Voicemail is costing cleaners’ trade

In a survey of 300 micro businesses (0-9 employees) which included professional cleaners, and an examination of its own call data from 10,000 businesses, telephone answering service, Moneypenny, found that a third of the businesses surveyed (33%) failed to answer their incoming calls.

In its report, Small Business Call Report 2016, Moneypenny also revealed that 69% of the callers who were answered by voicemail declined to leave a message, and instead hung up.

Moneypenny warns that this can have an enormous negative effect on a cleaner’s revenue, as the value of each missed call significantly impacts its bottom line, particularly in the current economic climate.

Ed Reeves, director and co-founder of Moneypenny, said: “Quite simply, a customer getting through to a voicemail instead of a person is like tearing up money. It’s akin to walking into a shop with no one at the till. Buyers simply ring the next supplier on the list.

“Pretty much every prospective customer hangs up at an answer message, yet so many businesses, especially those run from mobiles, have no solution in place. UK SME’s are losing a fortune in business opportunities, and our dependency on operating our business from our mobiles is making things worse.

“Customers use phone enquiries differently nowadays; a phone call is no longer a research tool – that’s handled by social media, websites or email – instead it’s the final reassurance prior to a purchase. This results in fewer, yet higher, value phone calls coming from only the most serious of buyers. Not answering those calls guarantees losing the business.”

Ed continued: “We all hate leaving voicemail messages as much as we dislike listening to them. But if a mobile is answered by a real person, you’ve immediately got a business connection. It really is that simple. Larger companies have long ago realised the value of this personal touch, but it seems their smaller peers are still lagging behind and missing even the basics of a professional business front.”

The report states that those who do let their calls go through to voicemail are letting themselves down with their message greetings too. 54% relied on the standard network message to greet the callers who wanted to leave their details. Only 33% of recorded voicemail messages actually referenced the business with a professional greeting, whilst 13% used a personal recorded greeting with no reference of the business connected with the number.