An answering service is a powerful communication tool that allows companies to handle an insane amount of call volume without you having to hire more employees to do it. Answering services can answer basic questions your customers may have to protect your internal support resources, schedule call backs for later, or transfer important calls to your staff if required. So, what can you do to ensure your answering service is making a meaningful impact, especially during this crisis? We’ve put together 3 things you can do in 1 hour.

1. Arm Your Receptionists With Information

Take a minute to analyze your helpdesk tickets or connect with your team to see what types of questions they’re being asked, and assess if those answers can be offloaded to the answering service agents.

• Send a quick email to your staff to ask them the top questions they’re being asked by customers
• Log all of their questions on a shared document and have them add any new questions there
• Decide which of those questions are good candidates for the answering service to handle
• Send updates to your answering service from the list, or if you have online access to your answering service system, update your FAQs on your own

If you find you’re getting a lot of crisis related questions, like questions related to COVID-19, it may be a good idea to create a separate FAQ with your answering service specifically for those requests. That way, when life eventually gets back to normal, you’ll just have to make one FAQ change instead of editing through several.

2. Make Simple Messaging Script Updates

Reviewing and updating your messaging protocols and script will help make sure that information gets transmitted as quickly as possible from the callers to the answering service to your own staff.

• If you’re dealing with several requests about the same issue, like rescheduling appointments or cancelling reservations, consider adding a new path (or screen) to your script. That will ensure the operators can log the reason for the call quickly and collect the relevant information without having to guess – which can cause chaos later when you’re already dealing with too much on your plate.
• If you have employees working from home, make sure the messages the answering service is sending are reaching everyone they should. See what messages have been sent over the last week and poll your employees to see if anyone who should have received those messages didn’t – and vice versa.
• If your business model means you are responding to customer requests 24/7, your 24 hour answering service should have the ability to send messages one way during office hours, and another during after hours. Check to make sure which employees or groups of employees have been receiving messages both during and after hours and make adjustments accordingly.

3. Streamline Your Workflows

Simple is always better. Consider temporarily simplifying your answering service protocols to get customers on and off the phone as quickly as possible. If you’re getting a high volume of calls, this will free up answering service agents to handle more requests and lower your hold time.

• Decide what the most important requests are and have those calls transferred to your staff
• For all other calls, instruct the operators to take a message with the most basic information (name, phone number, reason for contact)

With a just a few tweaks, you can make sure your answering service is able to effectively handle a higher call volume during this most difficult time.

The post What You Can Do in One Hour To Improve Your Answering Service appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

#1. Make sure you have call forwarding

When you get started with an answering service, you’re given a phone number to forward your calls to. You’ll want to make sure your phone has the capability to forward. Since this is a feature controlled by your phone provider, please check with them first. In addition, you and your team should be familiar with how to forward, and what number to forward to. Typically, you would dial *72 on your phone, followed by the number you wish to forward to. However, it may change based on provider or your phone system. We recommend doing a couple test runs with your team on forwarding (doesn’t have to be to your answering service) so that everyone is comfortable and familiar with the process. Forward your office lines to someones cell phone or to another line just to make sure it’s working and ready when you need it.

It’s also a good idea to check with your provider to see if you can remotely forward your calls. In the case of a disaster that prevents you from physically being in your office, like a hurricane or a tornado, check with your phone company to see if they can forward your calls for you.

#2. Set up basic message taking

If you’re using an answering service as an emergency back up plan, call handling doesn’t need to be complex. In the event of an emergency, it’s more important that you’re getting the message than having your receptionist mimic your own office protocols exactly. Gathering a basic name, number and message is the best way to get callers on and off the phone as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

If you’re used to using your answering service on a day to day basis, see if they can input a temporary protocol that involves basic message taking so that you don’t have to revamp your whole script. Then, when everything settles down you can go back to your normal procedures.

#3. Have information readily available to activate your account quickly

In the event that you don’t have an account set up with a virtual receptionist provider, you’ll want to make it as easy as possible for them to set one up for you quickly. Here are some things to have readily available so you can activate an account with little friction:

• Your credit card information: An answering service is going to need your credit card or bank account information to get you set up. Even if you on-board during a free trial period, to make sure your service stays active after the trial, you’ll want to make sure you have a valid payment method on file. Make sure more than one person in your office has access to your office payment methods.
• Your call handling: If you’re rushing a setup, a virtual receptionist will just be able to take basic information like name, email, phone number, and message. You’ll need to decide where you want these messages sent to and how. Setting up a distribution email address on your side that sends to multiple employees is a great idea.
• Other contact data: In addition to receiving your messages, call transfers are usually fairly simple components that can be added to any answering service script. If you’re looking to have your calls transferred to your office, make sure you know what number, or numbers, your virtual receptionist will be transferring calls to.

#4. Include high impact FAQs

Whether it’s an outbreak, a data breach, a product recall or some other type of event that disrupts life on a massive scale, customers are going to want to know your business’s continuity plan. In order to minimize the amount of call backs you and your team have to handle, equip your answering service with the basic questions and responses that may come up. Offer just enough information to inform the caller, but not too much information that extends the call with more questions that the receptionist isn’t equipped to handle.

If your business is closed, try and provide estimates of when you’ll re-open, or include details of what’s being done remotely to help business run as usual. This is especially important for those customers who rely on your business each day.

#5. Create a custom recorded greeting for the specific issue

If customers are calling to see if you’re still open, adding a custom pre-recorded greeting during this time is a helpful way to answer that question without eating up operator minutes. For example, providing your service with a recording that says “Thank you for calling The Burger Joint. Our dining area will remain closed until further notice, but we are open for all take out requests. For other assistance, please stay on the line and an operator will be with you in a moment” will give most callers the information they’re looking for while still offering other callers a live agent to speak with.

A telephone answering service is an amazing way for your business to stay alive in an emergency. Services like Specialty Answering Service are here for you when you need us most.

The post How to prepare your small business for disasters or pandemics like the Coronavirus appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

#1. They give stellar first impressions.

Unless it’s Groundhogs Day, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Having a customized recorded greeting on your business line will help give callers lasting first impression that you’ve been missing by outsourcing.

Fact: Virtual receptionists answer for hundreds of different businesses each day. When operators answer calls live, it can be hard for them to get your company name 100% correct every single time. While answering the phone for Smith Plumbing may be easy and effortless, they may stumble when answering the phone for Sheila’s Sea Shells. Instead of having the operators say your company name, a custom recorded greeting would completely eliminate the chance of error. The automated greeting announces the company name, and the live operator greeting is kept to a generic ‘Thanks for calling. How can I help you?’

#2. Racking up those minutes? A custom greeting can help!

Unless you’re taking advantage of a free trial, answering services are going to charge a fee to answer your calls. Some bill by the call, some bill by the minute, some bill by the agent – but all do eventually bill for something. If your answering service bills by the minute, you can waste a lot of time and money in just your live greeting alone. Here are some ways a custom recorded greeting can help keep extra cash in your pocket:

• While answering services will charge you for the time the operator is on the phone, most services won’t charge you extra to add a custom recorded greeting on your line.
• Having a custom recording that clearly states your company name can help deter wrong number calls, which you could otherwise be charged for.
• Auto attendant features like IVR can help cut down on the amount of automated phone calls getting through to an operator. Since robots can’t press 1 to be connected, they won’t eat up your bill. Eureka! A solution to a super annoying problem.

#3. They can provide service information.

As long as you provide your answering service with basic FAQs like where you’re located, your business hours, your website, etc, your virtual receptionists can easily help answer callers’ questions. However, an upfront greeting can also do this, which could help cut down on operator time. For example:

• Greetings are a great tool for providing information that your callers NEED to know.
• Using your service solely after hours? Use the greeting to state your business hours.
• Temporarily located somewhere else? Let the recording tell all your callers!
• Do you have a common question that eats up your minutes? Your greeting can give callers the answer before even getting to an operator.

#4. They can relay different messages.

Sometimes, life happens. You may have to turn on your answering service at a time you wouldn’t normally, and your callers may be surprised to get someone other than Rachel at the front desk. However, you can use a feature like a customized greeting to your advantage in situations just like this. For example, you can have your greeting updated to say something like: “The office is closed due to inclement weather” or “The office is currently experiencing an outage. Please hold for an operator.”

Being able to have your greeting customized and updated whenever you need it can help avoid confusion for the callers and awkward conversations with the operator. Many times callers will know they’ve reached an answering service and ask the operator why the office isn’t answering. Having a statement in your upfront recording can help answer these questions.

Pro tip: Some answering services may even be able to add different custom greetings to your line depending on the day or time. For example, you may want one greeting played during business hours, and another played for after hours. 

#5. They can show your company’s personality

Every business is different, and your personalized greeting can help set you apart from the competition. Let’s say a potential customer calls two restoration companies. The first offers a bland, generic greeting, which is fine, but boring. The second includes a quirky, bubbly introduction that grasps the caller’s attention right from the beginning. From this interaction alone, the caller decides to go with business #2 simply because their greeting made them smile. Other examples include:

• Use the upfront recording to reflect how your company is run. Are you a fun start up tech company? Are you a suit and tie business? You can easily show your style through your custom greeting alone.
• Does your company have a motto or slogan that is well known to consumers? Put it in your custom greeting!
• Many people may want their operators to open the call with “It’s a great day at ___”, but it doesn’t always come off as natural as it would from someone in your own office. You won’t have this problem with a recorded greeting since it is said with the same tone and enthusiasm every time.

Download 15 Professional Business Voicemail Greetings

While custom greetings are great, we created some generic short voicemail greetings in .MP3 and .WAV format you can download to use in your own business voicemail system.

Greeting: Thank you for calling. We will be with you in just a moment.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: For quality assurance, this call may be recorded.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Thank you for calling, for English Press 1. Para Espanol, oprima dos.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Thank you for calling. Please hold for the next available agent.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Thank you for calling. Due to the high volume of calls, wait times may vary. You can also check online for updates. Please hold and we’ll be with you in just a moment.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Thank you for calling. Press 1 for Sales. Press 2 for Services or Press 0 to be connected to an operator.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Thank you for calling. Your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and an operator will be with you momentarily.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Thank you for calling. All of our agents are currently assisting other callers. Please remain on the line to speak with the next available agent.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Thank you for calling. Please press 1 to speak to a representative.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Thank you for calling. Due to the power outage, response times are delayed. Please hold and the next available representative will be with you shortly.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Thank you for calling. If you are calling to schedule an appointment, please press 1. For all other calls, please call back during regular business hours.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Due to the extreme weather, we are experiencing a high number of calls. Please hold and an operator will be with you in a moment.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Thank you for calling. Please remain on the line to speak to one of our team members.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: Thank you for calling. We’ll be with you in just a moment. For quality assurance this call may be recorded.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

Greeting: You have reached the after hours emergency line. If you are experiencing a true medical emergency, please hang up and dial 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. For all other calls, please stay on the line and someone will be with you momentarily.

• Download MP3
• Download WAV

The post 5 Reasons Why Your Answering Service Line Needs An Auto Attendant appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

Since most companies can’t afford to staff 24/7, businesses who operate outside of traditional office hours need a reliable on-call scheduling system to engage employees after hours. If you’re not staffing around the clock, on-call management is something that’s handled amazingly well by answering services. If you’re already using an answering service for your on-call dispatch, congratulations! Check out our 5 tips below to take steps toward an error free on-call management system.

#1. Keep Your Schedule Updated in Advance

Whether you’re working with an answering service or not, keeping your on-call schedule updated in advance is a must. Not only does it allow your staff to plan their evenings, it also eliminates the stress of scrambling for coverage at the last minute. Having your on-call schedule updated in advance ensures that the right person is always being contacted.

If your schedule is not current, your answering service may contact the wrong person, or maybe even no one at all, which could be a disaster. Other disaster scenarios include:

• Your employee telling the service they have the wrong employee and hanging up
• Having the wrong employee handling the request when it’s someone else’s responsibility
• The employee ignoring the call because they aren’t scheduled
• Customers being upset
• Inflated answering service invoices due to the agent scrambling to pass the message to someone

If possible, see if your answering service can set up alerts letting you know if your on-call is out of date or expiring soon. Often times, companies will update their on-call schedules internally and forget to notify their service of the changes.

Pro tip: See if your answering service allows you to update your on-call schedule for a few months in advance so you don’t have to worry about it each month!

#2. Keep Your Contacts Updated

In addition to keeping your on-call schedule updated,  you’ll want to make sure your employee contact information is up to date, too. For example, if someone leaves your company, or if people are new to the schedule, the service needs to be notified. In addition, while your staff members may stay the same, their phone numbers or emails may change, so you’ll want your answering service to stay up to date with that information as well. There’s nothing worse than for an answering service agent to reach the on-call just to have them say ‘I haven’t worked there in months.’

Pro tip: Doing monthly check ins with your answering service is a great way to make sure everything’s running smoothly and is also a great opportunity to make updates if necessary! 

#3. Switch Your Protocol At Night

While some businesses just use an answering service after hours, many businesses forward their calls throughout the day as well. For example, HVAC companies may use an answering service during the day in a roll-over capacity for calls they can’t get to. Typically, customers are alerted about these ‘office hour’ messages via text or email.

However, if your answering service is simply being a receptionist and texting or emailing messages during the day, it’s a good idea to have a true on-call protocol in place at night. After hours, instead of texting and/or emailing, you’ll want your service calling your employees. 100% of studies show it’s much harder to sleep through a phone call than an email. The quicker your staff members can respond to an emergency, the better your business looks, and the happier your customers will be.

#4. Make Sure You Have Back Up

If your on-call staff doesn’t pick up the phone, make sure you have a back up protocol in place. For example, if your answering service is instructed to call Linda one time, but she doesn’t answer, should they just leave a message and call it quits or should they try calling her again? If she doesn’t answer again should they move on to a secondary person?

For companies where receiving urgent messages after hours is crucial, back up plans are a must. We recommend having at least 1 backup in place for every on-call schedule so there are a minimum of 2 employees on-call any evening.

You should also have a backup employee that knows how to navigate the answering services oncall system. If you need to make an urgent change to your schedule and the office guru who knows how to work the system isn’t there, you’ll want someone else who will know how to make a quick change. Give other employees access to the on-call system and train them how to work the software so you won’t be up the creek in a pinch.

#5. Keep Your Staff in the Loop

Your staff should be familiar with how your answering service works, how calls are made, which number the on-call calls come from, etc.

• Know the number texts from the answering service originate from
• Make sure the answering service originating email address is set up as a safe sender
• Make sure your employees know the phone number the service will be calling from on transfers or any on-call dispatches

In addition, if you’re using an answering service for on-call dispatch, make sure your staff knows how the service works. If they happen to miss a call, can they call the service back and retrieve the message over the phone or is there an online portal that they can access to see the messages? Can they text the service to stop a reach out? Do they need to call the service to stop the reach?

• If your service has an app, make sure everyone has it so they can access messages
• Share the forwarding number with your employees so they can call in to the service if they miss a call

The post 5 Essential On-Call Best Practices appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

While the severity of each data breach will vary, one point remains the same; no one likes receiving  news that the company they’ve been paying for or working with has been hacked. In fact, just last year I received a letter from my doctor’s office regarding a data breach and I reacted how any normal person would – I panicked and immediately called my mom. Then, I called my doctor.

With millions of people affected each year from data breaches, customer service teams across the country are getting slammed with unexpected calls. The same way businesses would have a plan for potential weather disasters, companies should be proactive and plan ahead for the customer service nightmare surrounding potential data breaches. While a breach may never happen, you certainly don’t want to be up the creek without a paddle if they do. So, why are answering services the obvious go to solution? Let us break it down for you.

1. They Can Handle a Ton of Calls

Usually when people hear “data breach”, they panic and assume their identities are already stolen. Then, they contact you for an explanation. While all states require that businesses be transparent with their customers regarding breaches, some states have legislation that requires businesses to provide things like free credit reports or identity protection for a certain period of time after the data breach. For example, my doctor’s office provided free identity protection for a year after their breach. So, you may be receiving calls for that as well.

If you’re using an answering service to field data breach calls, it’s important to equip the service with all of the most up to date information regarding your business and the situation. The last thing you want is for the operators to get hit with hundreds of phone calls with no ability to answer questions. There are a few things you should do to prepare them, like:

• Try your best to keep them in the loop: Since a data breach could literally happen at any time, it would be hard to give your answering service enough notice for them to staff up accordingly to answer a high volume of calls. However, if you are solely using them as a back up in case a data breach occurs, they can prepare by setting your line distribution to the largest pool of operators available.
• Set up your call handling in advance: You’ll need to let the answering service know what to say to callers and how to answer questions. If you don’t prepare, then you’ll find yourself scrambling around trying to get things in order when you’re already in the midst of dealing with a big hiccup. However, assuming the data breach hasn’t happened yet, it can be difficult to prepare when you don’t exactly know what to prepare for. For example, you can’t give your answering service information on how the breach happened or what data was leaked if it hasn’t happened yet. So, it’d be best to add standard call handling and FAQs to start, and then fill in the rest of the information as needed.

Pro tip: If your business is required to provide some sort of free credit report or protection to your customers, you can set up specific call handling so the operators can assist callers with signing up for those services. 

2. They Can Save You Money

During a data breach, companies will inevitably lose customers, which can be a big hit especially for small businesses. By spending a little extra money each month to have a back up plan in place, you can have an affordable solution to a potentially major problem.  Not only will answering services help protect your brand and save you from losing a ton of business, they are also a much more cost effective alternative than paying your staff over time to stick around and answer calls.

In addition to being an affordable solution, many answering services don’t require long term contracts. So, if you only need to have your calls covered for a brief period of time, using an answering service that can be activated and deactivated quickly will be the most cost effective and efficient solution. With both per minute and per call pricing options available, you should be able to find a pricing plan that works for you and your business.

3. They Can Save Your Brand

Data breaches are crippling to any business, and can severely damage a company’s street cred. By acting as an extension to your business and providing amazing customer support, a virtual receptionist can help deescalate any situation and keep your callers happy. While your remote agents are busy on the battle field taking calls from unhappy customers, your in-office staff can focus on the bigger picture, like finding immediate resolutions and coming up with a plan for the future. Here are a few tips to make sure your callers get the proper assistance:

• Make sure your customers know which number to call: If you are outsourcing data breach calls to an answering service, you’ll want to make sure your customers know which number to dial at any given time. If they should be calling one number during the day, and a different number after hours, make sure that is clear to them. Put your number(s) in as many places as possible, like your website and various social platforms. It’s incredibly frustrating for someone who is just trying to get answers to feel like they can’t get in touch with anyone. During a time when your brand is vulnerable, you want to be as transparent and as easy to get in touch with as possible.
• Take advantage of outbound calling: Check if your service does outbound calling, which could really come in handy during a data breach. Instead of waiting for calls to come to you, placing calls to those affected will help you get ahead of the curve and address issues right away. While your customers probably won’t be happy about the breach, they’ll appreciate your honesty and may even thank you for reaching out to them first.

4. They Are Available 24/7

The greatest comfort in outsourcing is knowing that receptionists will be available 24/7. When you stop answering calls in your own office, the answering service can easily pick up where you left off and make for an easy transition.

No matter what kind of business you run, you should always be prepared for the worst, which means you should always have a live voice on stand by.

The post 4 Reasons Why Your Business Needs an Answering Service During a Data Breach appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

While most live operator services give you the ability to customize nearly every aspect of your account, there are some things answering services just can’t do as well as you can in your own office. Some of the things you do in-house, like answering complicated billing calls or reading MLS data to a prospect, aren’t going to translate well to an outsourced environment. Below are 6 real examples of requests our support team has received from customers, and how we’ve worked to find solutions.

Request #1: “I don’t provide _____ service, but I want to tell the caller that the on-call technician can’t come out for another 3 hours due to technical issues. I just don’t want it to look like I don’t provide _____ service.”

While we can definitely give callers specific time frames of when they should be expecting someone, this particular customer request is bad business.

The issues:

• First, the caller is being misled. If you don’t do the requested service, it’s better to be honest with the caller up-front and let them know.
• Second, what happens if the caller is cool with the 3 hour time frame? Since the business doesn’t handle these types of service requests, no one would be showing up in 3 hours, which would be bad. When we asked the client this, they advised that most people will simply hang up and move on to the next business. If the caller didn’t hang up and move on, they would call back later furious that no one has shown up to help.

What should happen:

An answering service should be direct and honest with the caller. If a business doesn’t do something, the operator should say something like:

“I apologize, but unfortunately we do not provide that service. Thank  you for calling and enjoy your day.”

If the response isn’t something scripted, it’s always helpful to have a list of services in the FAQs to reference to avoid this conflict, or even just a list of services you get asked about a lot but don’t perform. Having the virtual receptionists weed out these calls will not only lower the call volume (and invoices), but it will also help avoid unhappy callers.

Request #2: “Can you please say ‘Mr. ___ is in a meeting right now?’ I don’t want it to seem like I am using an answering service.”

This is actually a fairly common request that we receive, and we always advise against it.

The issues:

• Since we are a 24/7 answering service, if someone calls in at 2am or on Christmas Day, we would still be telling them you’re in a meeting.
• While we can put in different responses based on the day and time a call is received, the ‘in a meeting’ response 100% of the time typically doesn’t seem legit. In addition, the caller may ask to hold until the person is available.
• If a caller hears this, they may assume their call will be returned as soon as the meeting is over.

What should happen:

We’d want to keep the response simple and straight forward so that no one thinks they’re being deceived. Our agents would typically say something like:

“I would be happy to help you reach Mr. ___. I just need to gather some basic information so I can have your call returned.”

Then, we can proceed to gather the caller’s information. This way, the caller is speaking to a live person so they feel like they are being heard without being given false information. Plus, if every time they call in they’re told the person they are calling for is in a meeting, they may start to become suspicious – or jealous since everyone loves meetings!

Request #3: “Can the operators search through a Google Sheet that contains every zip code in every state in the country? The on-call schedule we want you to use will be updated on the sheet.”

Google Sheets is a great tool, but there’s a right time to use it – unfortunately, this isn’t one of those times.

The issues:

• Manually sifting through a monster document like this can result in the answering service operator selecting the wrong on-call person.
• Having someone page through a big document takes time, which would make for an unpleasant experience for the caller.
• Longer calls means higher invoices, which would make for an unpleasant invoice for the business owner.

What should happen:

The best course in this case is to program this information into the script. It would take some pretty extensive programming, but ultimately it’s the only way to make sure callers are assisted accurately. If the answering service leaves it up to chance, a technician in Oregon could get an on-call dispatch from a customer in Ohio. That would stink.

Request #4: “I’d like to update the operator’s greeting to: ‘Smile! It’s a great day at _______!’ or ‘Thanks for calling the region’s #1 _______ provider where customer service is our number one priority.”

Having an enthusiastic greeting is an awesome idea, and can definitely set a business apart from their competition. With that being said, having a remote receptionist deliver it with consistency may not work.

The issues:

• If a greeting is outside of the norm, your virtual receptionist may trip over their words making something supposed to be enthusiastic sound ultra unprofessional.
• Because virtual receptionists are deliberate when they read a script, the greeting may not come off as enthusiastically as it would coming from someone in the actual office.
• Since answering service agents handle thousands of different phone calls a day, they can’t practice each individual greeting. So, a custom greeting like this may sound unnatural.

What should happen: 

If a client wants to parallel the greeting they use in their own office, it’s best to add this as a custom recorded message on the line instead. That way, the answering service can eliminate the chance of human error and can continue providing amazing live support.

Request #5: “I need the operators to take payment information. But first, they need to read the entire terms and conditions from my website so the caller can verbally accept them.”

One of the great things about our service is that our virtual receptionists do have the ability to process payments. However, there are some restrictions when it comes to implementing this.

The issues:

• If we are taking payments, our secure call center technology allows us to turn off call recordings prior to accessing the website so that credit card information stays protected. Because of this, there would be no proof that the caller agreed to the terms.
• If we were to put the terms and conditions into the script, it would be a disaster. We definitely do not recommend inserting large blocks of text as it’s a lot for the agents to scroll through and read.
• Terms and conditions are generally pretty lengthy. Having our operators read them to every caller would drastically increase the call length and jack up your invoices. Yikes!

What should happen:

If the caller needs to agree to a long list of terms and conditions to make a payment, we recommend that the operator refer the caller to the website to make the payment or complete the order on their own.

Request #6: “I have a Google Doc with a list of people that you are allowed to say I will call back ASAP. The operators will need to search through it because otherwise I want you to let the caller know I’ll call them back in 5 days.”

Google Docs is another great tool to reference for general information. However, it is not the most helpful when it comes to actual scripting.

The issues:

• Let’s say John Smith calls in. He’s given that time frame of “ASAP”, but the client was actually waiting for a call from John Smythe. Whoops!
• If an operator is going right to this Google Doc from the jump, they probably did not have the chance to verify the caller’s name, which could have lead to the mistake mentioned above.
• We recommend not having scripted actions handled outside of the script itself.

What should happen: 

If a client asks for this, they’re probably having a hard time catching their breath at the office and keeping up with their return calls. We can implement a “Multiple Times Calling” path so that messages are notated differently. This way, the client can log into their portal and filter call results to prioritize call backs!

As an answering service who excels in providing great customer support, we welcome all requests! We will always be transparent with you and let you know when something will not work. After all, our #1 goal is to make sure someone is always there to answer your phone and represent your business well. If there’s anything you do in your own office, our support team will always work to find a creative solution to suit your business needs!

The post The Report From Support: Best Practices for Strange Outsourcing Requests appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

Whether you have a bookkeeper or an accountant handling your financial transactions and producing financial statements, or if you’re trying to juggle the numbers on your own – you need to know what’s going on with your company’s financial health. So, what do you do? To help owners and entrepreneurs alike, we’ve created the Ultimate Guide to Small Business Accounting. This eBook is perfect if you are working with a bookkeeper or an accountant and need an understanding of their responsibilities.

In this eBook, we cover the fundamentals of small business accounting:

• Basic Knowledge: Learn about The Balance Sheet, The Profit and Loss Statement and The Cash Flow Statement, which are the 3 classic financial measures that all businesses can be judged by and that should be included in your business plan.
• Accounting Methods: Learn about the two types of accounting methods and determine which will be most suitable for you and your small business. The Cash Basis may be easier to understand, but the Accrual Basis is mandatory by the IRS if you hold inventory.
• Activities & Timelines: See what tasks need to be done on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual timeline in order to keep  your accounting practices streamlined and organized. For example, daily tasks would include recordings all transactions, whereas monthly tasks would include bank reconciliations and payroll management.
• Types of Taxes: Learn about the types of taxes you will have to plan for as a small business owner. Some examples of taxes could include income taxes, employment taxes and various federal forms.
• Required Documents for Tax Preparation: From basic financial statements to meal and travel expenses, figure out what documents you’ll need to have prepared for your accountant.
• Tax Mistakes to Avoid: Taxes can be tricky, but this section will help steer you in the right direction in terms of mistakes to avoid when filing your taxes, like combining personal and business expenses or not choosing the right business structure (choosing to set up as an S Corporation instead of a C Corporation).
• Bank Reconciliation: In order to better understand your cash flow position, bank reconciliations need to be done on a daily or monthly basis, and can help you locate and correct errors.
• Top 5 Do’s and Don’ts: A summary of the top 5 do’s and don’ts for new business owners.

Please click on this link “The Ultimate Guide to Small Business Accounting” to download the ebook.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Small Business Accounting appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

Since answering services are considered to be business associates, they adhere to all guidelines outlined by HIPAA as they would have access to your patients’ private health information (PHI). For example, if your patient calls your number that is forwarded to the answering service and the receptionist jots down their name and medical issue – that’s PHI. A business associate would include any person or company that produces, receives, communicates or maintains PHI on behalf of a covered entity, like a health care provider.

If your answering service says they are 100% HIPAA compliant, then there are some things they shouldn’t be doing, as well as some things that they should be doing. We’ve listed both sets of points below.

5 Things Your Answering Service Should Never Do:

To maintain HIPAA compliance, there are 5 things a HIPAA compliant answering service should never do. If you experience any of the below, then you’re in danger of being able to answer the question ‘How your answering service can get you fined by HIPAA.’

#1: Your Answering Service Shouldn’t be Texting Protected Health Information

If your answering service is texting you protected health information, they could be violating HIPAA regulations. Unless your business is not governed by HIPAA, you need to make sure that all patient information stays protected. While cell phones may have passwords, they can easily be stolen or hacked into, thus revealing patient information that would no longer be protected.

If you are receiving texts from your answering service, they should either be encrypted, or they should simply be alerting you of a new message, devoid of any PHI. At which point you should be able to log into a secure web portal or a secure mobile app to access those messages. If your answering service does not have a web portal or a mobile app, usually you would be able to call them back to retrieve the information verbally.

An easy way to encrypt your text messages would be download the app called Signal, which is available for both iPhone and Androids. However, in order for you to maintain encryption and security, both parties would have to have the app. So, this may be difficult if you’re working with a third party like an answering service.

Pro tip: While you may get written consent from a few patients to disclose PHI via text between yourself and the service, you may not get it from others. So, you’d have to see if your answering service has the capability to distinguish between those messages. Otherwise, they’d all have to be sent in a uniform format. 

#2: Your Answering Service Shouldn’t be Emailing Protected Health Information

In addition to texting, answering services should not be emailing any protected health information either. So, if your answering service is emailing you, the message should either be encrypted or it should just have a standard alert which instructs you to log into your secure portal to view the information (or to call back for further details). If the patient has given written consent that information can be sent via email from the service to your practice without being encrypted, you’ll want to check with your service to see if emails for those specific patients can be customized accordingly. Otherwise, they’ll also have to be sent in a uniform format.

Similarly, this also goes for your answering service’s customer support department. Sometimes, if calls get escalated or if customer service needs to intervene, they may send a follow up email that contains the caller’s information. However, this could also be considered a HIPAA violation. A good support team will direct you to your online portal to view the details of the call.

The only way to really ensure that your emails are protected would be to have them encrypted. Some standard encryption methods are:

• Transport Layer Security: TLS encryption is composed of two layers; the TLS Record Protocol and the TLS Handshake Protocol. The Record Protocol provides a safe and secure connection, while the Handshake Protocol allows both users to verify each other and to agree to a specific encrypted system before any data is passed through.
• Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions: S/MIME encryption is a method of encryption that uses two types of keys, both private and public, which provides a specific function to protect your data. In addition, it allows you to add a digital signature to your emails which would verify  you as the legitimate sender.

#3: Your Answering Service Shouldn’t be Paging Protected Health Information

Like texting and emailing, sending PHI to an alpha pager would also be considered a HIPAA violation. Since the information that is passed through to the pager is not encrypted, the data is not safe. In addition, alpha pagers are not protected by any sort of password, like a cell phone could be. So, if you happen to set your alpha pager down somewhere outside of your own office, there is a chance it could be stolen and the messages on it would be susceptible for anyone to see.

While sending messages via alpha pager is a no-go, there are some HIPAA compliant pagers on the market which would be appropriate to use. However, as paging is no longer a common form of communication, your coverage area may be limited.

#4: Your Answering Service Shouldn’t be Leaving Protected Health Information on a Voicemail

If you’re having your answering service reach out for urgent situations, there is room for HIPAA violation here as well. If your answering service does not reach you, they should either leave no message, or at the very most they should leave a call back number so you can contact them back to retrieve the information. If your answering service is leaving patient information on your voicemail, they are violating HIPAA.

Essentially, your answering service should not be leaving PHI on any sort of device that is susceptible to data breaches, whether it be as a text, email, page, or voicemail. Ironically, though, sending patient information via fax is considered to be HIPAA compliant.

Pro tip: Similarly to emailing and texting, you may be able to leave PHI on a voicemail if the patient consents. Again, this information would be passed between the answering service and the physician, and the patient would not be involved. If they are okay with this transaction of information, you’d have to check with your service to see if they can customize protocols accordingly. 

#5: Your Answering Service Shouldn’t be Giving out Medical Advice

While this one isn’t necessarily a violation under HIPAA, it is still a huge liabilty for any medical provider. Under no circumstances should your answering service be giving out medical advice to patients, as they would be doing it on behalf of a trained physician but with no real consent from the doctor to do so.

For example, it would be fine for one person to give another person advice to take Aspirin if they had a headache, but not as an entity that is talking to patients on behalf of a medical provider. This is because the patient could later come back and say that “Joe from the answering service advised me to take this” even though that person didn’t have any background knowledge of the patient’s health history.

Really, the only medical advice your answering service should be giving is to call 911 if it’s a true medical emergency. Otherwise, they should inform the caller that they cannot give advice since they are the answering service, but that they can take down their information to have their call returned by a licensed medical physician.

5 Things Your Answering Service Should Always Do:

While there are several things that your answering service shouldn’t be doing in terms of HIPAA, there are also a handful of things that your answering service should be doing to keep your patients’ information safe. For example:

#1: Your Answering Service Should be Secure

Ensuring that your answering service is secure is very important to maintain the privacy of your patients.

Having a secure call center is more than just having secure systems and software. This also means that the operators handling your calls should be in paperless environments so that they cannot write any information down, and they should also be free of their cell phones while at their computers. This eliminates the chance of them texting or taking pictures of private health information.

#2: Your Answering Service Should Have HIPAA Training

Your answering service should have at least one HIPAA Compliancy Officer on site that is available to train all of the agents handling your calls on current HIPAA regulations. While the agents may not need an extensive 6 week course on HIPAA, they need to at least know the basics so that they can handle your calls properly.

Additionally, your answering service’s HIPAA Compliancy Officer should be kept up to date on all HIPAA regulations via training seminars and be able to provide periodic training to the operators so that they can be kept up to date as well.

#3: Your Answering Service Should Have Procedures in Place for Data Breaches

In the event that data is breached, your answering service should have a plan in place and they should be as transparent as possible with their customers. For example, if one or all of their systems gets hacked into, the first thing they should do is have their IT team shut everything down so that no further access can be made into the system except for them. Then, they should try to determine what information was stolen, if any.

From there, they should send out correspondence to all of their customers that it affected letting them know of the breach, what information was or could have been stolen, and ways to go about protecting their information from here on out. For example, allowing your customers to purchase identity protection on your dime for a certain time frame after the incident occurred (e.g.,  6 months to a year) is a great way to say that you’re sorry. While it doesn’t fix what happened, it’s a step in the right direction and may encourage your customers to stay customers.

#4: Your Answering Service Should Enter into a Business Associates Agreement with Your Practice

An important step of partnering with an answering service is to enter into a Business Associates Agreement (also known as a BAA) so that you can disclose protected health information (PHI) securely under HIPAA. Once the contract is signed, you are then able to disclose PHI with your answering service safely.

However, if your practice is not protected under a BAA and your answering service happens to violate HIPAA, your medical practice could be held liable and face up to a million dollars per violation. So, imagine if you get 10 calls in one night, and each one incurred a violation, you’d be facing up to 10 million dollars in fines and a severely damaged reputation.

#5: Your Answering Service Should Have a Secure Means of Retrieving Your Messages

As stated briefly above, your answering service should give you a secure method to retrieve your messages. Typically, services will give you access to a secure online portal and/or a secure mobile app that you would have to log into to retrieve message details. In some cases, you may even be able to add other users that would be able to log into the portal as well in the event you are not in or if there are several physicians that should be receiving the messages as well.

If your answering service does not offer an online portal or a mobile app, then usually you would be able to call them  back to retrieve the messages verbally. However, keep in mind that this may be considered billable usage on your line so it’s important to confirm those details prior to signing up, in case that will not work for you and your practice.

The post The Top 5 Ways Your Answering Service May Be Violating HIPAA. appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

So, what are the criteria for determining if an answering service is the best? If it’s expensive, is it worth it? If there are no reviews, can you trust it? If the service is all sunshine and lollipops for  one small business, will it be the best choice for yours? There are so many questions to ask, but still no one to guide you in the right direction – until now. So, how do you find the crème de la crème, the Cadillac of all call handling, the best of the best of all answering services? Read on to find out.

#1. Proficient & Happy Operators

Yes, a good answering service is more than just good operators. However, without good operators you don’t really have a good answering service, so it’s important that the service excels in keeping it’s most important asset, the operators, happy. If a company doesn’t adequately train their operators, then you can assume they don’t really care about quality. Not only should agents go through on-boarding and ongoing training courses, they should also be well taken care of. This means that they should be paid sufficiently, their issues or concerns should be heard, and they should love their job.

Being an operator is a super tough gig. Imagine taking a call and passing along a simple message (like first name, last name, and email), then on the next call you’re navigating someone’s calendar you’ve never seen before to try and schedule an appointment.  Because of unnatural gear shifting like this, the industry as a whole usually has a pretty poor attrition rate, or staff turnover rate. However, if a company takes the time to make sure their operators are happy and heard, then the agents are less likely to leave. When they are less likely to leave, the company isn’t wasting resources training new people, which means less errors. And, the longer an employee works at a company, the better they get at their job.  Essentially, happy operators = happy callers, happy callers = happy customers, and happy customers = a booming business.

We recommend asking about the attrition rate with any answering service you consider hiring. Need a jumping off point? The turnover rate, on average, for all businesses in the United States is around 15%. By comparison, the average attrition rate for an answering service / call center industry business is over 30%, almost double the national average, with rates reported up to 50%. When shopping around, you’ll want to make sure you’re contracting with an answering service that is below or around the 30% range.

Pro tip: Agents who are knowledgeable about the industries they answer for are more likely to capture leads as opposed to agents who are unfamiliar with the subject. So, it’s a good idea to place test calls to not only hear how they sound, but to see what they know about the topic. However, keep in mind that operators should not be giving advice in any field (medical, legal, etc.)

#2. Flexible Pricing

The best answering service doesn’t mean it’s going to be the cheapest or the most expensive, but it will have a variety of pricing options available to suit how you plan on using it. Usually, services will bill either by the minute or by the call, with some services offering both pay by the call and pay by the minute pricing models. A service that charges a flat rate or one that only has a few plans is probably not going to be super cost effective, as your usage most likely won’t fall into the plan allotment. No two businesses are alike, and a great answering service will understand that and model their pricing packages accordingly.

You also need to consider that your usage every month will probably differ, so the plan you are on in one month may not be suitable in other months. For example, landscaping companies may have high usage during the spring and summer months, but may have low usage during the fall and winter months. So, as your usage fluctuates, your answering service should fluctuate with you.

In addition, the best answering service is going to want to help you save money, not force you to spend more on minutes or calls you won’t use. Answering services that allow your unused minutes or calls to roll over into the next month, or services that allow you to upgrade (or downgrade) anytime to a plan that will better fit your needs are the services you should be looking for. Some services will make you choose a plan and stick with it via a yearly contract, whereas others will allow you to change plans as your volume changes. Essentially, billing should be transparent, flexible, and easy to understand.

#3. 24/7 Availability

Being the best means being available around the clock. When shopping around for a new service, you’ll want to check their availability. Do they only handle calls during business hours or are they available 24/7? You’ll also want to make sure that if they can handle calls 24/7, you’re not being charged extra. Some services will be available to answer your calls on weekends or holidays, but may charge you an extra fee, whereas others will not charge you.

In addition to making sure your calls are covered 24/7, you’ll want to check their customer support availability as well. If your answering service only provides support Monday through Friday, but you have an urgent issue over the weekend, how are you to get help? Will they reply via email or do you need to wait until Monday? Do they offer self help tools for you to make adjustments and remedy the issue on your own? Is there a helpdesk for you to reference in a pinch?

#4. A Variety of Features

Sure, you want your answering service to answer calls, but is that it? The best answering service is going to do a lot more than just answer your phones, way more:

• Outbound Calling: Answering services answer calls. But did you know they can do outbound calling as well? I know what you’re thinking – “Why would I need outbound calling if I’m not a telemarketer?” Well, telemarketers aren’t the only businesses that make outbound phone calls on the regular. For example, medical offices make outbound calls every day to remind patients of upcoming appointments, and property management and/or real estate companies make outbound phone calls to people who have expressed interest in buying, selling, or renting a home. Even HVAC companies make outbound calls to remind people of upcoming seasonal cleanings or expiring service contracts. So, if you have leads to call or customers to remind, then outbound calling may be a beneficial feature to use with your answering service!
• Appointment Setting: If you’re too busy to schedule appointments yourself, have your answering service do it for you. Many answering services can schedule appointments, but the best answering service will give you different scheduling options. For example, SAS can schedule appointments on your website, on our own scheduling software, or on a web based application like Google Calendar. Other services may even be able to log right into your scheduling software to set appointments, but there are some security risks involved if you decide to go that route.
• Online Portal/Mobile App: The best answering service will also give you access to some sort of online portal and/or mobile app that has all of your account data (including messages) stored in one place. Transparency rocks, and you should have on-demand access to your own data. The portal should be user friendly and easy to navigate, in addition to having multiple features within. For example, Specialty Answering Service’s portal allows you to download various reports, update call handling, listen to and download calls, rate operators, configure various apps, and update where your messages are sent, plus so much more.
• Emergency On-Call Dispatching: Many businesses use answering services to help field urgent calls after hours, so the best answering service will offer emergency on-call dispatching at no extra cost. What makes the service even better is if they allow you to update the schedule at a moment’s notice via an online portal or a mobile app. That way, you don’t have to waste time reaching out to the service when you can just update it yourself, especially if you’re in a time crunch.
• Customizable Call Handling: Being able to customize your call handling is super important. After all, no two businesses are the same, so a service shouldn’t limit you on what you can include. Of course, the service is going to know what works best for their agents, but a great service will work with you to make sure that they’re gathering all the necessary information in a way that will work for both you, the customer, and the agents handling the calls.
• IVR & Voicemail Options: An easy and efficient way to streamline calls is to add an IVR option to your line (e.g., press 1 for sales, press 2 for support). A bad service won’t want you to route calls to automation since they make their money from the time you spend talking to operators, but a good service will offer this option. This will allow callers to press the corresponding option to get them connected to the appropriate department or go direct to voicemail. With answering services, you can either have those options re-directed to departments within your own office, or you can set up multiple lines with your answering service to help keep calls organized. With respect to voicemail, you are usually able to set up a voicemail service where recordings can be emailed to you. While voicemail isn’t the most effective method of interacting with your customers, it’s always a good option to have if all else fails, and it will cut down on your live operator talk time, which is always a good thing for the budget friendly small business.
• App/CRM Integration: Apps are cool, and an answering service that offers app integrations is also cool by default. Many companies utilize customer relationship management (CRM) software to help keep track of and organize all of their client data. So, having an answering service that can help increase productivity by pushing caller information through to your CRM is a total bonus. Some services may only offer a few integrations, whereas others may have a whole list of apps that they can integrate with.
• Order Processing: An answering service that can process orders is a godsend for any eCommerce business. Customers usually go online to place orders themselves, but some people may need a bit more help, which is where an answering service comes into play. The best answering service is going to have agents who are able to go out to various websites and place orders in a timely fashion.
• PCI Compliance: If your service is processing orders and taking credit cards, you’re going to want to make sure they are PCI compliant. PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance means that ANY company who is processing or accepting payments has to maintain a secure environment. The agents handling the calls should be in a paperless environment, so they are not able to write down any information. In addition, if your service records calls, they should turn off recordings during the portion of the call where the credit card information is being provided.
• Bilingual Agents: Just because an answering service doesn’t offer bilingual agents, doesn’t mean they stink. However, offering bilingual support is a huge come up and can set one service apart from others. If your company gets a lot of calls from Spanish speaking callers, you’ll definitely want to invest in a service that offers this feature.
• Dedicated Agents: A dedicated agent is an agent that is assigned to handle your calls specifically, and is a great feature for companies who need extra attention for their callers. Not every answering service will offer a dedicated agent program, and the pricing structure may vary from service to service. However, it does usually cost less to hire a dedicated agent then it would to hire another employee to work in house, especially since you don’t have to pay for any benefits.
• HIPAA HITECH Compliance: If you’re a medical practice, then using a service that is HIPAA HITECH compliant is crucial. After all, the receptionists will have access to private health information (PHI). Answering services that are HIPAA compliant will not send any patient information via electronic means (this means no texting or emailing you your messages). However, they can still fax them. The best answering service will store all of your messages in a secure online portal, and just send you an email or a text alerting you of a new message when one comes in. If you can, you should also see if you can enter into a Business Associates Agreement to ensure all of your patient information stays protected.

#5. Good Reputation

To put it simply, the best answering services will have great reputations. Checking reviews online can be a helpful insight into how a company operates and treats their customers. Of course not all reviews are 100% accurate, but they’re a good indicator of how a business is performing. For example, if all of the reviews for a company are negative, you can presume that the company itself isn’t doing too hot. On the other hand, if you’re looking at reviews for a company and they’re all 5 stars, you may want to question that as well.

No company is perfect, so if they only have raving reviews, they may be fudging their scores a bit. Some companies could have poor reviews removed, or they could have their own employees leave fake reviews. While this doesn’t happen often, it does happen. The best answering service will have a mix of good reviews, with some less than perfect scores strewn about. After all, you can’t keep everyone happy! If they do have poor reviews, it’s also a great opportunity to see how the company responds to those customers. Do they blow them off or are they willing to work with them to try and address their concerns?

#6. Minimal Hold Times

While no answering service can guarantee there will never be hold times, the best answering service will make it a priority to have the lowest holds possible. Lower holds for you mean more agents in the answering service sitting idle. While this isn’t good for profits, it’s great for customer happiness. Queue times can be avoided by monitoring past trends and staffing up accordingly during peak times, hiring more agents, changing distributions (e.g., simple accounts can be directed to a larger operator pool whereas more complicated accounts can be directed to a smaller group of agents) and asking customers to alert the service prior to sending over large call volumes, if possible.

Some level hold times are inevitable, so you’ll want to make sure that your answering service is not trying to mask hold times or deflect questions. Make sure the service is willing to produce a hold report for whatever period you need data on. Where the answering service industry average for hold times is about 72%, you’ll want to make sure the report reflects that hold times are above 80% on average.

Great answering services will also allow you to add some sort of custom automated greeting to your line that lets callers know they’ve reached the correct place and that someone will be with them shortly. If there are holds, having this automated greeting increases the chance that the caller will stay on the line instead of disconnecting.

#7. Amazing Customer Support

Customer support is the backbone of every company.  They are on the front lines of your business and are the mediators for your customers. The best answering service will put time and effort into making sure that their support team is top notch, otherwise what’s the point? Live answering services are powered by live people, and the living will make the occasional mistake – so a support team needs to be there and armed with recommendations and knowledge to remedy the situation.

Even if you have a great service, if your customers can’t get the support they need in a timely or efficient fashion, they aren’t going to stick around for long. Sometimes, a great customer support team is what keeps a customer around even if the service or product itself is error prone. Some things to look for in a good customer support team are:

1. Friendly, helpful team members.
2. Team members who are proficient and knowledgeable in what they are doing.
3. A support team that is easily accessible, meaning there are various channels to contact them on (phone, email, live chat, social media, etc.)
4. Quick response times.
5. An eagerness to resolve issues in a timely manner. We like to call this “one phone call resolution.”

#8. Efficient Script Development

Similar to great customer support, the best answering services are going to get you started off on the right foot, or the right voice! An intake specialist, or often a sales representative, is going to take the time and carefully discuss your businesses needs and goals before the account is programmed, and before the receptionists answer their first call on your behalf. The intake specialists’ goal is to make sure that the account is set up how you envisioned. A good intake team will take extra time to work with you to refine your call handling, while a poor intake team will rush through the process. This could result in errors, unhappy customers, and an eventual loss of business. A good intake team will ask you questions like:

1. What type of calls will we be answering for? (emergencies, appointments, orders, etc.)
2. How do you want calls handled during business hours as opposed to after hours?
3. Are calls being transferred or is the service just sending messages via email/text?
4. If callers ask for you, what would you like us to tell them?
5. Should we say we are the answering service or would you like us to act like the receptionist?
6. Should we screen callers depending on if they are a new or existing customer?
7. What types of automation tools do you use, like CRM software of lead management software?

#9. Free Trial

Last, but not least, if a company is confident with their product or service, they’re going to let you try it for free. Trial periods could last anywhere from 1 week all the way to a month, but usually fall somewhere in the middle. The best answering service will work with you diligently during this time frame so that they can iron out any kinks you may come across. Of course they’re going to want you to eventually sign up for service, but what they want more than that is for you to be happy. Happy customers leave positive reviews, and recommend your service to others. So, one happy customer could really lead to 10 more.

The post 9 Characteristics of the Best Answering Services appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

#1: Lead the way with a custom greeting!

Do you have a business name that’s a little difficult to pronounce? Maybe it’s so complicated, even you get tongue-tied trying to say it. If that rings true, then place the company name in a recorded opening greeting instead of having the operators say it. Even better, have the greeting professionally recorded to really wow your callers.

• A recorded greeting means customers will immediately know that they’ve reached your office, and your business name will sound the same on every call.
• Customize your recording with an advertisement, a professional tone, something a little more upbeat, or even an English accent!

#2: We’re at your “answering service.”

When callers think we are your receptionist, they may expect the operators to have a certain understanding of your products, services, policies and procedures. There are always a few basic FAQs listed in your account to help the operators, but allowing us to represent you as an answering service is the ideal situation for both operators and callers alike.

• Letting callers know they’ve reached the service sets the tone for a more relaxed call flow and will help disengage callers who normally push for answers.
• Your customers may not receive the immediate answers they’ve requested, but they’ll have peace of mind knowing that their message will reach the correct person or department.

#3: Keep your FAQs short and sweet.

Frequently Asked Questions can empower operators and help move calls along. You may be thinking, the more FAQs the operators have, the better they’ll be able to answer customer questions, right? Wrong. Having the operators field a bunch of questions may sound like a great idea, but the more questions they have to weed through, the longer calls will take, and the more likely customers will become frustrated.

• Some things are better off explained by you and your staff, and it’s really is okay to let callers know that the appropriate party will get back to them.
• Make your FAQs as clear and concise as possible. When operators can confidently assist your callers, they’ll feel more at ease answering your calls.

#4: The best calls begin with the right questions.

There is usually a primary reason why your customers need to reach you. With that idea in mind, updating your live greeting to triage callers’ requests will steer the call in the right direction from the get-go. For example, an after-hours HVAC contractor may want the operator to say, “Are you calling for emergency service?” Similarly, a medical practice might open with, “Are you calling to schedule an appointment?”

• The more efficiently we can approach your calls, the smoother the operators can transition through your script.
• The end result is less overall usage, lower monthly bills, and an increased number of satisfied customers!

#5: Just the basics, please.

Keep your script simple. If you are utilizing an answering service to screen callers and determine which leads to call back, then stick to the basics you’ll need to get the conversation going. While asking everything from blood type to favorite pasta may seem like a good idea in theory, it’s really not. More questions mean more time spent on each call, which means a higher bill.

• If your answering service is asking for an abundance of information, callers may assume that the operators have in-depth knowledge of your products and services.
• It’s a good idea to whittle your call script down to the key questions you’d like us to ask. We’ll collect your basic requirements and leave the heavy lifting to your experts.

Keeping your protocols simple and taking advantage of recorded greetings and voice talent are some of the ways your company can improve it’s outsourcing and help create the best answering service for your callers. Specialty Answering Service offers a treasure trove of experience and can give you the best suggestions to make sure we’re creating the best experience – it’s simply a matter of letting us guide you to creating an experience that will dazzle, instead of deflate.

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