Sponsored content by AnswerConnect.

Without a process in place to help your franchise consistently capture calls and deliver exceptional service 24/7, you could be losing valuable customers to your competitors.

Gaining a competitive edge requires being available for your customers around the clock – but that’s not always easy. That’s where an after-hours answering service can help. Always on and ready to assist, it ensures your franchise system can:

• Improve response times
• Maintain brand-consistency
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Reduce missed opportunities
• Drive customer retention.

The importance of accessibility.

Nothing frustrates customers more than when they can’t reach you by phone. When customers call, they want you to answer.

Having employees available to answer calls 24/7 isn’t feasible. To become an accessible franchise around the clock, an after-hours answering service is your solution.

Outsourcing your call handling helps your business streamline customer support. So when teams go home, leads and customers are still being supported. Callers receive an on-brand, professional response day and night from a team of trained receptionists.

Building trust and professionalism.

An after-hours answering service helps your franchise stand out against competitors on the market. It’s the kind of approach that conveys professionalism and builds customer trust.

When customers and leads call in, their calls are answered quickly and professionally. Their ultimate feeling is one of relief and satisfaction. What do you think that does for your franchise’s professional image? It shows that you’re agile and responsive.

In practice, an after-hours answering service can relay messages, book appointments, forward calls and so much more. If you’re constantly missing calls or sending them to voicemail, you give the impression that you’re overwhelmed or disorganized. Or both. Neither of which have a lasting positive impact.

Outsourcing your customer support helps your franchise appear more professional, having a positive knock-on effect across locations.

Enhancing customer experience.

When you greet callers with a friendly and professional response, they feel reassured. They know that someone is on their case and willing to help. This goes a long way to boost satisfaction, improve brand reputation, and ensure loyalty.

With so much choice today, customer experience has become a key differentiator.

Your franchisees may struggle with the resources required to deliver 24/7 customer support from real people. Common issues include operational costs and staffing shortages – hence why many businesses are turning to technology.

However, 79% of people would prefer to speak to a real person than an AI customer service tool (OnePoll 2024). That’s why AnswerConnect is dedicated to providing callers with 5-star service from real people.

In addition to being people-powered, AnswerConnect is fully scalable. During busy periods – for instance, when you’re holding a promotional event – you’ll probably have more calls than you can manage. This situation can be overwhelming for internal teams.

AnswerConnect helps your franchise project an image of calm and capability around the clock. Enhancing customer experience in this way gives your franchise an edge. It helps attract more customers and close more deals – boosting franchise system growth.

Increasing efficiency and productivity.

If you’re looking to improve your business’s productivity, an answering service is the ideal solution.

A dedicated customer support channel is designed to handle calls outside of regular business hours. This approach frees up your team’s time to focus on essential tasks such as business development and marketing initiatives.

Level up your franchise system today.

At AnswerConnect, we help you set up custom call scripts so our team of trained receptionists can handle your franchise calls effectively, efficiently, and consistently.

Sign up today to start providing brand-consistent, 5-star service on every call. Visit answerconnect.com/franchise today, or give AnswerConnect a call at 800-584-0234.

This content is sponsored and does not reflect the views of the International Franchise Association. We do not endorse or verify the content, claims or representations made. Readers should conduct their own research before acting on any information provided. For inquiries, contact the sponsor directly.