You don’t need to waste months auditioning your answering service to find out if they’re helping you grow. In reality, you should know within a few weeks if they’re going to be a good fit. There are certain things to consider when creating your pros and cons list as you assess if they’re working for you, or against you. After reading this article, you’ll fully know if your answering service fits your needs, or it’s time to go on another date.

#1. They’re solving a problem

It’s important to know what problem you were trying to solve when you hired your answering service, and if the service is helping you achieve those goals. Here are some common goals customers have when hiring an answering service. If you see your goal in the list below, ask yourself if the service is helping, or hurting:

• You want to filter out unwanted telemarketing calls
• You want to save money by not having to hire full time staff
• Your in house staff are too busy answering calls and are unable to focus on other tasks
• You want to reach a larger customer audience with bilingual support
• Too many leads are being missed after hours, on weekends or holidays
• You want to increase response time with your customers

#2. They get messages to you in a timely manner

The primary goals of an answering service is to handle customer communication on your business’s behalf, and to make sure those inquiries and requests reach you successfully – but not all answering services are created equal. Some systems rely on the operators to send the message manually, while others will dispatch a message when the call is saved or when the caller and the callee have both hung up. If you’re waiting on an agent to remember to send you a message after a call is over, human error could be affecting how long you’re waiting around to get messages. If you’re relying on a system that only sends messages a few times an hour based on a scheduled system task, you could be missing important leads.

Waiting around for minutes or hours to receive your messages means you’re probably going to miss out on some important business opportunities. For well-established, enterprise-level organizations, maybe that’s not such a big deal. But if you’re a small business owner or you’re just starting out, seconds matter! A few minutes wait, and a new lead may become another number to toss in the circular file. The faster your answering service can send your messages, the faster you and your team can prioritize and act on them.

If your answering service sends you messages automatically as soon as the call hangs up, you’re on the right track.

#3. They’re saving you money

No matter how big or small your business is, managing and budgeting your finances is a crucial aspect of running a profitable company. Answering services can help you cut costs and keep more dollars in your business going towards growth. If your current answering service offers the following 3 must have points, you’re in good company:

• Multiple plan options: Similar to phone companies, an affordable answering service will offer multiple plan options depending on how much call volume your business generally receives. For example, Specialty Answering Service has 8 different pricing plans to choose from on our pay-per-minute service, starting from the bare minimum all the way to a plan that covers over 10,000 minutes.
• Ability to increase or decrease plans as needed: In the business world, nothing is ever static. One month, you may be overwhelmed by a flood of calls, and the next month, there’s barely a trickle. An answering service that wants to help you save money will allow you to increase or decrease your plan as needed so that you’re never overpaying for service.
• Option to add automated support: If your answering service uses a pay-per-minute pricing structure, then every minute counts, especially for small businesses. If you notice your line is getting hit with robo-dialers or customers who just have simple questions, such as where your business is located or your business hours, those calls may be eating up unnecessary costs. Ask if your answering service can add automated support to your line with an IVR. Robo-dialers won’t be able to press 1 to get connected, and customers who just want to know what time you open will be able to listen to a recorded message.

If your service doesn’t have the appropriate plan for your volume, if you’re locked into a rate that you may not be able to maintain, or if you can’t add automation options to help cut down on live operator minutes, it may be time to look for a new service.

#4. They’re actually answering your calls

Another reason businesses look to use answering services to capture leads and handle customer communication is because they do not have the resources, budget or staff to be able to handle a high volume of phone calls themselves. However, if your answering service is frequently having trouble picking up the phone, then it may be time to shop around. For answering services, queue times, also known as answer rate, could be costing you business.

No answering service in the industry that can guarantee a 100% answer rate all the time. In fact, the industry standard is 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds. A familiar gauge that answering services use to break this down is the length of a ring, which is about 6 seconds. If an answering service tells you they usually answer a call in 3 rings or less, they are telling you that they usually answer a call before 20 seconds.

A good answering service will monitor their answer rates, look to previous data trends to make sure they are always staffed up accordingly, and continuously work to ensure that all calls are being answered in a reasonable amount of time. If they can’t always answer calls quickly, then they should have features that can be activated to help cut back on missed leads, like a call back system. For example, SAS offers both a Callback feature and a Queue Callback Feature, at no additional cost. Here’s how they work:

• Callback: This option will give callers the option to reserve their place in the queue. The length of time they may be on hold is announced in the beginning, and callers have the option to wait, or to hold their place in line and have an agent call them back when they become available. After hanging up, their spot in the queue is held and they’re automatically called back when an agent becomes available.
• Queue Callback: This option will dial your callers back automatically if they hang up while waiting for an agent to answer the call.

If you’re seeing more calls have come into your office telephone line vs. how many messages the answering service has taken, or you’re hearing reports from your clients about how long the service is taking to pick up the phone, you’ll want to contact your answering service to get a call report. If they aren’t answering your calls, they’re costing you opportunities, and your relationship with them may be a bust.

#5. They have enough features to grow with you

Most answering services can do a lot more than just answer your phones. As technology continues to evolve, message centers are able to incorporate features designed to make your life easier. There may be some features you don’t need now, but it’s great to know that as your business grows, you won’t need to look for another service to meet your evolvoing needs. Ideally, a solid answering service will provide:

• Access to an online portal or mobile app: For professionals who may not be in front of their computer all day, such as mobile veterinarians or plumbers, it’s important to have the ability to check messages or make updates on the go via an online portal or mobile app.
• On-call scheduling: If your answering service utilizes an on-call scheduling system, take advantage of this option for emergency dispatching, or even just for immediate lead capture with a warm transfer schedule.
• App integrations: Many business owners have adopted customer relationship management (CRM) systems to store and organize customer data. An answering service that offers app integration with popular CRM software will streamline the intake process by eliminating the need for your team to do double the work. And less time in data entry means increased employee productivity!
• Bilingual support: Having the ability to provide consistent support to your Spanish-speaking customers is a game changer, opening your doors to a much larger audience. If this level of customer care is important to the success of your business, look for an answering service that offers bilingual operators at little to no extra cost.
• Flexible scripting options: Every company is different, and any worthwhile answering service will take your specific needs into account when working with you to develop a fluid call script. For example, legal firms would likely require a different set of screening questions than an HVAC company, and medical practices may want to include a dispatching protocol for emergencies.
• SMS messaging: Having the ability to text back and forth with customers via your online portal is a great way to keep a channel of communication open at all times, and can even allow you to assist multiple customers at once!

#6. You can reach them if you have issues

No one likes dealing with a business whose customer support team is unresponsive. When there are issues, customers want to know that there is someone who can help them fix the problem as quickly as possible. Not only that, but representatives who are friendly and empathetic can turn a frustrated caller into a lifelong patron simply by putting themselves in the caller’s shoes. This goes for both the operators answering your inbound traffic and the customer support team managing your account.

If your answering service makes call recordings accessible, listen to interactions regularly to ensure that operators are delivering assistance with courtesy, care, and commitment to a positive outcome. A great service will always welcome your feedback, good or bad, and take immediate steps to resolve issues. When their customer support team can maintain quick response times, handle updates efficiently, and offer valuable suggestions that will provide the best possible experience for your callers, your search is over. That’s a perfect match!

If your service isn’t giving you the ability to listen to calls, or if you’ve had issues and you haven’t been able to get them resolved, it’s time to look for another service.

Choosing the right answering service for your business is an important, and sometimes lengthy process. To really know if they’ll work for you, you need to give them a try. Specialty, like other services, offers a trial period where you’ll be able to experience everything we offer, for free. It’s a great way to know how a new telephone answering service will work for you before you’re committed. The considerations above can help you to take the temperature of your current service to see if it’s working for you, as well as give you some questions to ask while you’re in the discovery process. You’ll want to make sure you choose the best service for your business model, as the right live answering service will be instrumental to the growth of your company.

The post 6 ways to tell if your answering service is the right fit for your business appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

We are actively monitoring the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and wanted to take a moment to share our Business Continuity plan with you.

As a telephone answering service and call center leader, we are honored to partner with thousands of businesses throughout the US and the world, providing reliable 24/7 customer service and sales support to power your growth. Despite the uncertainty of COVID-19, we are expecting to deliver the same level of amazing 24 hour customer service our clients have come to expect. We have the following measures in place to ensure your continued success with Specialty Answering Service:

Availability of our call center staff

Specialty Answering Service’s call centers and call center partners have employees in all departments who work remotely, as well as on-premise employees at the call center and answering service locations. Call center agents are equipped with technology that allows them to interact with your customers in a secure environment while working remotely. Through VPN technology and cloud based call center systems, our agents are able to represent your business 24/7, regardless of their location or the status of their physical work environment. We feel confident in our ability to provide you the level of continuity you would expect from a top answering service provider.

Availability of our software

For those customers that rely on our answering service mobile app or our online portal to monitor your account activity, our technical platforms are cloud based and built on enterprise level platforms like AWS, Twilio, Asterisk, and others. If there are failures in our systems, we have DevOps engineers available 24/7 to remotely troubleshoot.  For other technical service providers, such as the platforms our customer service team uses to track tickets, we partner with organizations that have always been forward thinking.

Thank you for entrusting your business to Specialty Answering Service. We are grateful for the role we play in your business and are as committed as we’ve always been to ensuring your success. We wish you safety and wellness during this challenge.

The post Our Commitment to Your Business During COVID-19 appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

With respect to medical offices, most every physician, hospital, or medical professional uses an answering service in some form or another. While answering services have tremendous advantages for medical offices – like enabling 24 hour communication, if they aren’t properly configured, they can have some disastrous disadvantages.  If you’re researching medical answering services, we’re here to help guide you in the right direction so that you can avoid potential pit falls and ensure your practice protected.

Avoid HIPAA Voilations

Pitfall: Violating a patient’s private health information.

Medical professionals have to strictly abide by HIPAA. Whether they are using an answering service or not, protecting patients’ private health information is key in maintaining a successful, trustworthy business. However, for medical professionals that are looking to outsource their patient communication to an answering service, many might wonder how safe their business is in the hands of a third party vendor, and how seriously that vendor takes HIPAA compliance.

How to avoid it: Make sure your service is taking HIPAA compliance seriously. HIPAA compliant answering services will have things like:

• A secure messaging system where no patient information gets transmitted over text, email or voicemail.
• A secure online portal where you can check your messages.
• A Business Associates Agreement with all medical customers.

Keeping Medical Data Secure

Pitfall: Hacked systems can lead to data breaches.

Around 1,300 businesses felt the repercussions of a data breach last year, with over 400 million records exposed. 9 million of those records were from the medical and healthcare industry alone. With more and more medical practices switching from paper records to electronic records, data breaches are becoming more common, which means the need for protecting patient information is at an all time high. Medical professionals need to make sure their own infrastructure is secure. And, if they’re using answering services, they need to ensure that the information the answering service keeps is just as secure.

How to avoid it: In order for your answering service to provide secure services to your medical practice and patients, they should have things like:

• Agents that don’t have access to their cell phones or writing implements at their work station.
• Building and rooms that are restricted with keys or pass-codes.
• Firewalled agent computers so outside websites are inaccessible.
• Unique user logins and passwords that can be tracked and assessed.
• Security policy that extends to PCI DSS compliance so that all credit card and payment information stays secured.

Giving Out Wrong Information

Pitfall: Operators giving out false information.

New always takes a bit of adjusting. Whether it’s getting used to a new computer or car, everybody needs some time to get acquainted. The same goes for answering service operators. Of course they won’t know everything right away, but the quicker they catch on, the better. If your patients are always being told “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure” by your answering service operators, they’re going to start to question the quality of your practice. What’s even worse, is if your operators play doctor and give out false information, which may result in a loss of business, or worse, a lawsuit.

How to avoid it: Equip your operators with frequently asked questions which will help them answer questions and provide up to date, correct information. And remember, any time something changes within your practice, keep your answering service in the loop. Here are some great FAQs to help keep your answering service on top of the game:

• Do you accept insurance? If so, what kinds?
• Do you offer a payment plan if patients don’t have insurance?
• Can patients pay out of pocket?
• What do you specialize in?
• Do you require referrals?
• What are your business hours?
• Do you have multiple locations?
• How long are appointments?
• Do you offer Saturday or evening appointments?

Giving Out Medical Advice

Pitfall: Operators giving medical advice.

Aside from suggesting they call 911 if they are having a true medical emergency, answering service operators should never try to offer medical advice to patients. The only people that should be providing medical advice are the people who are medically certified to do so. Having non-certified people dishing out medical advice can not only put your patients at risk, but can also put your practice in the hot seat for a lawsuit.

How to avoid it: Ask how the service handles situations where the caller asks the operator for advice. Ideally, the operators should have received training on stock responses. For example, saying something like the following will help you avoid issues: “I apologize, but I am not a trained medical professional so unfortunately I cannot provide any suggestions. However, I can certainly get this message over to the on-call doctor and have your call returned as soon as possible.” This response helps inform the caller that the operators are not certified medical professionals, but assures them that help is on the way.

Problems with Hold Times

Pitfall: Patients waiting too long to speak to someone during a medical emergency.

As much as HIPAA compliance and protecting patients privacy plays a part in running a successful practice, the happiness and overall well being of your patients is crucial. When patients in need are greeted with cold hold music instead of a warm voice, it can lead to issues. A patient’s health could deteriorate the longer they wait, and in some circumstances, may even prove fatal. If this happens while a patient is waiting on hold to speak to you or someone in your practice, you may be held liable for patient or medical negligence.

How to avoid it: Here are some ways you and your answering service can combat long queues:

• Making sure they use a system to help distribute calls evenly to appropriate operator groups.
• Always have a phrase like “If this a medical emergency, dial 911” in the greeting before the hold queue.
• Compare past trends in volume to plan and staff up accordingly.
• Encourage customers to provide notice in advance when they are expecting a large spike in volume.
• Provide on-demand hold reports so customers can get an in-depth look at their call activity.
• Utilize Virtual Queuing systems and control your customers experience. In a virtual queue, callers will be given the option for a call back, or they can choose to wait for the next available rep.

The post The Disadvantages of Answering Services for Medical Offices appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

Tip 1: Learn how to use your online portal and mobile app.

Even if you’re using a bare-bones service, there will likely be an online portal or a mobile app where you can access your messages. After you sign up, set aside a few minutes to visit the knowledge base and read through a tutorial or two on everything that you can get out of the software. Or, ask a customer support representative to walk you through it.

Some services allow you to forward messages directly from your portal, document follow up notes and add tags, create login credentials for your employees and assign specific calls for them to address and track, integrate your existing appointment calendar, and more. It’s one-stop shopping for business communication, and it’s well worth your time to make the technology work for you.

Tip 2: Listen to call recordings.

If you’re working with a service that offers call recording and you’ve taken advantage of that feature, then it is in your and your customers’ best interests to listen to as many calls as humanly possible. We’ve all been on the other end of an unfortunate customer service interaction. As a business owner, you can appreciate how valuable it is to know just what people think of your organization, whether positive or negative. Don’t wait around for someone to complain about a bad call.

Be proactive. Take the time to listen and assess the operators’ performance as well as the way your call script flows, questions that prospective customers often ask, opportunities for up-selling and cross-selling, and anything else that strikes you. Then, contact your service to provide feedback, tweak your script, and re-calibrate your FAQs.

Tip 3: Update your on-call schedule.

Ten out of ten CEO’s agree that businesses function much more efficiently when people are actually at work. That goes for both regular office hours and reliable, after-hours assistance. There are a slew of industries where after-hours or emergency service calls are where you earn a sizable portion of your income. And, if you use a 24-hour dispatching service, they’ll need accurate on-call schedules and contact details if you expect to give a customer a tow at 9pm or fix a busted pipe at 3am.

While your service may provide an online on-call scheduler and notify you when it’s expired, in most cases, you’ll have to send your technicians’ calendar via email, or call the programming team to manage changes. Naturally, if you forget to do this and the service calls the wrong tech, you’re going to miss an opportunity to win over a new customer with your stellar skills and round-the-clock availability. That being said, don’t forget to do this. Send in updated availability each month, and be sure to include the right mobile numbers and email addresses for your entire team.

Tip 4: Check your usage regularly.

For those business owners who have disposable income, feel free to skip this tip. For everyone else, read on. Paying more than you have to for your answering service is not built into anyone’s budget. If you want to keep costs down, get into the habit of reviewing your usage at the end of every week and prior to the beginning of the next billing cycle. This data is typically accessible through your portal and may also be available as auto-generated weekly reports that can be sent directly to your email.

If you’re going over your plan allowance, increasing to the next tier can help you avoid costly overage charges. If you’re having a slower season and don’t need as robust of an option, you can reduce your plan to something more cost-effective. In either case, get in touch with the billing department and ask them to retroactively adjust your rates while you’re still within a billing month. Save a few bucks, and spring for lunch. Your staff will thank you.

Answering services are chock full of user-friendly features, designed with you in mind. When you’re ready to step out of endless overhead costs, step into a streamlined virtual front desk, and take your customer support business model farther, faster.

The post 4 Ways to Stay Connected With Your Answering Service appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

Some people believe that message service or messaging service refers to an outdated concept of a switchboard born in the early days of telephony in the 1960’s and 1970’s, with the focus on transferring calls and nothing else. Others may argue the term answering service was minted to show the evolution from strictly transferring calls to transferring calls with the added abilities of message taking and dispatch. And still others believe that virtual receptionist is the union of call transferring, message taking, and traditionally receptionist type tasks like appointment scheduling and information relay (think of the interaction you’d have with a receptionist when you call your doctor’s office).

As a company fully staffed with all variety of telecommunication nerds, we’ve heard just about every term thrown out during tense discussions about message service, answering service, and virtual receptionist service like automated answering, 24 hour availability, order taking, live operator, 800 number, oncall management, remote support, blah blah blah. We’d be here forever listing all the industry jargon.

We’re outsourcing peacemakers, and to all of this we say “What’s in a name!” What does it matter what you call your outsourced receptionist provider? After all, there are thousands of answering service companies in the world, and each generally does the same thing and has the same capabilities. Many messaging services will focus on transferring calls, but will have the capability of building an on-call dispatch or adding front end automation to your live operator line. Answering services may showcase their ability to take messages and transfer calls, but they will also have the ability to answer FAQs, script out detailed call center type interactions, and integrate with the support software you’re already using depending on the provider. Virtual receptionist providers too may be able to provide everything a messaging service or answering service can provide.

Whatever these outsourcing providers prefer to label themselves as, they will all offer a ton of great communication solutions to help your small business meet the needs of your customers. Whether it’s help closing sales, or assistance meeting customer needs in a support capacity, the goals of outsourcing providers are the same:

• Make sure your inbound communication channels are available to your customers 24 hours a day: In an ideal world, customers would only call your business during the normal hours of operation. Unfortunately, that’s not our world. Customers will contact your business at any time, day or night, weekday or weekend, holiday or not, and expect to be helped. And what can you do? You can be there for them. While you probably can’t be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, an answering service can, and they can do more than just answer your calls. By outsourcing your live chat and email response to the service, your customers can be helped 24/7 through whichever channel is most convenient for them.
• Make it easy for your customers to talk to someone at your business: Making your customers fight their way through an automated maze is almost as bad as not being there for them at all. While automated support does come in handy, most people prefer to speak to a live voice when they call, and not your machine. Using an answering service means laying off your answering machine as your go-to customer service representative.
• Filter out calls that don’t need immediate attention: Customers will call for just about anything. And most of the time, their requests do not need immediate attention. For the calls that are not urgent, having your answering service or virtual receptionist screen and filter through them allows your in-house staff to prioritize their workload accordingly. Additionally, allowing your service to answer basic questions can help reduce the number of calls your staff have to return. When your employees are able to focus on the more pressing issues, they can address them quickly and efficiently, and continue providing the same level of service that your customers are used to.
• Ensure that new customers won’t look elsewhere, and current customers are happy: When potential customers have a hard time reaching a business, there’s not much holding them back from simply moving on to the next available option. In fact, 7 out of 10 callers will hang up if they reach voicemail. That means you have a 70% chance of missing out on new business by having your voicemail field your calls, which is not good for any company. While on-boarding new customers is important for any growing business, keeping your current customers happy is just as important. If your customers are having issues and jumping through hoops to talk to someone, they’re not going to be your customers for long. Answering services can not only help get more leads in your pipeline, but they can work to keep your current customers happy, too.
• Reduce your small business expenses: Running a business is expensive, especially if you’re just starting out. Instead of spending money to hire more staff in-house, hire a receptionist service for a fraction of the price. With a virtual receptionist, you don’t have to worry about adding another employee to the payroll, paying for overtime, benefits, bonuses, or insurance. And, answering services usually offer multiple pricing plans that can typically scale up or down with your business. So, you can increase plans during your busy season to ensure you have coverage, and then decrease back down to a lower plan during your off season.
• Keep your employees happier: Employees that feel like they’re drowning at work won’t be happy, won’t be working for you much longer, or both. An easy way to alleviate some of the pressure is by outsourcing simple tasks to your virtual receptionist. For example, while your in-house receptionists are busy checking clients in and getting them settled, your answering service can handle inbound traffic, and schedule appointments. Another great way to take some of the heat off your staff is by having your service take care of data entry. Some answering services can integrate with software you’re already using, which means the information they gather from your callers can automatically create or update your CRM or start tickets in your help desk. The less work  your employees have to do, the happier and more refreshed they will be when handling the more important tasks like closing deals and meeting with VIP customers.
• Unify business communication and ensure efficiency: Outsourcing companies can help you streamline communications by offering a single point of entry for contacting you. You want to make it as easy as possible for customers to contact you, and if you have separate numbers for sales, billing, and customer service, it can get confusing. With a single number setup, an outsourcing provider can take those calls and route them internally either with an IVR or live receptionist to make sure customers are getting transferred to the right department.
• Help your organization understand and analyze the types of calls they receive: Outsourcing gives you insight into the types of calls your business is receiving, which helps you better identify weaknesses in your organization. With all calls coming in through a single funnel and labeled properly, you’ll easily be able to identify trends, which you can use to modify processes, adjust articles in your knowledge base, or change your trajectory with some of your business processes. For example, if your answering service reports show an increase in calls about your pricing after you made a change in the formatting of your invoices, you’ll know pretty quick that the new invoice format isn’t resonating well and needs to be adjusted to reduce calls.

So we say, stop arguing about what to call outsourcing companies. It doesn’t matter what you refer to them as, as long as you consider how any one of these can positively impact both your business and your bottom line.

The post Answering Service vs. Message Service: What’s In a Name? appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

If your tax firm uses or is thinking about using an answering service to help with seasonal traffic, we’ve listed 4 quick ways to audit your service to make sure outsourcing is paying dividends both for your business, and for your clients.

#1. Make sure your service is live and updated.

First thing’s first. Make sure your answering service is live and ready to accept calls. If you’ve retained your answering service account in the off season in anticipation of forwarding to them during the tax blitz, you’ll want to place a test call to make sure the line is still active. Maybe you forgot to pay a bill and the line got deactivated. Maybe there was an oversight at the service and your account was cancelled. Just like you smell the milk before you pour it on your cereal, you’ll want to test the answering service line before you forward.

If you don’t have a service, don’t worry. The good news is you have no lines to test! The bad news is you have no one to answer your calls. But that’s going to change really quick when you sign up for a free trial.

If you cancel your account when tax season is over, give yourself some time to reactivate the account and run through your call handling protocols. SAS retains your call handling for up to a year after you leave service, but that isn’t true for every answering service. If your service doesn’t retain call handling, you’ll need to start from scratch, so definitely give yourself some time to get everything moving. Some questions you should be asking your seasonal answering service include:

• How long will my information stay saved?: If you only want to use your answering service during tax season, you will want to find out how long they can keep your information saved after you’ve left service. For example, SAS can keep deactivated scripts saved for about a year, but other answering services may wipe their systems after a month of inactivity. Using an answering service that can keep your information saved for at least a year would be helpful if you’re only planning on using them annually during tax season. Otherwise, it may be more trouble than it’s worth to keep going through the same process every year.
• Can I still access caller information and messages via my portal if my service is turned off?: If your answering service offers an online portal to retrieve messages, you may still be able to view information even when the account is not active. If you can’t access your information once the account is deactivated, you’ll want to make sure you send yourself all of the important data prior to cancelling.
• How long does it take to reactivate my account?: Each answering service is different, so this answer will vary. Some services can get you up and running in a matter of minutes, while others may need 48 hours or more. If your service has your script saved from last year, it shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes. However, if your information is no longer saved it will definitely take longer as your service will have to re-program the account.
• If I deactivate my account, will I lose my forwarding number?: Most answering services will not allow you to take your forwarding number with you should you decide to leave service, so it’s a real possibility that you will lose your number once you deactivate your account. However, depending on how long you are off service, it may be possible for you to retrieve your number when you reactivate your account, if it’s still available. If you’ve already spent money on advertising that number, you may want to consider dropping down to a lower plan during your off season instead of deactivating the account entirely to ensure you keep that number.

#2. Determine the reasons customers will be calling and prepare accordingly.

For outsourcing newbies, you’ll want to give some thought to your call handling. Call handling is what answering service agents will use to manage your calls, and if the handling isn’t 100%, your script can cause some trouble. We always recommend leveraging the experience of the service for guidance on what scripts will work, and which ones won’t. For example, protocols that you normally use in your office may not always work in a call center environment, so spending some time to get to know your new service will be beneficial for both you and your business.

A great script lets the answering service agents be nimble so they can handle most situations, and have a fail-safe for any situations they can’t. Some examples include:

• Calling to schedule an appointment: If your callers want to set an appointment, there are some follow up questions that could be helpful to ask. For example, are they ready to file and looking for an in person appointment? Do they need a phone appointment? Are they filing for an individual? A company? These questions can help streamline the process on your end, so you know who is coming in and when, and exactly what they need. The more information you have at your disposal, the easier it will be to get customers in and out as quickly and efficiently as possible.
• Calling for a Specific Person: Sometimes customers already have a specific employee they are working with or have worked with, and may be calling to speak directly to them. Answering service agents would be able to identify who the caller is asking for, and handle according to that staff member’s preference. For example, one staff member may just want all messages taken, while others could want calls transferred to them. If you have multiple staff members in your office, see how they want their calls handled and script accordingly. It’s also a great plan to have an ‘Any other staff member’ path if old customers are calling to speak to an employee who’s no longer employed.
• Calling from a Specific Company: As a tax prep firm, you may be helping companies with their taxes in addition to individuals, and you may want those calls handled differently. For example, an individual calling for help with their taxes could probably have a message taken, but you may want calls from companies transferred directly to you, as they’re going to be bringing in the big bucks.
• All Other Calls: If the caller’s query doesn’t fit into any of the categories you already have outlined, see if your answering service can set up a “catch all” for those miscellaneous calls that may trickle through. Usually these types of call paths have the agent gathering the caller’s name, number, email, and reason for call.

While these are just a few examples of how your call handling can be set up, most answering services can customize protocols based off of how you run things in your own office. Speaking to an intake specialist will help you determine the best course of action if you’re not sure where to start.

#3. Place test calls to make sure your systems are functioning properly.

Before forwarding your phones to the service, it’s a good idea to place a few mock calls to make sure things are operating smoothly. This will allow you to catch any errors first, which if left unattended, could give your business a bad look. The quicker you can iron out kinks, the quicker you can start getting back to work.

Pro tip: Even after going live with your customers, it doesn’t hurt to make a couple test calls here and there just to make sure everything is still running like a well-oiled machine. 

#4. Make sure your clients know which number to call.

After you’ve made sure your service is active, updated, and you’ve ran through multiple tests, the final step is making sure your clients know which number to call. This can be done 1 of 2 ways:

• Call forwarding: Answering services use call forwarding to route your calls to the call center. They’ll provide a phone number specific to your account and you’ll use your phone’s pre-existing call forwarding feature to send traffic to the call center. Call forwarding is a feature that most phone providers offer, and can usually be turned off and on through the use of your phone’s keypad (like with *72 and *73). With call forwarding, you can control when calls go to your answering service and when they come to your own office.
• Advertising your number: Some businesses like to keep their own number separate from their answering service number. For example, they may want existing clients to call their office number directly, and they may want new client calls to go through their answering service. If this is the case for you and your business, advertising your answering service or forwarding number on your website and social media platforms is a good, usually free, way to go.

Pro tip: Most answering services won’t allow you to take the forwarding number with you should you decide to leave service, so it may not be cost effective in the long run for you to put the number on billboards, business cards, etc. 

The post 4 Ways to Audit Your Seasonal Tax Prep Answering Service appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

#1. They butcher the on-call dispatch

If your answering service is handling on-call communications, it’s super important they get it nailed down. Otherwise, the wrong staff member could be called, or worse, no one could be called at all! For businesses like medical practices, HVAC companies and law firms, missing calls after hours could be detrimental to your business as potential new leads fly out the window.

How to avoid it: Keeping your on-call updated in advance is a good way to make sure the operators are calling out to the correct person at all times. In addition, the simpler the on-call schedule, the less room there is for error. Having an overly complicated procedure may work internally at your office, but it could be a recipe for disaster for an answering service.

Pro tip: Place a couple test calls before forwarding to your service for the evening just to make sure they’re following the correct protocol. It will be more difficult to make changes at 2 o’clock in the morning than it would be before you close up shop for the day. 

#2. They don’t know who you are

If your answering service operators don’t know who you are, it could make for a very sketchy phone call. Imagine you have your lines forwarded to your answering service, and a potential customer calls in with questions. If the call center agent can’t even answer basic questions like who the primary doctor at the practice is or who the owner of the company is, at best the caller will be left confused. At worst, the caller is going to hang up and call someone else. Congratulations, you just lost a customer.

How to avoid it: Adding customized frequently asked questions to your account is a great way to help the operators become more familiar with your business and answer basic questions. Simply adding a section that includes key contacts within your company could be what helps drive a sale. The more questions your operators can answer, the more likely you are to capture more leads!

#3. They murder the greeting

Often times, we get requests for operators to open phone calls with elaborate and tongue twisting greetings, and we always advise against it. While operators are capable of saying anything, there’s a good chance they’re not just answering for your business. Adding difficult greetings makes each call a crapshoot, which could make your business sound pretty unprofessional.

How to avoid it: To avoid this jumbled mess, we suggest adding a custom recorded greeting up front (if your service offers that kind of feature) and keeping the live greeting short and sweet. They say the first impression is the last impression, so make your first impression count!

#4. The operators are deadly rude

Just like people in your own office, operators can have crummy days. Sometimes, the crummyness comes off as sounding flat. Other times, there may be an operator that is just downright dreadful. While there are many reasons that could play into why an operator is acting rude, it shouldn’t be accepted under any circumstances. Period. Rude operators are one of the biggest reasons a potential customer could decide to look elsewhere, and in a growing competitive market, that’s the last thing you want.

How to avoid it: While all answering services should have an internal quality assurance monitoring system, they most likely can’t listen to every single call every day. Whether you are listening to calls yourself or if your customers are complaining of rude operators, reporting the interaction(s) to your answering service is a must. Some answering services even allow you to listen to calls and rate operators within an online portal, which is another helpful way to report unsatisfactory interactions.

#5. They leave your callers hanging on hold

In the answering service industry, hold times are unavoidable 100% of the the time. However, the amount of time callers are left waiting on hold is what can set one answering service apart from another. If every time you or your customers called into your answering service and were put on hold,  you’d probably end up losing your wits as well as some business.

How to avoid it: Answering services should monitor their queue time on an hourly and daily basis so they can keep on top of any spikes that may arise. While it’s impossible to plan for unexpected spikes in volume, comparing current trends to previous trends is a great way to make sure they’re staffed accordingly. For example, if last year your answering service had a large spike in volume on a particular day or week, they can use that information to plan accordingly this year.

Pro tip: Another way your answering service can help combat hold times is by adding custom hold greetings to the line that would play if there are holds. For example, it could say “Thank you for calling ABC Plumbing, we are experiencing higher than normal call volume at the moment but we will be with your shortly.” While it may not stop callers from hanging up, it at least acts as a nice buffer.

The post The Top 5 Scariest Mistakes Your Answering Service Can Make appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

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<pre><em>Image originally posted on <a href=”https://www.specialtyansweringservice.net/answering-service-vs-virtual-receptionist-vs-call-center-whats-the-difference/”>The SAS Blog</a></em>
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Scenario 1

Caller: “Help! My computer is stuck in the wheel of doom, and I don’t know what to do.”

• Virtual Receptionist: “I hate when that happens! Let me transfer you to Mike in our tech support department. He will figure out that’s going on.”
  • Representative gathers Name, Number and Issue. They attempt to transfer the call to Mike in tech support. If no answer, they let the caller know that Mike is unavailable at the moment, but they will continue to reach out to him.
• Answering Service: “I am so sorry to hear that. Let me take down your information, and I’ll have one of our technical support team members reach out to you as soon as possible.”
  • Representative gathers Name, Number and Issue. Message is texted and emailed to tech support.
• Call Center: “I am so sorry to hear that, but I can certainly help you. Please tell me exactly what happened, and we’ll see if we can troubleshoot this over the phone.”
  • Representative follows a helpdesk script based on the caller’s issue, and provides detailed, Tier 1 technical support.

Scenario 2

Caller: “I am almost out of widgets, and I need to order another case.”

• Virtual Receptionist: “No problem. I’d be happy to help you with that. Do you have your account number handy? I’ll pull up your last order.”
  • Representative accesses the company’s CRM system, looks up the caller’s previous order, confirms the new order details, and emails the request to the ordering department to process.
• Answering Service: “No problem. I just need a few details from you, and I’ll pass your request to our ordering department.”
  • Representative gathers Name, Number, Item, Quantity, and Shipping Address. Message is emailed to the ordering department to follow up.
• Call Center: “No problem. I can take care of that for you. What is the item number that you’d like to order?”
  • Representative accesses the company’s online ordering system, requests the item number or searches for the item to be ordered, enters the caller’s contact and payment information, and processes order while caller is on the line.

Scenario 3

Caller: “My son is sick, and I need to speak with a doctor right away.”

• Virtual Receptionist: “Of course. It looks like Dr. Smith is on-call tonight. Let me take down  your information, and I’ll see if I can patch you through to her.”
  • Representative accesses the practice’s EMR system, looks up the patient’s information, takes a detailed message regarding symptoms, and attempts to transfer the caller to the on-call doctor. If no answer, they let the caller know that the doctor is unavailable at the moment, but they will continue to reach out and have her follow up. In the meantime, they are referred to the local ER if symptoms worsen.
• Answering Service: “I am so sorry to hear that. I just need a few details, and I’ll have the on-call doctor follow up with you shortly.”
  • Representative gathers caller’s Name, Patient’s Name, Number, and a brief explanation of the Issue. They let the caller know that if they do not hear from the doctor within 15 minutes to please call back, or go to the local ER, if they cannot wait for a call back. On-call doctor receives a text and an email informing them that they have a new message and instructs them to call answering service for details.
• Call Center: “I am so sorry to hear that. Is this an emergency?”
  • Representative ascertains whether or not the caller feels that this is an emergent issue. If it is, they gather the Caller’s Name, Patient’s Name, Number, and a brief explanation of the Issue, and they are referred to the local ER. The representative may also contact the on-call doctor by phone to inform them of the situation. If it is not an emergent issue, the representative lets the caller know that they would be happy to schedule an appointment for them. They access online scheduling software or a shared calendar, and they book the next available appointment.

Scenario 4

Caller: “Just my luck. My car broke down on the highway in a snowstorm, and I need a tow.”

• Virtual Receptionist: “Oh no! Don’t worry, I’ll dispatch someone to your location right away, and be sure to put your flashers on. It looks like Tom and Rick are on the schedule tonight. What city are you in?”
  • Representative gather’s Name, Cell Number, Vehicle Make/Model/Color, City and Address or Nearest Intersection where the vehicle is located. They let the caller know that they’ll contact the closest driver and then reach back out to the caller with the driver’s name and ETA.
• Answering Service: “I am so sorry to hear that. Let me take down your information, and I’ll have the driver get in touch with you.”
  • Representative gathers Name, Cell Number, Vehicle Make/Model/Color, State, City and Address or Nearest Intersection where the vehicle is located. On-call driver receives a text and email with the tow details as soon as the call closes.
• Call Center: “I am so sorry to hear that. I just need a few pieces of information, and I’ll get someone out to you as soon as possible.”
  • Representative gathers Name, Cell Number, Vehicle Make/Model/Color, State, City and Address or Nearest Intersection where the vehicle is located. They dial through the on-call list repeatedly until they reach a driver who is available to handle the tow.

Scenario 5

Caller: “I’m supposed to be there for an appointment in 5 minutes, but I can’t figure out where you are.”

• Virtual Receptionist: “No problem. Who is your appointment with? I’ll give them a heads up that you’re running a bit late. In the meantime, there are some landmarks that might help you locate us. Are you near any of these places?”
  • Representative gathers Name and Cell Number, and attempts to provide directions based on the basic location information at their disposal. If they cannot assist, they let the caller know that they will have the person they are meeting with give them a call to provide further assistance. Office is contacted, and caller’s details are relayed to the appropriate person.
• Answering Service: “Okay. I only have the address information here. So, let me see if I can patch you through to the office.”
  • Representative gathers Name, Cell Number and person with whom the caller is meeting, and they cold transfer the caller to the appropriate party. Message is texted and emailed to the office to follow up.
• Call Center: “No problem. If you can give me the address of your current location, I can pull up directions for you.”
  • Representative gather’s caller’s Name, Cell Number and Location Address, and accesses mapping software, pre-programmed with the office’s address. They provide point-by-point directions, and they remain on the line until they have reached the destination.

Scenario 6

Caller: “I have some questions about the kitchen installation promotion you’re running.”

• Virtual Receptionist: “I would be happy to answer your questions! First, I wanted to let you know that the promotion runs through January 6th, and it requires a minimum purchase of $5,000. Now, what questions can I help you with?”
  • Representative answers the caller’s questions based on the information at their disposal. If the caller has additional questions or would like to schedule an appointment, the representative transfers them to the sales department.
• Answering Service: “No problem. Did you have questions about pricing or permits?”
  • Representative uses the FAQs to provide basic answers to the caller’s questions and asks if they would like to schedule an appointment. If they are unable to answer the questions of if the caller wants to schedule an appointment, the representative gathers Name and Number, and lets the caller know that someone will get back to them within 1 business day.
• Call Center: “Sure, I would be happy to help you, and if you’d like, I can schedule and appointment for an estimate. What questions did you have?”
  • Representative accesses the company’s website to research and answer the caller’s questions. If the caller has additional questions, the representative can schedule a phone appointment. If the caller would like to to have someone come out to the property, an in-person appointment can be scheduled. Based on the appointment type, the representative accesses online appointment scheduling software or a shared calendar, and they ask the caller what date and time would work best for them.

 Scenario 7

Caller: “I’m in apartment 386, and my sink is leaking.”

• Virtual Receptionist: “I am sorry to hear that. We usually have a maintenance technician available on-site, 24 hours a day. Let me find out who is on duty, and I’ll send them to your unit.”
  • Representative gathers Name, Number, Building, Unit Number and a brief description of the Issue. They reach out to the on-call technician and dispatch them to the caller’s apartment.
• Answering Service: “I am sorry to hear that, but I will get a message to our maintenance team right away.”
  • Representative gathers Name, Number, Building, Unity Number and a brief description of the Issue. Message is texted and emailed to the maintenance department to follow up.
• Call Center: “I am sorry to hear that. I just need a few details, and we’ll see what we can do. Can you tell me, is it a slow leak or a fast leak?”
  • Representative gathers Name, Number, Building and Unit Number. They follow a helpdesk script based on the caller’s issue and provide simple instructions on how to turn off the water flow until the maintenance technician arrives. They dial through the on-call list once, leaving a voicemail on each attempt, including the caller’s details.

The post Answering Service vs. Virtual Receptionist vs. Call Center… What’s the Difference? appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

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.

If you’re not sure, we’ve created an infographic to help you decide whether or not your business can benefit from an answering service, which you can view at the end of this post. Here are some questions you can ask yourself as well while you’re deciding if your business needs an answering service:

1. Are calls going to voicemail?

If your calls are currently going to voicemail, you run the risk of losing business. For example:

• 7/10 callers will hang up if they hear a voicemail, which means only a 30% chance for you to acquire new business.
• If your callers do leave voicemails, you may not hear them until the issue has already been resolved (aka, they found someone else).
• Callers may be expecting a quicker turn around when they leave a voicemail, and may become frustrated when they don’t hear back quickly.

However, having an answering service step in and answer calls instead of a voicemail can increase your chances of securing leads. For example:

• If a potential customer needs help in the middle of the night or on a weekend, having a live answering service over a voicemail increases your chances of capturing their business by 70%.
• If potential customers are calling with questions, virtual receptionists will be able to answer them using pre-set FAQs. Your callers will be so happy they received immediate assistance that they may even decide to try you out!
• By having an answering service field your calls, you won’t waste as much time in the morning listening to all of your voicemails from the previous night, which means a more productive day.

2. Do you have a customer service or a sales team?

If you have multiple departments within your company, you may need some extra help meeting goals and retaining customers. For example:

• If your sales team has a quota to meet every day, week or month, but have been failing to accomplish their goals, it may be a sign that they need extra help.
• If your customer service team is only available during business hours, you may risk losing customers who are frustrated and need to speak with someone ASAP.

However, answering services can help out any department. For example:

• Many answering services offer outbound calling, so having your virtual receptionists reach out to potential leads can take some weight off of your sales team which may help them close more deals by transferring hot leads.
• Utilizing an answering service after hours will give your customers piece of mind, knowing that there is always someone to talk to no matter the day or time.

3. Do you need help answering calls but can’t afford to hire someone?

Needing extra help but not having the funds to hire a receptionist is quite the catch 22. For example:

• You’re getting too many phone calls for your current staff to get to quickly, so your potential customers call elsewhere.
• Your staff is too busy with other tasks to get the phone, which is hurting your business.
• You need extra help, but can’t afford to hire more staff because you’re struggling to capture leads.

However, answering services can help out whenever needed for a portion of the cost. For example:

• Answering services are a less expensive alternative than hiring another employee. For a few dollars a day, you can have dozens of extra people answering your phones which will free up your office staff.
• You can forward your calls to the service during business hours to catch the overflow calls, during after hours, or both!
• Virtual receptionists can do more than just answer the phone. They can schedule appointments, place orders and dispatch urgent messages.

4. Do you need reports of who called you on the go?

If your job requires you to be on your feet all day long, or away from the office, it may be difficult for you to check your messages. For example:

• As a doctor, you’re constantly going from patient to patient without a chance to check any new incoming messages.
• As an HVAC technician, a large part of your day is spent traveling from location to location with no time to check in.
• As a lawyer, you may often find yourself tied up in court or visiting different clients.

However, answering services can get you your messages on the go! For example:

• Many answering services can text you your messages as they come in so you stay up to date.
• Some answering services offer a free online portal that you can log into to get a recap of all of your messages.
• Many answering services are HIPAA compliant so if they are unable to text you your messages, they may offer a free mobile app which would allow you to check your messages right from your phone, securely!

How else can an answering service help? If you feel like you’re swimming (or drowning) in tasks, it may be time for you to hire a virtual answering service to help take some of the work off of your plate. As you can see from the above, answering services help solve many problems a lot of businesses face.

Use the code below to use this infographic on your own website:

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<img title=”Do I Need an Answering Service Infographic” alt=”Do I Need an Answering Service Infographic” src=”https://www.specialtyansweringservice.net/wp-content/uploads/need-answering-service-infographic.jpg” width=”7500″ height=”5260″ />
<pre><em>Image originally posted on <a href=”https://www.specialtyansweringservice.net/do-i-need-answering-service-infographic/”>The SAS Blog</a></em>
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The post Infographic: Do I need an answering service? appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.