Regardless of all the technological advances in business phones, it is nice and reassuring to have your calls answered by a live person. If you own a small business, consider having real people answer your phones instead of an automated system.

Here are four of the reasons your small business should consider having live reps answer the phone:

1. Live voices can cut customer waiting time in half

In a survey of customers of the top 100 internet sales sites, customers reported shorter hold times on phone calls answered by live people than by automated machines.

When customers had to wade through a phone tree, they spent close to 2 minutes on average on hold, but when a live person answered the phone, the wait time was just 51 seconds.

2. Live operators can increase customer satisfaction

Shorter hold times will impress your customers, but live operators can increase customer satisfaction in other ways as well. If a client wants to speak to the owner, hear the business hours or has a question on billing, they simply need to tell the live operator.

The live operator can then respond to the issue or redirect the call. The caller doesn't have to face the frustration of listening to lots of options, pushing the wrong buttons or yelling into a voice-activated system.

3. Live operators can boost call retention

The more care customers receive, the more likely they are to stay on the phone. If you have any sales happening over the phone, boosting your call retention helps your bottom line.

Even if you are just fielding complaints over the phone, fielding them quickly and kindly (with a live person) can safeguard your image and ultimately your bottom line.

4. Having live operators answer your phones is easier than before

When it comes to business phone systems, many people like to focus on the technology that makes voice-activated answering systems possible, but there is just as much exciting technology that makes having live operators easier than before.

If you have employees who work off-site, you can get a business phone system that directs all incoming calls to your staff's cell phones. Regardless of where you or your staff members are, you can pick up your office phone and say hello. You don't have to be trapped in a cubicle to answer the phone.

In other cases, if you have a slightly larger operation, you can even route calls to a center to have them answered by a live operator there. Then, they can be seamlessly redirected to you as needed. For more information, see http://www.johesk.com.au.