Welcome to the first edition of our new weekly blog series, The Underrated Series. Each week, we will highlight an important, often underrated component of marketing success.

What are we underrating this week? Someone that answers the phone.

When it comes to making our companies more profitable, most decisions focus on saving money. Because we want to save money, we look to technology to help us. If people can purchase directly from our website, why do we need salespeople? If people can chat online with a customer service rep, why do we need to provide a phone number?

But the problem is, we are underrating the phone call. For most companies that do business online, a significant portion of sales still happen over the phone.

Why?

Because people buy from people, not websites. Some don’t feel comfortable sharing crucial information online. Some want the reassurance of someone to answer their questions and putting their minds at ease.

When we focus on money-saving solutions to our profitability problem, we ignore the other side of the equation. You can also look to increase revenue. And maybe having people to answer the phones will help you do this.

Stop putting up walls between your company and your customers. If they want to call you, let them. You are there to serve them, not the other way around.

Have something you think deserves more attention? Send us your suggestions for the Underrated Series using the comments below or submit them here.