routing rules based on things such as language, location and other criteria to ensure your customers are directed to a queue for the most appropriate team or staff member. You can also set up automated messages to inform customers about their position in the queue and expected wait time.

Another important consideration when implementing call queuing is training your representatives on how to use the software effectively. Representatives should be familiar with the call queuing process, how to access customer information, and how to transfer calls to other representatives or departments if necessary. At Enreach, onboarding training is part of your installation process. So, you and as many team members as you like get full training on how to most effectively utilise the solution to fit your needs.

In conclusion, call queuing can be a valuable tool for small and medium-sized businesses looking to improve customer satisfaction and increase efficiency. By reducing wait times, improving productivity, and reducing costs, call queuing can help businesses deliver a better overall customer experience. With the right software and training, call queuing can be a valuable asset for your business.

If you’re interested in getting a quote for a phone system complete with call queuing capabilities, simply fill in the form below.