1. You’re Not Catching Enough Z’s

If you can’t remember when the last time you had a good night’s sleep, you need to hire a virtual receptionist. Getting a good night’s sleep is an essential part of being productive. If you’re up all night worrying about what you couldn’t get done that day, what you have planned for tomorrow, or if your voicemail isn’t capturing all opportunities – all are good indications that you need some extra help. Hiring a virtual receptionist to help take some of the work load off your shoulders is a great way to help ease your mind & it’s better than counting sheep. Since answering services are (usually) available 24/7 to answer your calls, you won’t have to worry about missing calls in the middle of the night and you can stop having those nightmares about missed business opportunities.

2. You Can’t Remember the Last Time You Had a Break

If you can’t remember the last time you took a vacation, you need to hire a virtual receptionist. Taking breaks from work is a necessity. We’re not talking coffee breaks here, but actual time off to relax and re-charge your batteries. If you’re running a one man show, this can seem pretty much impossible. However, virtual assistant services offer whole crews ready to field calls while you’re out, so your customer service will still be on point even while you’re living it up in Margaritaville.

If you’re thinking about hiring extra help only while you’re out of town, then you definitely want to avoid long term contracts. While many answering services require commitments of 12 months or more, others (including SAS) offer short term service. Hiring an answering service temporarily is a cost effective way to help handle calls while you’re out of town, and they can be activated and deactivated quickly. In addition to activating a service when you’re vacationing, other short-term scenarios include:

• Launching a new product or service: Whenever you launch a new product or service, you’re bound to get more calls than you can handle. From callers asking questions to customers wanting to purchase said product or service, your phones may be ringing off the hook. However, as long as you set up your answering service protocols prior to launching, the operators will certainly be able to answer questions, place orders, or get callers in touch with the right department if they are not able to assist.
• Airing a charity telethon or pledge drive: Telethons drive up call volume, especially if they are familiar annual events. Temporary receptionist support that can be activated quickly and easily are a great way to ensure none of your callers have to wait on hold during your pledge drive.
• Handling product recalls: If you manufacture products or sell any consumer goods, you always have to prepare for the worst, which means you have to prepare for recalls. Grabbing virtual receptionists to temporarily field calls is an efficient way to help alleviate the pressure on you and your staff, and can help protect your brand.

3. You’re Not Getting Anything Done

If you’re spinning your wheels every day at work, you need to hire a virtual receptionist. Outsourcing 100% of your customer service, or at the very least just your receptionist duties to an answering service, are easy chores to unload. Once your calls start being answered by anyone but you, you’ll free up time to concentrate on what really matters. Having the extra time to focus on your daily responsibilities will not only allow you to catch up on that stack of work piling up in your corner, but it may also allow you to get your creative juices flowing again.

4. You’re Not Capturing Leads

If you’re missing calls to voicemail, you need to hire a virtual receptionist. When you run a small business, you’re a jack-of-all-trades. You’re probably the one taking calls, scheduling appointments, filing paperwork, processing invoices, and maybe even cleaning the bathrooms. With all of these chores, you might find yourself struggling to catch your breath, let alone answer a phone call. If this sounds familiar, an answering service could be your new best friend. Virtual assistants can help you with:

• Answering callers questions: A phone call isn’t always a sale, but it can always lead to one. People may call businesses just to ask questions. Instead of pushing those callers to voicemail, or having them eat up your time, have your answering service do the job for you! Simply provide your service with frequently asked questions, and let them take care of the rest.
• Processing orders: Virtual receptionists can access websites, place orders and take down credit card information.
• Scheduling appointments: Whether you have your own scheduling platform on your website or use a shared calendar, virtual receptionists should be able to access the system and schedule appointments accordingly.
• Dispatching urgent calls: Emergencies never happen at a convenient time, which is why a 24/7 answering service can be a huge advantage to an up and coming small business. If your business provides after hours emergency service, but you don’t have anyone to answer calls after hours, how are you going to ever make a profit? By having an emergency answering service to help field and dispatch calls after hours,  you never have to miss another business opportunity.

5. Your Turnover Rate is High

If you’re having trouble keeping employees, you need to hire a virtual receptionist. For a fraction of the cost it takes to hire one full time employee, you can have all of your calls answered by a whole team of virtual receptionists 24/7. With a 24/7 virtual answering service, you never have to worry about employees calling out sick or going on vacation, or having to dish out the extra funds for benefits.

6. You’re Spending More Than You’re Bringing in

If you’re looking to cut costs, you need to hire a virtual receptionist. Running a business is expensive. From buying materials and hiring employees to renting office space and putting money towards advertisements, many small businesses end up bankrupt before they get their feet off the ground. While hiring an answering service sounds like it’s just one more expense, it’s actually incredibly cost effective. If you’re just starting out, you may want to consider skipping actual employees and going straight to virtual. For as little as $1 a day, you could have all of your calls answered by a whole team of operators ensuring that no caller reaches a voicemail.

We all want to run a successful small business. Why not let virtual receptionists get you started in the right direction and spark your internal drive to continue growing your business? After all, while our top 6 reasons to hire a virtual assistant are important, the number-one reason will always be the success of your business.

The post 6 Signs That It’s Time to Hire a Virtual Receptionist appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

But wait, there’s more. SAS is more than just a virtual receptionist service. Aside from giving your customers 24/7 live operator assistance, you’ll enjoy free, on-demand access to our unique user interface, where you can do everything from listening to call recordings to editing your call script to integrating with various external programs that will support your operations.

The SAS Desk web portal is chock full of resources to help you stay organized and keep track of customers’ requests.

• Want us to schedule appointments? Link your Google Calendar to the app in our portal that will allow our operators to do just that.
• Use a helpdesk? Integrate the Desk.com or Zendesk app into your call script, and support tickets will be created in your platform. No copy and pasting necessary!
• Running your business on a CRM? Link Specialty Answering Service with Salesforce or Zoho to create leads, create contacts, create cases, and more.
• Need to log your information in a different format? The Google Sheets app will push data directly to your online spreadsheet.
• Maybe you already have leads but don’t have the time to call them. Configure our Outbound Calling app to have our professional operators qualify your leads for you!
• Do you have a rotating on-call schedule? Check out our On-Call app, which allows you to create multiple calendars, complete with custom time blocks, messaging options, and color-coding.
• Want to give your colleagues access to your message portal or send calls to specific departments for follow-up? Add a few new users, or share call details by creating a Share URL.

In addition to all of these great features, our Reports section offers a convenient way to review your usage, download custom reports, track calls by hour, and more.

• Want stats on how people heard about your business? Generate a Script Step Report to see the info at-a-glance.
• Need to see how many calls you received over that busy holiday weekend? We have that, too.
• Want to find out which operators are taking your calls, and rate their performance? We have your back.

And if that’s not enough, we also have a mobile app for iPhone and Android devices that gives you on-the-go access to your calls and message details! We are constantly improving our technology to provide a level of connection and convenience that you won’t find anywhere else.

With Specialty Answering Service, the possibilities are endless. If you’re already using us, please take advantage of some of our apps and features. If you’re not using us, what are you waiting for? Give us a try, and go crazy!!

The post Amazing features to make you more productive with Specialty Answering Service. appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

1. By identifying phone call lead sources and monitoring online activity during internet campaigns, sales consultants can reach out to prospective customers to increase their conversion rate and generate revenue.
2. Even Google has conducted research that brings to light the importance of call tracking with regard to AdWords and Pay-Per-Click service.
3. Tracking sales calls allows business owners to evaluate the usefulness of their marketing campaigns and focus on areas that may require some tweaking.

Call metrics are a cost-effective approach to reviewing your business strategy in action. Should you decide to move forward, listed below are 13 call tracking services along with their features to help narrow your search.

1. Century Interactive

Call for pricing: 1-866-257-8479.

• Inbound call tracking – Track and record your inbound phone calls.
• Keyword level dynamic website call tracking – Tie your calls to keywords and their referral source.
• Human call categorization – Call categorization system combines automated call tagging with humans to filter calls and tell you what’s happening.
• Recorded outbound call tracking – Track and record your outbound phone calls.
• Call coaching – Built-in call coaching.
• Dynamic call routing – Connect each phone call to the right person at the right time, based on time of day, day of week, caller interest, etc.
• Integrations/Open API – Integration with CRM and digital marketing tools to push phone call data wherever you need it.

2. Call Source

Call for pricing: 1-877-225-5768.

• Call tracking – Captures every caller’s phone number, identifies the advertising source and records calls for review.
• Lead scoring – Review, sort, and filter out non-prospects from your tracked calls, providing accurate cost-per-lead analysis and sales conversion percentages.
• Telephone performance analysis – Analyze your employees’ sales skills by reviewing and grading sales calls.
• Our university – Central database of all your employees’ online and classroom training.
• Deal saver – Get lost revenue opportunities delivered to your mobile phone.
• Call shield – Complimentary cloud-based service that blocks telephone hacking attempts and computer-generated spam calls.
• Results system – Results platform blends hands-on consulting with cutting edge technology. We track your calls and score them so you know which leads are true leads.

3. Twilio

Visit their web page to submit your contact information and receive a call from their Sales desk.

• Get basic call tracking up and running in a day.
• Design a complex, customized solution in a few weeks.
• Buy virtual phone numbers in real-time.
• Receive unlimited inbound calls.
• Measure everything and send the data to your analytics solution or your CRM system.

4. Call Fire

Call for details: 1-877-897-FIRE. Plans range in price from pay as you go to $599/month.

• SMS enabled call tracking – Use a call tracking number to send text messages from a long code so you can respond to an inquiry via text and track via Google analytics.
• Robust analytics to track your spending – A holistic view of your advertising performance that can be linked to Google analytics.
• Custom notifications routed to your email or mobile device – Create custom alerts or, build your own customized call tracking application for instant reporting.
• Low cost local & toll-free numbers – Extensive phone number tracking and reports. Set office hours to record messages.
• Play a whisper message to agents on transfer. – Receive both call and texts to local numbers. Google Analytics integration.
• Record any inbound calls. – Email notifications on successful calls. Pricing as low as 2¢ per minute.

5. Call Tracking Metrics

Call for details: 1-855-834-8688. Plans from $0 Starter plan to $149/month Enterprise plan.

• Recordings – Listen to calls to train staff, evaluate leads, and capture customer detail. Audio files can be emailed immediately after calls so you can listen to calls from the road.
• Unlimited Users – Add staff and clients using different role types. Use an agency package to create sub-accounts for each client so that they can view their data.
• Whispers – Play custom whispers to callers announcing call recording or menu keypress options. Play whispers to receiving party announcing source of call, call recording etc.
• Dynamic Number Swapping – Insert tracking numbers on your website dynamically based on where the visitor came from.
• Real-time Reporting – Know who is calling and how they found you. Immediately see trends in call volume by advertising channel and sales performance by agent.
• Track online or offline advertising – Place numbers in print, TV, radio ads or have numbers dynamically appear on your website based on where the visitor came from.

6. LOG My Calls

Call for details: 1-855-889-3939. Plans range from $69 to $699 and up.

• Conversation analytics – Tells you what happened on the call. Know good leads from bad leads, phone conversion rates and sales made, initial sales inquiries vs. returning customers
• Marketing automation – Notify your CRM when a hot lead calls, alert a sales manager when a sale doesn’t close, track the number of complaint calls, charge clients more for great leads.
• Scheduled reports – Customize and schedule reports to be emailed to anyone.
• Dynamic number insertion x3 – Track phone conversions of online traffic sources. Automatically change the phone number on your website depending on the referring source.
• Integrations – Easy integration with CRMS, learning management systems, affiliate portals and other web applications. Automated workflows and actions.

7. Dex Media

Call for pricing: 1-866-558-0400.

• 24/7 access to real-time online reports lets you tell at a glance which ads are doing well and which may need adjustment.
• Calls to tracking numbers are automatically forwarded to your existing business line.
• Caller data is collected and stored.
• Calls can be recorded for future reference.
• Run reports online in real time anytime you want.
• Track caller identification data, including name, address, phone number, and ZIP code.
• Track number of calls being generated by your ad.
• Track answer status of each call received: answered, unanswered, or busy.
• Track length of time spent on the line with answered calls.
• Call mapping to identify where calls originate
• Manage your employees’ productivity with call answer status data.
• Monitor the time of day you get the most calls.
• Listen to your calls with call recording to improve customer service and call tactics.
• Build a prospect data base with the detailed caller report.

8. Delacon

Call for details: 1-855-390-7512. Pricing varies.

• Track time, date, length and result of calls.
• Track geographical location of calls.
• Track telephone number of the caller.
• Track answering point telephone number.
• Track device the caller used to find to your website.
• Track the internet service provider of the device the caller used.
• Track number of calls per web source.
• Track online browsing activity leading up to the call.
• Track keywords used to find your website.
• Track referring URL.
• Track the call outcome such as whether it was a sale and the sale value.
• Integrate with Google Analytics, Google Universal, bid management, Salesforce, and more.

9. Who’s Calling

Call for pricing: 1-866-403-2938.

• MYDASH – Create a custom call tracking dashboard and view important call data in just one click.
• SNAPSHOT – View call activity broken down by customer or agent in one report.
• ROI Reporting – Match calls with F&I information from Reynolds and Reynolds dealership management software.
• Data & Email Sync – Integrate your dealership management system with your marketing database.
• Call Safe – Safeguard your business from fines for Do Not Call violations.
• Call Evaluation – Get the complete picture of the calls your business receives by having our call evaluation specialists assess your calls.
• Call Sync – Maximize lead management data by exporting call details to your CRM.
• Call Mapping – See exactly where your geo-targeted marketing campaigns are generating calls.
• Call Forwarding – Send unanswered calls to another line, location, voicemail or prerecorded message.

10. IOVOX

Visit their web page to submit your contact information and receive a call from their Sales desk.

• International call tracking in 62 countries
• Intelligent analytics dashboard
• Time-based calling rules
• Call whispers
• Voice messages via email
• Local, national, international, toll free and premium numbers
• Call alerts via email/SMS
• Voice/identity verification
• Dynamic IVR via a key press menu
• Unlimited unique phone numbers
• Inbound and outbound call analytics
• Call recording
• Pay per click, pay per call, pay per lead
• Google AdWords keyword tracking
• Intelligent call routing
• HTTP POST for pre-call customer details
• Call blocking and SPAM protection
• Automated booking system

11. Analytic Call Tracking

Call for details: 1-561-841-1832. $1 seven day trial offer. Basic service one-time fee of $197.

• Direct API access through Twilio to add a number in seconds.
• Set up your own enterprise class call tracking platform.
• Know when calls are coming in real time.
• Record every phone call you route through ACT.
• See the location and number of the caller right in the dashboard.
• Reports can be generated with a few clicks.
• Get email alerts when goals are reached.
• See a complete history of calls including duration and location.
• Set a list of phone numbers to receive calls in the order you determine.
• Restrict access of users to just one phone number, if needed.
• Ring multiple phone numbers at the same time.
• Classify calls by codes to get a better understanding of trends.
• Have as many companies as you need to serve your business or clients.

12. Keymetric

Call for pricing: 1-866-304-6527. Month-to-month service.

• Track referring traffic source
• Track referring domain.
• Track search engine and network.
• Track content network.
• Track affiliate network and ID.
• Track ad source and type.
• Track media source and type.
• Track social network.
• Track pay per click keyword.
• Track organic search term.
• Track offline ad source.
• Track offline ad campaign.
• Unlimited source and keyword call tracking.
• Session-based intelligent number insertion.
• Easy implementation on websites and content.
• Customized administration for agencies.
• Integrate call data with third-party apps.
• Standard and custom real-time reporting.
• Instant local and toll-free numbers.
• Call recording, whisper and annotation.
• Post-call scoring and sales notes.
• Integrated online conversion analytics.
• Track online conversations such as visits, emails, downloads, live chat, etc.

13. Specialty Answering Service

Month-to-month live telephone answering service. Plans from $44.

• Two-week free trial!
• Local and toll-free numbers available.
• Customized programming and FAQs.
• Appointment scheduling and online sales.
• Set up sub accounts for different branches of your business by cloning current programming.
• Real-time reporting puts call details at your fingertips the moment the agent disconnects.
• View call logs, listen to recordings, and track key metrics such as number of calls, length of call, date and time via a secure web portal.

For more information on what Specialty Answering Service can do for you, give our Sales office a call at 1-888-532-4794, or learn why our live call center is a great solution for call tracking.

The post 13 of the best call tracking software solutions. appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

Agent management applications are frequently used in call centers as a means to improve call center metrics. By tracking agents’ performance, creating staffing models, and improving customer satisfaction, management software can increase overall productivity in your contact center while ensuring optimal customer care in every transaction. Monitoring call reporting, call recording, and screen capture allows supervisors to find out how many calls agents are taking, how long they spend on each call, how many minutes they are idle, etc. and can be used to check in on agents who work from home in virtual call centers.

Agent management software can keep you on track and even give you a head’s up on ways that you can improve performance. Want to know more? Dig deeper into workforce management software here!

Copy the code below to use this infographic:

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