Geoff and Patti have the ring-tone of success
2nd April 2008 - Kendlebell
Employing a full-time PA or receptionist would help give the business a professional front but for many small firms it’s an extra cost that cannot be justified.
Running your own business is not always easy – especially during the early days. In fact, well over a third of small businesses fail within the first three years of trading.
And it’s not surprising. Juggling phone calls, appointments with the bank and new clients can be a nightmare and perhaps it’s inevitable that phone calls are missed and invoices are lost under a pile of paperwork. Answer-phones are also off-putting, especially to new callers who are unlikely to leave a message.
Employing a full-time PA or receptionist would help give the business a professional front but for many small firms it’s an extra cost that cannot be justified.
And that is why more and more small businesses are turning to telephone answering services, such as that run by Tewkesbury couple Geoff Levy and Patti Jones.
They have been running a franchise of Kendlebell, Britain’s leading telephone answering service, for more than two years and are now supporting more than 160 small businesses, scattered across the country.
Geoff and Patti’s team of five virtual PAs provide a service that ensures firms they work for never miss a vital call. And having this high level of support means that small business owners are able to develop and drive their companies forward, rather than being forced to chase their tails.
Geoff, who used to run a Malvern-based firm that supplied spare car parts to garages, says: “People use our services for a range of different reasons. Some simply are never in the office and always out on the road so they would miss calls all the time.
“Others just use us to take overspill calls and others because they don’t want to employ staff direct. They say they can do without having to manage people and so get all the support they need from us, with none of the hassle. It just varies.”
Geoff and Patti decided to take on the franchise because they wanted to move into the modern business world.
Geoff, aged 57, said: “We went into this because we wanted a change from the spare parts company and it is very different. I like it because it’s a very modern concept. It’s simple but it really works. It obviously took a while to get going but now business is growing as we get more and more referrals from other clients.”
Kendlebell franchise teams provide far more than just an answering service for small businesses. They provide the business with a professional front and can even help with mail-outs or take credit card bookings, if required.
Simon Carter, Managing Director of Kendlebell, said: “Kendlebell is the country’s leading personal telephone answering service, which provides a virtual PA service for thousands of businesses across the country each day.
“Geoff and Patti’s dedication and professional approach make them exactly the kind of people we want to run a Kendlebell franchise.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about Kendlebell's services should call Simon Carter on 0844 544 1063
