Small Business Call ReportHow the UK’s smallest businesses handle their

calls and the impact this has on their customers

Moneypenny surveyed over 300 very small businesses in the UK

to see how they handled their new business enquiry calls.

Moneypenny also surveyed smallbusiness owners to understand

how they look after their customers’ calls, and reviewed its own call data

of 10,000 businesses. 1

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 2015.

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Here’s what we found

The communications of really small businesses are hugely fragmented.

There are three core communication channels used; mobile, landline and email. 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.

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let the callsimply ring out

29%

1 in 3 businesses failed to answer the phone (33%)

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of these let the call go through to voicemail

71%

5

of callers don’t leave voicemail messages

69%We know that

of the smallest businesses still rely on the standard mobile network greetings

54%13%

use a personal voicemail greeting without referencing their business

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How small businesses use voicemail greetings

33%use a tailored voicemail message referencing their business

Voicemail means lost businessBritain’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 voicemails.

Which infuriates customers and business

owners alike.

Customers reported feeling irritated, that the business

appears unprofessional. And quite simply, a voicemail

facility makes a small business look even smaller. 7

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.

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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.

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%

Manufacturing were the most likely to answer – only 9% didn’t.

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Hospitality 31%Financial 21%Legal 15%

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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% Awful.

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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.

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Key takeaways:Clear speech

The clearest speakers were Hospitality and Legal sectors (94% and 85% scored Excellent respectively).

Construction and Marketing both scored 5% Poor, and Financial scored 4% Awful.

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Key takeaways:Positive attitude

Manufacturing and Marketing were the most positive (89% and 86% scored Excellent).

Services were the least positive with 15% considered Poor and 7% considered Awful.

Here’s how our small businesses performed in their ‘new enquiry’ calls

Friendliness Actively

Listening

ClearSpeech

PositiveAttitude

Excellent 52%

Good 29%

Adequate 16%

Poor 1%

Awful 2%

Excellent 79%

Good 13%

Adequate 6%

Poor 2%

Awful

Excellent 75%

Good 18 %

Adequate 5%

Poor 1%

Awful 1%

Excellent 76%

Good 13%

Adequate 7%

Poor 3%

Awful 1%

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Call performance by industry sector

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Construction41% didn’t answer their phone

Busiest days

1. Tuesday

2. Wednesday

3. Thursday

Busiest times

1. 10am

2. 11am

3. 2pm

4. 3pm

Friendliness Actively

Listening

ClearSpeech

PositiveAttitude

Excellent 62%

Good 24%

Adequate 14%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 81%

Good 14%

Adequate

Poor 5%

Awful

Excellent 66%

Good 24%

Adequate 5%

Poor 5%

Awful

Excellent 86%

Good 9%

Adequate 5%

Poor

Awful17

Financial21% didn’t answer their phone

Friendliness Actively

Listening

ClearSpeech

PositiveAttitude

Excellent 46%

Good 35%

Adequate 15%

Poor 4%

Awful

Excellent 76%

Good 12%

Adequate 8%

Poor 4%

Awful

Excellent 77%

Good 15%

Adequate 4%

Poor

Awful 4%

Excellent 73%

Good 8%

Adequate 15%

Poor

Awful 4%18

Busiest days

1. Tuesday

2. Wednesday

3. Thursday

Busiest times

1. 10am

2. 11am

3. 3pm

4. 2pm

Hospitality31% didn’t answer their phone

Friendliness Actively

Listening

ClearSpeech

PositiveAttitude

Excellent 59%

Good 33%

Adequate 4%

Poor 4%

Awful

Excellent 82%

Good 9%

Adequate 9%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 94%

Good 6%

Adequate

Poor

Awful

Excellent 77%

Good 15%

Adequate 4%

Poor 4%

Awful19

Busiest days

1. Tuesday

2. Thursday

3. Monday

Busiest times

1. 10am

2. 11am

3. 12pm

4. 2pm

Manufacturing9% didn’t answer their phone

Friendliness Actively

Listening

ClearSpeech

PositiveAttitude

Excellent 69%

Good 19%

Adequate 12%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 89%

Good 11%

Adequate

Poor

Awful

Excellent 72%

Good 28%

Adequate

Poor

Awful

Excellent 89%

Good 8%

Adequate

Poor 3%

Awful20

Busiest days

1. Tuesday

2. Wednesday

3. Thursday

Busiest times

1. 10am

2. 11am

3. 2pm

4. 9am

IT34% didn’t answer their phone

Friendliness Actively

Listening

ClearSpeech

PositiveAttitude

Excellent 48%

Good 38%

Adequate 14%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 76%

Good 14%

Adequate 5%

Poor 5%

Awful

Excellent 67%

Good 14%

Adequate 19%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 71%

Good 19%

Adequate 5%

Poor 5%

Awful21

Busiest days

1. Tuesday

2. Wednesday

3. Thursday

Busiest times

1. 10am

2. 11am

3. 9am

4. 2pm

Legal15% didn’t answer their phone

Friendliness Actively

Listening

ClearSpeech

PositiveAttitude

Excellent 52%

Good 18%

Adequate 30%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 81%

Good 15%

Adequate 4%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 85%

Good 15%

Adequate 19%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 74%

Good 15%

Adequate 11%

Poor

Awful22

Busiest days

1. Tuesday

2. Monday

3. Thursday

Busiest times

1. 10am

2. 2pm

3. 11am

4. 3pm

Marketing32% didn’t answer their phone

Friendliness Actively

Listening

ClearSpeech

PositiveAttitude

Excellent 62%

Good 24%

Adequate 14%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 81%

Good 14%

Adequate 5%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 66%

Good 24%

Adequate 5%

Poor 5%

Awful

Excellent 86%

Good 9%

Adequate 5%

Poor

Awful23

Busiest days

1. Tuesday

2. Wednesday

3. Thursday

Busiest times

1. 10am

2. 11am

3. 2pm

4. 3pm

Retail36% didn’t answer their phone

Friendliness Actively

Listening

ClearSpeech

PositiveAttitude

Excellent 38%

Good 47%

Adequate 14%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 86%

Good 9%

Adequate 5%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 71%

Good 24%

Adequate 5%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 71%

Good 24%

Adequate 5%

Poor

Awful24

Busiest days

1. Tuesday

2. Wednesday

3. Thursday

Busiest times

1. 10am

2. 11am

3. 2pm

4. 12pm

Services69% didn’t answer their phone

Friendliness Actively

Listening

ClearSpeech

PositiveAttitude

Excellent 43%

Good 21%

Adequate 21%

Poor

Awful 15%

Excellent 85%

Good 15%

Adequate

Poor

Awful

Excellent 64%

Good 21%

Adequate 15%

Poor

Awful

Excellent 64%

Good 7%

Adequate 7%

Poor 15%

Awful 7%25

Busiest days

1. Tuesday

2. Wednesday

3. Monday

Busiest times

1. 10am

2. 11am

3. 12pm

4. 2pm

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.

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What some of our surveyed business owners said about missing their calls

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.

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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. Poor first impression.

What our surveyed customers said about the small business calls

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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.

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.

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Conclusion

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