Customer service can be a real problem for companies in off hours. Take the example of a water main break. The problem that occur more than we would hope. And, when it happened in Lincoln County last Saturday, the Daily Leader covered it with a story about how an answering service dealt with the myriad of calls that flooded the water company there.
It was a beautiful Saturday evening at 7pm when all of the sudden the calls about water pressure and lack of water started pouring in. The answering service quickly fielded the calls, contacted the Lincoln Rural Water Association officials and set everyone’s minds at ease until the valve was reset. This is a classic example of an answering service boosting customer service in the off hours, and alerting officials of problems so that they could deal with them in a timely manner.
While not every business has to worry about a water main break, there is probably some aspect of customer service that every business could benefit from by using a 24/7 answering service. Answering service simulate your company’s best employee and can answer redundant questions that typically clog your phones, freeing you to perform more cost effective activities. It doesn’t stop there either; an answer service can also escalate support calls to a higher level, passing on all key information already gathered.
Some examples of organizations and companies that could easily benefit from an efficient answering service are:
Emergency Response Teams
Municipalities
Electric, plumbing, mechanical, construction service providers
IT companies
Healthcare organizations
Attorneys
These are the types of companies where customer service can make or break their reputation, and a friendly voice on the line can set customer’s anxieties aside because they know that a real person is assuring them that help is on the way. Answering Service can include:
Overflow Receptionist Services
Customized Answering/Scripting
Wake-up calls
Employee Log-In Service
Call Screening
Dispatch Services
Virtual Switchboard Services
HIPAA Certified Agents
Appointment Taking
Before your next “water main” break, consider the cost savings of an answering service that can not only handle the crisis, but streamline your day-to-day business.
Sue McCrossin is a free-lance writer working on promoting ACA’s Answering Service because she believes that cost saving measures for small businesses and organizations can be the make-or-break solution in a recessive economy. Goacanow.com provides Answering Service for you any time dedicatedly & continously.
A 24/7 Answering service is pretty self-explanatory. When a business or individual is on-call all hours of the day every day of the year, it is sometimes necessary to outsource this answering service to a provider who has the staff to supply a human response. What is not really obvious about this service is that it can really save a business or government agency a lot of money.
In October of 2009, Juan Gonzalez reported for the NY Daily News about NYC's mismanaged plan to upgrade emergency system 2 years late, $700M over budget and perhaps after cutting through all the red tape, they could have saved money by outsourcing the project to a professional 24/7 answering service and call center, set up to handle emergency dispatching.
As demonstrated in this article, it is very expensive to set your organization up and organize your business procedures to become a 24/7 answering service. Obviously this is extremely important for emergency response teams, but also important for any business that misses a call because someone is not around to receive the call.
For this reason there are many business owners who use an answering service, and regard the expense as a cost savings!
Another advantage to a 24/7 answering service is that it operates out of another location than your business. This is great because scheduling, and messages will not distract your receptionist as she handles your patients or visitors. Answering service pick up your phone calls via call forwarding and can answer your calls as if they were one of your employees, take a message, and notifying you immediately if the message is urgent or forward that message on to you if it is not.
Recently there have been many cutbacks in city and state funding effecting emergency services, and municipal services. An example is in an opinion article in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel about public cut backs where the author states that “Public safety should not be excused from taking a hard look at spending; taxpayers should get the best service at a reasonable cost.” Perhaps by outsourcing answering service we could manage to afford police, emergency personnel, trash pickup and street repair? Perhaps looking at areas of cost savings doesn’t mean cutting personnel in key positions…perhaps it can mean outsourcing functions that can probably better be handled by experts like 24/7 answering services.
Lots of other types of businesses can also benefit from a 24/7 answering service. Take for instance medical professionals who have to not only schedule regular visits but also have to handle emergencies. Their patients health could weigh in the balance of a missed call. Attorneys, home health care providers and insurance agents can also benefit from a 24/7 answering service. Employing the answering service is a quick and easy way to increase profits and customer satisfaction during this economically challenging time.
Sue McCrossin is a free-lance writer working for ACA on the subject of 24/7 Answering Service. She feels that what some may consider a luxury for their businesses using Answering Service in an aggressive cost savings measure.
With the right partnership, a telephone answering service (TAS) service can reap real benefits. We all want to be available to answer every call but, let’s be honest. This is not realistic and certainly is not good for productivity. Therefore, an answering service is a smart solution to ensure calls are answered in the most efficient manner. This solution allows you and/or your staff to keep focus and avoid distractions.
Answering phones seem like a seemingly simple task, right? However, customization is key to providing callers with the information they need and relaying the message back to you in an efficient and timely manner. Answering calls and delivering a message is one thing, but doing so accurately and without error requires more planning. Regardless of whether you are looking for an answering service for yourself, or your business, there are certain questions to ask before making a final decision.
Support - Can this company offer 24/7 support?
Training - Does the company train their agents for various industry-related situations that may occur? If so, what formal training programs are offered?
Service - Does this company offer call center support beyond TAS if the need for additional help is desired?
Reputation - Does the company participate in the Association of Teleservices International? (An organization that assesses the quality of calls through test calls and a strict rating system. Find out more at www.atsi.org)
Resolutions - If problems arise, how are they resolved? Will you have a single point of contact who can review your scope of work?
Accreditation - Can this company provide you with agent accreditation or certification that is applicable to your specific industry?
Agents - What kind of employee turnover rates does this company have? Typically how long do agents stay with the company?
Capability - If your call volume increases or decreases can this company easily accommodate these changes?
Customization - What level of customization can they offer?
Pricing - Does this service provide competitive pricing? If they are bidding significantly lower than other services, determine whether price or quality is most important.
In addition to customer service, a quality answering service can save you money and headache. In today’s competitive market, there’s no room for error or a missed call. While it is easy to go with the cheapest service or the first company you find, make sure you are doing enough research to find the service that is right for you.
Sue McCrossin is writer and editor of this article. The article “Beyond the Traditional Answering Service…Choosing the Right Provider” presents the need of developed answering service in your business. GoACANow provides answering service so that you can never miss your important call.
There are many stresses involved with being a doctor and managing a doctor’s office. Physicians’ main concern is healing patients, but there are factors including administration, claims, billing, and office management which are a huge, yet necessary distraction. Doctor’s offices should find support in any way to alleviate their staff from time consuming tasks, one of which is answering a multitude of patient phone calls. Hiring a doctor answering service is a help to staff, relieving them from the huge volume of calls.
A doctor answering service is useful in many ways including appointment scheduling and modification, reminders and follow up calls, and emergency contact with doctors during and after hours. A doctor’s office is typically overloaded with patient calls. During business hours, a doctor answering service can professionally handle calls so that the staff can tend to patient needs and their other administrative tasks. A service can be arranged to answer all of the calls, or just overflow calls during busy times. A service is qualified to triage calls so the patient is connected or tended to by the correct party. A doctor answering service can also schedule appointments and swiftly send messages, especially useful in emergencies.
After hours doctor answering services are necessary since a physician’s office cannot be available at all hours of the day and night. Emergencies are handled efficiently by a service, and they assure that contact is made with the right person immediately. Critical patient needs are met at all hours when a doctor’s office uses the support of a service, and the quality of patient care is increased. They are satisfied with the prompt response, as well as having their health situation handled. Services use advanced technology for immediate and accurate response and communication. Operators use phone calls, texts, and emails to reach the correct party quickly.
Using a service is an inexpensive and practical option for a doctor’s office to relieve the staff from the many calls received every day. A doctor’s answering service will handle all aspects including message delivery, appointment scheduling, and emergency contacts. This results in better patient care and attention from doctors and staff who are allowed more time for their patients’ health.
Grace Enderlein is a freelance writer and editor. “Relieve a Medical Staff with a Doctor Answering Service” notes the support that a service offers to a busy physician’s staff. Allvoiceusa.com offers doctor answering services using professional agents and advanced message delivery options.
When hiring a phone answering service, it is impossible to have successful results with a one size fits all service. All products and all companies are different, and phone answering service solutions should be customized to meet every company’s needs. Detailed information needs to be gathered from individual clients to set up what will work best for their company. After a program is initiated, the communication and partnership continues with operator training and ongoing tracking which results in increased sales.
When beginning a partnership with a phone answering service, communication is critical to allow the answering service to know client needs, expectations, and thorough information about products and services. Using this information and applying creativity, technology and proper training, results in a tailored solution. Advanced software applications allow for individual programs which work best for a company’s needs and goals. The information gathered from clients is also critical for the training of operators. When a phone answering service operator takes a call from a customer or a potential customer, it should be exactly as the client expects. Their knowledge of the company products, professionalism, and personable communication with customers is the key to success and sales for any business.
Once a program is underway, the process of tracking leads to even more success when an answering service customizes to individual business needs. Reporting call volumes and sales to clients, and understanding the results are important features of an answering service. Tracking demographics; including who is buying, and even what and when they are buying; can be interpreted and used as a valuable tool for future marketing efforts. When this information is used strategically, it translates into future sales.
Creating a partnership and customizing a plan with a phone answering service is an excellent strategy for increasing sales for a business. The training of operators and a tracking process using cutting edge technology and software all add up to an efficient method to increase profits.
Grace Enderlein is a freelance writer and editor. “The Importance of Customizing a Phone Answering Serviceto Meet Business Goals” outlines the importance of an individualized plan for phone answering service solutions. Goacanow.com offers tailored inbound and outbound call center services
Spanish call centers are used by businesses to cater to the growing Hispanic population. Spanish is the most commonly spoken language in the United States besides English, and there are over 40 million Hispanics living in the U.S. according to the Census Bureau. Their growth in numbers translates to more individuals purchasing goods and services. Better employment opportunities for Hispanics, and therefore increased income, is also a factor in their increasingly strong buying power. This population is also relatively young, and as this group enters the workforce, and establishes their careers, the more disposable income they will have for goods and services. There are also many businesses starting up and expanding under Hispanic ownership.
With these population numbers, billions of dollars are being spent by Hispanic customers, and businesses realize that this portion of the populace is considerable in their purchasing ability. Losing them as customers means a decrease in sales, so most have made the change to accommodate for their language needs with a fluent and professionally trained answering center staff.
A Spanish call center is an important part of any answering service to meet the needs of this significant population. It has been found that when a customer is comfortable and at ease communicating with a customer service representative, they are more likely to make a purchase. Agents in a Spanish call center need to be well trained and fluent in Spanish to effectively communicate with customers. Their professionalism and competency can increase sales for a company by allowing the Hispanic customer to make purchases easily, and make it more likely that they will use the company again.
There is a great need for bilingual call centers with properly trained agents who can communicate effectively with customers. Populations are changing, and businesses that can accommodate the non-English speaking customers can boost their sales. Proficiency in Spanish is important in a bilingual call center given that the Hispanic population of about 40 million in the United States is the most rapidly increasing segment.
Other languages including French, German, Japanese and Russian are also commonly spoken languages in the U.S., so agents for a bilingual call center who are fluent in these languages are sought. The internet has also allowed international customers to seek U.S. domestic products, so bilingual or multilingual call centers are a great way to service these customers. If an agent is not truly fluent, they cannot give the service that a customer expects. In any language, a call center agent must have excellent listening skills, and be able to manage customers professionally and competently.
Agents cannot simply vaguely know the language in a bilingual call center. They must be highly proficient and fluent, so attention must be paid to their hiring, training, and the ongoing quality assurance in a call center. Agents must be aware of the different interpretations and translations, as well as nuances to communicate well with non-English speaking customers.
Bilingual call centers start with strict employment screening and interviewing to test the fluency of a potential employee’s language skills. Training sessions after hiring include role playing and practicing scripts in both languages. There is also ongoing quality control through the monitoring of employee calls to assure that agent’s vocabulary, usage and translations are consistent. With these screenings, monitoring and ongoing training, a customer service representative can effectively cater to this significant portion of the population.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a privacy Act mandating that medical records of individuals are confidential and must be transported via secure channels. Penalties can be imposed if the rules are not followed by individuals in the medical field, or anyone handling patient information. A doctor answering service protects the privacy of patients during the communications process, and they are able to comply with the mandatory HIPAA regulations. Doctor answering services have highly trained and certified agents who use professional scripting to gather the appropriate information and to handle it suitably. It is also a highly technological telecommunications field which has disaster recovery plans to protect patient information; the proper storage and recovery of which is also a requirement of HIPAA.
Doctor answering service agents are trained to use information only for the purposes for which it is intended from patients and doctors. An answering service is a professional and accurate means to meet patient needs, and they avoid long hold times or busy signals for patients. They provide coverage for overflow calls in a doctor’s office, and after hours and emergency call handling. In addition to answering calls, agents have the capability to triage to the correct medical professional, schedule appointments, and obtain referral information.
An answering service staff has ongoing HIPAA training to assure secure voice communications, and safe storage of information. Reasonable precautions are taken for the security of electronic information transfers such as pagers, email, fax and internet. HIPAA assures that a patient’s information is protected, while allowing the flow of information needed for the patient’s care. Answering service agents work with great accuracy and care to meet patient needs, and always comply with HIPAA regulations.
Grace Enderlein is a freelance writer and editor. “HIPAA Compliance with Doctor Answering Services” notes that answering services do comply with mandatory HIPAA regulations. AllVoiceUSA.com provides a full range of answering services including doctor answering services
Using an outsourced IT help desk support specialist can save company money, and it will not compromise service levels. There are savings in staff expenditures, and their troubleshooting capabilities mean the quick resolution of technical problems. IT support is a necessity for a business, and in these tough economic times, a company cannot afford to have wasted time. An outsourced IT help desk has constant coverage, so that work does not have to come to a halt because of a technical problem that is not being addressed.
An outsourced IT help desk service can be contracted for a reasonable cost. Whether it is supporting an in-house staff, or the only IT support source, outsourcing is not as costly as hiring, training and managing in-house employees. An answering service staff is trained and certified to communicate with customers professionally and knowledgeably, so service is never compromised despite less of an investment needed.
In addition to the savings on staff expenditures, an outsourced IT help desk can be more efficient by improving service levels due to their highly trained staff. Considering the proactive capabilities of an outsourced IT help desk support specialist, they can avoid some problems from ever happening. When problems do occur, their quick response will have difficulties fixed quickly. This decrease in down time ultimately saves company money, and businesses are more likely to run smoothly with fewer technical interruptions.
IT help desks deal with many problems including support for hardware and software, password resets, network problems, and remote access problems. Outsourced IT help desk support specialists are highly trained in all of these areas of troubleshooting, and also listen closely to customers and employees to improve service. An outsourced IT help desk can capably and efficiently support a work force during or after business hours.
Grace Enderlein is a freelance writer and editor. “How Using an Outsourced IT Help Desk Support Specialist Improves Efficiency” notes the money savings, improved service and time efficiency of outsourcing an IT help desk. Goacanow.com offers call center services with dedicated customer service agents to aid customers in technical support.
With the healthcare industry in the spotlight, high demands are being placed on providers. Patients need to confirm care and appointments. Communication with providers is a first priority. We rely on open communication channels with our physician’s office, hospital and facility practices, and home care and hospice providers, services that we cannot do without.
To assist with the high demands, health care offices in New York are using a quality professional answering service. An answering service in New York supplies call overflow and special office back-up to physician’s office, hospital and facility practices, and home care and hospice providers. All Voice USA, an answering service in New York provides individualized and specialized answering services to all their clients.
Lost calls, busy lines and long hold times are unacceptable practices for health care providers. Call Representatives at an answering service are professionally trained and use state of the art web portal technology to make sure that no calls go unanswered or are transcribed incorrectly. A health care answering service can handle overflow calls during regular busy hours so that staff can handle patient care or after hour and emergency calls. The answering service in New York can handle easily meet these requirements.
The healthcare answering service also features appointment scheduling solutions. This service is a solution for lost revenue and patient services because it reduces unexpected no show appointments and confirms and changes existing appointments.
The solution to the communication demands imposed on the healthcare industry is an answering service in New York. This is a cost savings solution because it does not add additional staff to high peak times or emergency situations. This is a solution to today’s high demands in the healthcare industry.
Linda Dunkelberger is a freelance writer and editor. “Healthcare Industry High Demands Met by Answering Service in New York” advocates using an answering service in New York as a solution to the high demands of the healthcare industry today. All Voice Communications (AVC) is the Premier provider of medical office answering service
