![\"Man](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnectbloguk\/1\/2021\/03\/Smiling-man-responding-as-answering-service-for-a-small-business-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nChoose your channels<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Before launching a new marketing campaign, consider your channels. How will people reach out to you? Are you pushing sign-ups through your website? In that case, be prepared to respond through email and live chat. Don\u2019t have a live chat widget on your website? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are hundreds of options out there, including free live chat services<\/a> which your team can use to respond directly to website visitors. Running a social media campaign? Look for a live chat that integrates with your social media channels so you can engage leads from across platforms through one channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But for many businesses, the primary objective will be to generate inbound leads by phone. An independent study by Arlington Research<\/a> found that in 2020, 59% of all prospect\/customer interactions were conducted by phone. That\u2019s not surprising; the same study found that 66% of participants state that potential customers prefer talking by phone due to the ease of building rapport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever channel you direct leads through, the key is to be prepared. Identify bottlenecks and try to redirect resources to streamline the lead capture process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Increasing brand awareness is an essential undertaking for both established and relatively new brands. But brand awareness doesn\u2019t end at a social media post, guest article or online creative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That awareness could still result in action – whether it be someone visiting your website, commenting on a post or even reaching out via phone to find out more about what you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So your campaign objective is to bring more people to your website. In that case, you need to be prepared for everything an increase in traffic will entail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Will you have someone ready to greet visitors and guide them through your website? You should. 63% of consumers reported that they are more likely to return to a website<\/a> that offers live chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You want to be able to meet your leads at the source. You might think your website speaks for itself (and it might), but that there\u2019s real value in offering visitors real-time support (from a real person).<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where your answering service shines. With a coherent lead qualification strategy, you can separate prospects according to their needs and direct campaign leads directly to your sales team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider the questions you need your answering agents to ask to qualify leads, whether by phone or chat. Try to let your answering service know at least a week in advance of launching the campaign. That ensures they have enough agents ready to handle the additional calls, but also that they\u2019ve had a chance to familiarise themselves with the new scripts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the objective is direct sales, make sure you direct specific calls to the right members of your team. Likewise, make sure the working hours of your sales team are up-to-date, so your answering agents know when to transfer and when to take a message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how do you ensure your calls reach the right person? Your answering service can help with that…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking to follow up on new opportunities in real-time? After qualifying your leads, your answering service will need to know where to transfer different callers. After all, what\u2019s the value in a qualified lead if they aren\u2019t directed to the right person in your team?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Set up custom call transfers to direct different calls to specific people in your team. But what if your team is unavailable to take a call? <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s where your call handling team really comes in handy. Your agents can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, your answering agents might also take calls outside of standard office hours. In that case, you\u2019ll have to find a way of collecting and processing leads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s where your CRM integrations come in. Check that your answering service allows you to integrate with your chosen CRM (if you haven\u2019t already) and ensure it\u2019s set up to receive messages and process them as contacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By integrating your answering service with your chosen CRM, your sales team can then select and follow up with leads during office hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what if you\u2019re running multiple campaigns at once? In that case, you must distinguish between the different campaigns (and the resulting actions) for your answering agents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some marketing agencies choose to set up separate sub-accounts, scripts and even phone numbers for each campaign. This enables you to keep each campaign separate and<\/em> track engagement across different campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But how exactly do you quantify engagement?<\/p>\n\n\n\n As marketers, you need to track campaign performance at every step. That means going beyond analyzing views, clicks, and inbound traffic. You need to track the results that matter to measure success and prove your value to your boss or clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, you might think it would be as simple as just adding in the cost of your answering service for the span of the campaign. The old standard:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if you want to stick to surface-level insight, that\u2019s fine. But it pays to go deeper, and your answering agents are a big part of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sure, your answering agents were heavily involved in the lead capture process, but they were also upholding your day-to-day customer service too. And with your sales team focused on converting the leads gathered by your answering agents, you have to account for time saved too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, there\u2019s no one-size-fits-all model for figuring out your ROI. Every campaign is unique. Plus, there are so many elements involved – including your answering service – that getting an accurate read on your ROI might feel impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps the closest you\u2019ll find in this case is that offered by Marketing MO<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this case, your answering service would fall under overhead allocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, I hear some of you screaming, \u201cThat\u2019s still not going to cut it. I would have answered some of those calls anyway.\u201d And that\u2019s true. But you would have faced a conundrum – direct your team to take calls and lose their input in other areas or let some calls go unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So – what about answering all those calls in-house? The Arlington study found that over half of UK professionals spend an average of three hours a day answering phone calls<\/a>. That\u2019s 15 hours every week and a whopping 60 hours every month. And that\u2019s based on an average month; in the month of a marketing campaign, the number of calls is likely to be even higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what if you let some calls slide? Well, the Arlington study revealed that businesses already miss an average of 16% of calls to their business, every day. And those missed calls can equate to serious missed revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By leaving 16% of customer calls unanswered, businesses are potentially missing out on a staggering \u00a3600,000 in revenue per year. Even if only half of your calls lead to sales, that\u2019s \u00a3300,000 every year in potential missed revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Measuring your campaign ROI isn\u2019t the final step to maximising your marketing impact. No, now you need to run a fine-toothed comb through your marketing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course – there are the usual sources for data – Google Analytics (combined with the UTM tracking you added to your content), open rates, CTRs, social shares, Likes, Comments and more. But to truly refine your approach for future campaigns, you need to continually gather feedback from your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To that end, use the Three A system popularised by Wes Bush in his book Product-Led Growth<\/a>; Analyze > Ask > Act. Talk to your answering agents – were there any frequently asked questions? Any issues they struggled to resolve?<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Business](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnectbloguk\/1\/2021\/05\/Virtual-team-on-video-meeting-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIdentify your objectives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To raise awareness of your brand<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnectbloguk\/1\/2021\/08\/Man-sat-at-computer-ordering-online-1024x684.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTo get more website traffic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnectbloguk\/1\/2021\/02\/A-Comprehensive-Guide-to-Telephone-Answering-Services_-How-to-choose-the-benefits-more-rESOURCE-3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTo capture more leads<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Customer](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnectbloguk\/1\/2021\/02\/A-Comprehensive-Guide-to-Telephone-Answering-Services_-How-to-choose-the-benefits-more-rESOURCE-6.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCreate custom call-transfers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Smiling](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnectbloguk\/1\/2021\/02\/A-Guide-on-How-to-Deal-With-an-Angry-Caller-Resource-2.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIntegrate your answering service with your CRM<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnectbloguk\/1\/2021\/03\/Man-waiting-impatiently-on-hold-on-call-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCreate sub-accounts for clients & campaigns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Female](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnectbloguk\/1\/2021\/08\/Professional-female-making-notes-on-marketing-campaign-at-laptop-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTrack your ROI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Gross Profit \u2013 Marketing Investment<\/span>
Marketing Investment<\/h4>\n\n\n\n![\"Man](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnectbloguk\/1\/2021\/05\/Man-taking-notes-during-video-meeting-on-laptop-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nProfit \u2013 Marketing Investment \u2013 Overhead Allocation \u2013 Incremental Expenses<\/span>
Marketing Investment<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n![\"Smiling](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnectbloguk\/1\/2021\/03\/Smiling-CEO-of-SME-on-call-to-customer-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAnalyze > Ask > Act<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnectbloguk\/1\/2021\/03\/What-Is-Remote-Work-and-Why-Do-People-Do-It_-3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n