It wasn't all that long ago that sending emails, leaving phone messages, and waiting for a reply were the norm, and it was understandable to wait. Since the explosion of high-speed internet and social media services, however, clients and potential clients aren't as patient as they once were, and they want answers and service immediately. If your company takes too long to answer, the client may simply move on to someone else who has harnessed these technologies to supply immediate or near-immediate responses. Consider the following three services to prevent losing clients and potential leads.

Social Media

If your company doesn't already have profiles or accounts on the major social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, start today. Many young people now detest services like email and would rather send out messages to companies asking questions via public social media services.

Admittedly, it's not easy to answer every question that comes in via social media immediately by yourself. If you can't hire someone to work within your company to do it, consider hiring virtual assistants to manage your social media accounts. These assistants can be hired by the hour, and you can assemble a team of them so that someone is always available to answer questions on social media outlets.

Answering Service

While millennials are more likely to try and communicate with you digitally than make a phone call, don't discount clients and leads that still want to talk with a human being. Unfortunately, if you're out of the office, this may mean that all they can do is leave a message. Hours or days may go by before they receive a response, and by then they may have moved on to another company.

To alleviate this problem, consider signing up for a 24/7 answering service. These answering services can be set up to take all of your calls or only the ones that come in when you're out of the office. The answering service employees can be trained to answers common questions, take messages, and make appointments.

Live Chat Service

Finally, back on the digital front, consider using a live chat service on your company website. You've probably seen these services at one time or another: you visit a webpage, and a message pops up asking if you have questions or need help. These services allow your website visitors to communicate with real people and get answers, much like the aforementioned answering service, but via text. These question services are generally designed so that someone is always available to take a question, as the companies have entire teams of people working at any given time.

With these three tools, your company will never leave a client wondering and waiting for an answer from you. Your leads will be more likely to become clients, and your clients will continue to work with you.