Never miss a call with 24/7 live receptionists.

Home inspectors are used to having their schedules planned out to a tee. Whether it's a standard inspection or a deeper evaluation of a potentially hazardous issue, home inspectors have their hands full, leaving them little to no time in the day to answer phone calls and respond to messages. But with a home inspector answering service, customer service is one less issue they have to make the time for. A reliable answering service has been proven to support businesses in the ways that matter most. Below are just a handful of the benefits that many home inspection teams have experienced with an answering service like Smith.ai:

• Expanded availability‍

With a phone call answering service that’s available around-the-clock, your clients will be able to talk to a real person, whether you're available to talk or not. With a dedicated professional on the line, your clients will receive high-quality customer service day or night.

• Increased lead captured  

Missed calls means missed opportunities. Don’t miss out on leads just because you can't reach the phone. Answering services provide nighttime, overflow, weekend, and after-hours availability so all of your potential leads can be captured, nurtured, and converted. 

• Increased work productivity 

By allowing an answering service to take over call-handling duties, your team will be free from the burden of tedious customer service. With more time to focus on their specialized home inspections, your business can anticipate unprecedented growth.

• Enhanced client satisfaction and business reputation

Smith.ai knows great customer service, so no matter your business type or industry, our virtual receptionist have you covered. Each and every Smith.ai virtual receptionist is highly trained in customer service. Let us put our award-winning practices to work for you and deliver an exceptional and professional response that gives your home inspection company the representation it can be proud of. 

• Save money and time

No need to hire an in-house receptionist when you can get all of the administrative support you need and so much more with an answering service. Not to mention, customers who use Smith.ai can save upwards of $30,000/year. That's more for less!

• Stay up-to-date with leads and clients

Phone answering services can send your home inspection staff detailed call summaries after each call and even provide your customers with chat, social media, and text messaging so you can stay in contact with your most valued clients.

A live home inspector answering service can provide your business with the support you need, whether your team needs help answering calls after-hours, responding to social media inquiries, or in providing unforgettable customer service. Your home inspection company can enjoy the an array of benefits, from improved productivity to increased lead conversions. Whatever your business goals may look like, Smith.ai’s home inspectors answering service can help.

Smith.ai’s answering service can provide home inspectors with…

24/7 availability

After-hours & overflow answering

Bilingual answering

Outbound call-backs

Spam blocking

Appointment scheduling

Sales development

Payment collection

CRM Integration

Lead development

And much more…‍

With an endless list of accommodating features and resources, Smith.ai’s answering service is guaranteed to enhance and improve home inspection teams' productivity, revenue, and outreach. Smith.ai has offered award-winning service to home inspection businesses like yours for years. That's why our clients trust us, and only us, to provide them with the top-rated, premium services their business deserves. Read our 5-star reviews to learn why home inspectors across the nation rely on Smith.ai.

Understandably, the cost of a receptionist is a major factor in a business's decision to hire an answering service or a traditional, in-house receptionist. Keeping costs lows and quality high is of the utmost importance, but with an in-house receptionist, you may not be getting the most bang for your buck. To give you a breakdown of the cost comparisons, we've created a list of the average expenses businesses can expect to come with any in-house receptionist.

The average salary nation-wide for an in-house receptionist is about $37,000 and they usually come with shockingly expensive (often forgotten) fees, such as:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, costing about $11,000/year
• Life and disability insurance, costing about $2,000/year
• 401K’s, retirement and pension plans, costing about $2,000/year
• Paid sick leave, holidays, and vacations, costing about $5,500/year
• Commuting reimbursement, costing about $5,000/year
• Child care subsidy and parental leave, costing about $3,000/year
• Health and wellness programs, costing about $1,000/year
• Bonus pay, costing about $2,000/year
• Company retreats, team bonding events, and employee outings, costing about $4,000/year
• Free lunch, snacks, and drinks, costing about $3,500/year
  

Total Cost in Addition to Salary: $77,000/year

If your home inspection company is located in a major city, that price may be even higher. Costs pile up when your in-house receptionist inevitably comes in late, calls in sick, requests time off, takes personal leaves of absence, goes on vacation, etc. Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can accomplish the same tasks as in-house receptionist and then some, barring coffee runs and supply restocks, of course, and are much less expensive because you never pay for any of our receptionists' benefits or salaries.

Smith.ai’s answering service costs as little as $255/month, with no hidden fees. Ever. By hiring an answering service instead of an in-house receptionist, your business could save over $33,000/year on salary alone, and possibly up to $40,000/year in benefits beyond salary payments. On top of the money you'll be saving, your business will see a huge increase in productivity, lead conversions, and revenue. Unlike in-house receptionists, virtual receptionists can answer calls outside of normal operating hours, helping your team capture and covert 27% more leads. Smith.ai’s agents can also answer live chats, texts, and social media messages, which is how 46% of customers prefer communicating with businesses. 

Virtual receptionists can even provide sales assistance by making outbound calls to convert more leads, satisfying the over 67% of clients who base their decision to hire a business on the initial responsiveness to their call or email. With interested clients receiving immediate, professional responses, there's no limit to the amount of leads your business will be able to convert into potentially lifelong clients. With Smith.ai’s home inspector answering service, your company can reap all the benefits of an in-house worker without the cost. Read our article to learn more about the differences between an in-house vs. a virtual receptionist.

Keeping any business up and running is tricky. From coordinating day-to-day operations to overseeing overall company development and growth, home inspection owners and managers have more than enough to keep themselves busy. Unfortunately, problems arise that keep work from getting done, causing your business to suffer. The most common scenarios that home inspection teams like yours need virtual receptionist services for are:

• I can't afford the “front desk” support I need

Every business needs some kind of “front desk” support. From call handling and appointment scheduling to lead screening and intake, having a professional take on the regular administrative duties for you can make all the difference. Many home inspection companies, however, may not be able to afford expensive in-house receptionists, especially when office rent, cleaning supplies, and marketing prices continue to sore. 

• Constant call interruptions are a distraction

Calls come in whether your home inspection team is available to pick up or not. Home inspectors may be required to take time away from appointments to answer phone calls, leaving the specialized work only home inspectors can do unattended to. And when it takes an average of 23 minutes to get back to a task after being interrupted by a phone call, home inspection teams can expect an enormous loss in productivity and revenue after just one call.

• Growing business demands are becoming overwhelming

Businesses grow and while that growth is great for obvious reasons, it can be challenging for already-busy employees to keep up with the increase in workload. With more calls that need to be answered, more appointments that need to be scheduled, and more invoices that need to be sent, it’s easy to see how home inspection teams can struggle to get their workload done.

• Around-the-clock availability isn't an option for my team

Just because your team clocks out doesn't mean calls don’t stop coming in. And with over 27% of leads call outside of regular business hours, you can't afford to let those leads call the next available home inspector. Sadly, with limited in-house staff and daily operating hours, it's often unrealistic and unmanageable for home inspection businesses to provide the after-hours availability customers want.

If your home inspection team is experiencing any one of these common scenarios, an answering service can be of service. With a trained professional available around-the-clock, your home inspection team will gain the relief they need and your customers will be receive the consistently professional responsiveness they crave. Our virtual receptionists can address and resolve the most tedious issues your home inspection business faces. Whether you could use some additional call handling, spam blocking, or lead qualifying support, Smith.ai's virtual assistants can offer your team the assistance they need. And, by eliminating the need to allocate time to screening calls and answering clients’ questions, your home inspection business can get back to focusing on more important work without neglecting your client relationships.

Every now and again, businesses find themselves in compromising situations that require outsourced assistance to resolve, and home inspection companies are no exception. Some of the most common reported problems that home inspectors report are:

• I can't answer all of the incoming calls and messages from clients

Whether they're out on an appointment or busy with another project, home inspectors don't have the time to provide the responsiveness that new and existing clients expect. Attempting to get all of a day's work done while still providing high-quality customer service can prove to be impossible for any busy home inspector.

• I'm spending most of my time on administrative tasks

In-house receptionists are unaffordable and inaccessible, leaving home inspectors to tackle administrative tasks themselves. Despite spending a large portion of their day on these office duties, home inspectors are mostly unequipped to balance their specialized work with their overwhelming administrative duties, resulting in neglected clients and unmanageable workloads.

• I'm not able to answer new leads in time

Though they may try to answer every call, home inspection teams are frequently too busy to do so. From attending to daily appointments to addressing administrative chores, they simply don't have the time to answer new leads' calls. Over time, this brings about dwindling conversion rates, damaged reputations, and disappointing revenues.

• I can’t respond to potential clients as quickly as my competitors

Many home inspection companies note the difficulty in attempting to set their business apart from their competitors. Providing quality customer service through quick and thoughtful responses can place any business in good standing with their current and potential clients, but many home inspectors lack the time between appointments to deliver the customer service their leads anticipate. 

• Capturing and converting new clients is challenging

One of the most crucial, yet challenging aspects of building a successful business is finding and converting new clients. With so much time and effort being spent towards existing clients, home inspection businesses don't have the free time in their day to seek out and convert new clients. Home inspectors overwhelmed with daily appointments won't be available to deliver quality customer service, resulting in increasingly poor lead conversion, client loyalty, and retention rates.

• I'm unable to store and track of all of my clients’ data properly

Maintaining detailed phone records and call summaries isn't a simple task for home inspection businesses who often disperse client data across a multitude of software platforms. Knowing how, when, and why clients call is incredible beneficial for any business looking to maintain and improve their client relationships, but when customer information is mismanaged, home inspectors will find their client relationships to be the first to suffer.

If your home inspection business is having trouble with one or more of these challenges, a virtual receptionist service may be the key to overcoming them. One of the many notable features of Smith.ai answering services is that our receptionists are there to address and fix the problems your business faces. Our virtual receptionists dedicate their time where your business needs it most so they can help address the specific issues your team struggles with, whether that be something simple, like call handling, or something more complex, like lead screening. Sign up risk-free with our 14-day money-back guarantee and see how Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can alleviate the problems your home inspection company faces.

When considering a virtual receptionist service, a good place to start is to consider which areas of your business or team could use additional support in. To figure out which services your home inspection business might benefit from the most, ask yourself which problems or challenges your team faces that a virtual receptionist service can help to address:

• Does your business struggle to collect payment? 
• Could your business use additional bilingual answering? 
• Would your business benefit from a spam-blocking service? 
  

Whatever it may be, Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can adjust their service to better suit your business needs. 

After that, think about what services would best fit your company’s activity level: 

• Is your team overwhelmed with voicemails?
• Do you receive more social media messages than calls?
• Would your business benefit from 24/7 phone answering or would you prefer a particular time frame, such as 9-to-5, for answering calls? 
  

Whether you get twenty calls a month or 2,000, Smith.ai can customize your virtual receptionist service to fit your business activity so you only pay for what you need. 

All you have to do next is sign up. Getting started with Smith.ai’s virtual receptionist service is simple and fast. No annual contracts, no setup fees, and no need to supply scripts. 

Follow three simple steps:

1. Customize your instructions – Just answer a few, quick questions about your business and the preferences you have and we’ll get you started. We’ll use your answers to customize the way our virtual receptionists answer your calls and your clients’ questions. 
2. Send your calls to us – We work with every phone system and can set up customized rules for when we answer your calls. Or we can answer every call, 24/7!
3. Try risk-free with our 14-day money-back guarantee – Fully experience our call answering, scheduling, payments, and other phone services completely risk free for 14 days. If we're not the right fit for you, get your money back up to $1,000 within the first 14 days.

Whether your business is looking for a full-time virtual receptionist or an overflow or occasional phone answering service, Smith.ai can offer customized assistance to your team with quality customer service, lead screening, and sales development. When you sign up with Smith.ai, you won’t just be gaining a virtual receptionist service, you’ll be gaining a professional, reliable, and friendly team who are guaranteed to help your business exceed expectations. 

‍Learn how to get started with Smith.ai’s virtual receptionist service.