Skip to content

Why a Business Owner Should Never Answer Their Own Phone

Why a Business Owner Should Never Answer Their Own Phone

In today’s competitive environment, small business owners are always stretched in both time and resources. One thing you can’t afford to do is to get caught up answering the phone. Here’s why.

Three good reasons why it pays not to pick up

1. It gives you more time to run the business

For any business to succeed, it has to be efficient. Part of this is deploying skills appropriately at every level. A business owner answering their own phone is a poor use of skills, and it is a waste of time and resources. After all, every moment spent on the phones is time that isn’t being spent on building the business.

This can have an incremental, flow-on effect, and can even impact on work/life balance. If you’re dedicating x amount of time to answering phones, that then means you have to add extra hours into the day to get your core work complete. Ultimately, you’re taking on an extra job that you haven’t budgeted or scheduled for.

2. It makes the business more professional

Your business phone is often the first point of contact for a potential customer, so the person who answers the phone needs to be efficient and professional. Customers won’t want to be greeted by you sounding distracted, or too busy to pay attention to them, because you’re stretched too thin.

Being greeted by a polished, trained voice with a warm, welcoming tone is infinitely preferable to a guarded “Hello?” from a business owner caught on the hop!

3. You need to be mobile

There’s no point being chained to the front desk because you’re worried that important calls will be missed or will be handled incorrectly – it’s a waste of time that can be better spent on other business operations!

So what’s the solution?

Here’s where having an automated answering system that means you don’t have to constantly pick up the phone yourself can pay dividends.

An automated phone system with a 1800 number and features such as a Customised Greeting and Call Routing gives your business an added layer of professionalism, and the appearance of a much larger organisation.

It also ensures that calls are picked up promptly and are handled correctly – so you are offering your customers a high level of service, but you’re not wasting precious time acting as a receptionist!