Small Business Call Report. How the UK s smallest businesses handle their calls and the impact this has on their customers

Transcription

1 Small Business Call Report How the UK s smallest businesses handle their calls and the impact this has on their customers

2 Moneypenny surveyed over 300 very small businesses in the UK to see how they handled their new business enquiry calls. Moneypenny also surveyed small business owners to understand how they look after their customers calls, and reviewed its own call data of 10,000 businesses. 1

3 The companies surveyed, with a workforce of nine people or fewer, cover a mix of industries; Construction, IFA, Hospitality, IT, Legal, Manufacturing, Marketing, Retail and Services (plumbers, gardeners, electricians, cleaners to name a few). There are 4 million micro businesses in the UK 3.1 million sole proprietorships and over 1.6 million companies employing under 10 staff*. These people make up the backbone of the country s business economy. How they handle their calls is important. *Department for Business Innovation & Skills, Business Population Estimates for the UK and Regions

4 Here s what we found The communications of really small businesses are hugely fragmented. There are three core communication channels used; mobile, landline and . Due to the itinerant nature of small business owners, mobile phones are heavily used and are vital for picking up business opportunities and revenue streams. Regardless of this: Our smallest businesses aren t very good at answering the phone. 3

5 1 in 3 businesses failed to answer the phone (33%) 71% 29% of these let the call go through to voic let the call simply ring out 4

6 We know that 69% of callers don t leave voic messages 5

7 How small businesses use voic greetings 13% use a personal voic greeting without referencing their business 33% use a tailored voic message referencing their business 54% of the smallest businesses still rely on the standard mobile network greetings 6

8 Voic means lost business Britain s smallest business owners realise that incoming calls are vital to the success of their business, but also understand that answering every call is impossible. They rely on customers leaving voic s. Which infuriates customers and business owners alike. Customers reported feeling irritated, that the business appears unprofessional. And quite simply, a voic facility makes a small business look even smaller. 7

9 For those who answered the phone how did they perform? Moneypenny considers a successful business call to be excellent in the following elements: The friendliness of the person called, with a smile you can hear If they can be easily understood with clear speech That they are paying attention by actively listening If their attitude is positive and not dismissive Our surveyed businesses were measured against this criteria Independent researchers judged each call on the above elements. Their views are subjective. 8

10 Key takeaways: First impressions 19% of the surveyed callers wouldn t do business with a company based on the first impressions from their phone call. 31% of callers felt their call wasn t valued by the small business. 9

11 Key takeaways: Telephone answering Services (plumbers, gardeners, electricians, cleaners etc.) were the least likely to answer their phone 69% didn t answer. Followed by Construction 41% Retail 36% IT 34% Marketing 32% Hospitality 31% Financial 21% Legal 15% Manufacturing were the most likely to answer only 9% didn t. 10

12 Key takeaways: Friendliness The friendliest calls were from the Manufacturing sector 69% scored Excellent. The least friendly calls were from Retail only 38% scored Excellent and Services which scored 15%. 11

13 Key takeaways: Actively listening Manufacturing scored the highest for actively listening - 89% Excellent. Followed by Retail (86% Excellent). Financial and IT scored the lowest with 76% each. 12

14 Key takeaways: Clear speech The clearest speakers were Hospitality and Legal sectors (94% and 85% scored Excellent respectively). Construction and Marketing both scored 5%, and Financial scored 4%. 13

15 Key takeaways: Positive attitude Manufacturing and Marketing were the most positive (89% and 86% scored Excellent). Services were the least positive with 15% considered and 7% considered. 14

16 Here s how our small businesses performed in their new enquiry calls Friendliness Actively Listening Clear Speech Positive Attitude Excellent 52% Excellent 79% Excellent 75% Excellent 76% Good 29% Good 13% Good 18 % Good 13% Adequate 16% Adequate 6% Adequate 5% Adequate 7% 1% 2% 1% 3% 2% 1% 1% 15

17 Call performance by industry sector 16

18 Construction 41% didn t answer their phone Busiest days 1. Tuesday Friendliness Actively Listening Clear Speech Positive Attitude 2. Wednesday 3. Thursday Busiest times 1. 10am 2. 11am 3. 2pm Excellent 62% Excellent 81% Excellent 66% Excellent 86% 4. 3pm Good 24% Good 14% Good 24% Good 9% Adequate 14% Adequate Adequate 5% Adequate 5% 5% 5% 17

19 Financial 21% didn t answer their phone Busiest days 1. Tuesday Friendliness Actively Listening Clear Speech Positive Attitude 2. Wednesday 3. Thursday Busiest times 1. 10am 2. 11am 3. 3pm Excellent 46% Excellent 76% Excellent 77% Excellent 73% 4. 2pm Good 35% Good 12% Good 15% Good 8% Adequate 15% Adequate 8% Adequate 4% Adequate 15% 4% 4% 4% 4% 18

20 Hospitality 31% didn t answer their phone Busiest days 1. Tuesday Friendliness Actively Listening Clear Speech Positive Attitude 2. Thursday 3. Monday Busiest times 1. 10am 2. 11am 3. 12pm Excellent 59% Excellent 82% Excellent 94% Excellent 77% 4. 2pm Good 33% Good 9% Good 6% Good 15% Adequate 4% Adequate 9% Adequate Adequate 4% 4% 4% 19

21 Manufacturing 9% didn t answer their phone Busiest days 1. Tuesday Friendliness Actively Listening Clear Speech Positive Attitude 2. Wednesday 3. Thursday Busiest times 1. 10am 2. 11am 3. 2pm Excellent 69% Excellent 89% Excellent 72% Excellent 89% 4. 9am Good 19% Good 11% Good 28% Good 8% Adequate 12% Adequate Adequate Adequate 3% 20

22 IT 34% didn t answer their phone Busiest days 1. Tuesday Friendliness Actively Listening Clear Speech Positive Attitude 2. Wednesday 3. Thursday Busiest times 1. 10am 2. 11am 3. 9am Excellent 48% Excellent 76% Excellent 67% Excellent 71% 4. 2pm Good 38% Good 14% Good 14% Good 19% Adequate 14% Adequate 5% Adequate 19% Adequate 5% 5% 5% 21

23 Legal 15% didn t answer their phone Busiest days 1. Tuesday Friendliness Actively Listening Clear Speech Positive Attitude 2. Monday 3. Thursday Busiest times 1. 10am 2. 2pm 3. 11am Excellent 52% Excellent 81% Excellent 85% Excellent 74% 4. 3pm Good 18% Good 15% Good 15% Good 15% Adequate 30% Adequate 4% Adequate 19% Adequate 11% 22

24 Marketing 32% didn t answer their phone Busiest days 1. Tuesday Friendliness Actively Listening Clear Speech Positive Attitude 2. Wednesday 3. Thursday Busiest times 1. 10am 2. 11am 3. 2pm Excellent 62% Excellent 81% Excellent 66% Excellent 86% 4. 3pm Good 24% Good 14% Good 24% Good 9% Adequate 14% Adequate 5% Adequate 5% Adequate 5% 5% 23

25 Retail 36% didn t answer their phone Busiest days 1. Tuesday Friendliness Actively Listening Clear Speech Positive Attitude 2. Wednesday 3. Thursday Busiest times 1. 10am 2. 11am 3. 2pm Excellent 38% Excellent 86% Excellent 71% Excellent 71% 4. 12pm Good 47% Good 9% Good 24% Good 24% Adequate 14% Adequate 5% Adequate 5% Adequate 5% 24

26 Services 69% didn t answer their phone Busiest days 1. Tuesday Friendliness Actively Listening Clear Speech Positive Attitude 2. Wednesday 3. Monday Busiest times 1. 10am 2. 11am 3. 12pm Excellent 43% Excellent 85% Excellent 64% Excellent 64% 4. 2pm Good 21% Good 15% Good 21% Good 7% Adequate 21% Adequate Adequate 15% Adequate 7% 15% 15% 7% 25

27 What some of our surveyed business owners said about missing their calls When something goes wrong, 99 per cent of the time it s not what s gone wrong, it s how you deal with it afterwards. So if you don t answer and they get an answerphone, they re going to kick off. I ve got one client relationship where he swaps between us and a competitor down the road. Whoever answers the phone first gets the job. 26

28 I know that I ve missed big opportunities, because I ll get a garbled voice message where they re saying things like: I m really keen on using your product, this is my number, but you can t make it out, it s the most frustrating thing! You don t ignore calls, it could be the one call that s going to make you that millionaire. 27

29 What our surveyed customers said about the small business calls One word greeting, clearly outside. Hard to hear as windy and distorted line. Casual tone without any enthusiasm or smile. I was told to give him a call back or message him. first impression. 28

30 Informal greeting offered and company name not stated. Tone abrupt and almost rude. Very crackly line with a short delay before greeting. Very abrupt and rude response of No! when asked for details and then line disconnected. 29

31 Conclusion The report highlights a huge opportunity for small businesses. Calls are becoming increasingly valuable, and handled correctly will transform the way the UK s smallest businesses communicate with customers and subsequently their bottom line. 30

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