A CUSTOMER service-driven Basingstoke company is looking to help local businesses catch those seemingly elusive sales calls.

Although not generally considered to be an ideal scenario by many businesses, being over-staffed is a situation that Arron Busst, a director of virtual office solutions firm Arbell, is quite happy with.

Mr Busst said: “We have an uncompromising approach to quality with a business model that allows us to be over-staffed at all times to ensure the service we provide is the best.”

But what he is not happy about is the sales opportunities many small businesses miss because they fail to answer the phone calls from prospective customers.

Mr Busst said: “We are in tough economic times and it’s very frustrating that there are so many small businesses missing telephone calls.”

After conducting a survey by calling 50 local small businesses, his team at Vickers House, in Priestly Road, found 20 did not answer the phone.

Mr Busst said: “If you are a small business you can’t afford to miss a business inquiry and when a call comes in and you don’t pick up the phone, that customer is likely to call elsewhere.

“Statistically 80 per cent of people don’t leave messages on answering machines and many may ask whether, as we are in difficult times, the company is still in business.”

He said he understands that in a hectic day someone running a business cannot be expected to answer every phone call, particularly if they are dealing with a customer at the time.

He said: “There is a cost-effective solution to this problem because we can provide any small business with its own receptionist to answer calls in their company name.

“The idea being that we will find out what the caller is looking for, we’ll take their details and get the relevant person to call them back.”

Mr Busst said that Arbell has been in business for six years and currently provides its telephone answering service to 300 businesses, many of which are based in the Basingstoke area.

Among its clients are builders, plumbers, electricians, accountants and estate agents and even a sports coach.

He said: “We’ve recently taken on a solicitor who uses our service because he doesn’t want to miss important new inquiries.

“He also told us that when he is dealing with a case he needs to set himself some quiet time, but in that time when the phone rings he feels compelled to take the call which could then distract him for 25 minutes.”

Mr Busst said Arbell aims to answer in no more than two rings for those who cannot afford to employ a dedicated person to answer their calls.

Clients include those who may be in full-time employment, but are running their own business on a part- time basis, such as those running Internet businesses.

In April, Arbell launched a new website missingcalls.com in a bid to get members of the public to report businesses that fail to answer their call.

If the business in question signs up for Arbell’s service, a £25 reward will be provided to the person who reported the failure.

To find out more about Arbell visit arbell.co.uk.