A telephone survey conducted in May 2010, by business phone systems company, Cloud Net found that almost a third of small businesses are not picking up the phone. 

Cloud Net's survey consisted of calling 200 randomly selected West Midlands businesses (with fewer than 250 employees).

Commenting, David Hill, Chairman, Cloud Net said, "The 2009 recession proved to be a devastating year for many small businesses with many it seems left without sufficient resources to man telephone lines to potential customers and business opportunities.

While 2010 is showing signs of economic promise, it is hard to believe that our telephone survey of 200 small businesses showed that 29% of businesses had no professional way of answering a business phone call. Now is the time when responsiveness to enquiries becomes a key differentiator to increasing sales or customers and to customer retention."

"In some cases, phones kept ringing without being forwarded to a voicemail system, in other cases, 5% of calls were greeted by a simple hello, without any indication of the company name. Companies cannot afford to let this business area slip", he continued.

The survey has prompted Cloud Net to launch www.phonegrader.co.uk, a free website which helps companies to understand how their phones are answered. Once a company has entered their phone number, it is called during office hours and given a grading.

Other results from the survey showed that 54% of companies did pick up the phone with a professional person, company name and greeting. The average number of rings was 2.39 seconds. 15% of SMEs also used a professional voicemail.

Presteen, a private investigation and legal support firm, is a company that wants to capture every call. Mark Gill, MD of Presteen, commented, "With such a competitive telecoms market currently, business should have no problems finding a professional business phone system. We use Cloud Net's business VoIP service and are considering its CLASS live telephone answering service as a back up when we are really busy and want someone to answer the phone on our behalf.

Cloud Net's tips on smarter ways of answering the phone, include:

·         Agree on company policy on picking up the phone - such as a simple, "Good morning, company name, how can I help?"

·         Ensure that there is a professional voicemail

·         Set up a call divert system

·         Have an answering service, with a professional message

·         Answer within three rings

For further information, please visit, www.cloudnetuk.com, www.phonegrader.co.uk, call 01922 21 33 33 or email solutions@cloudnetuk.com