05 February 2014

The Right 24 Hour Telephone Answering Service

By Serena Price


For a lot of companies 9 to 5 operating hours are not enough. More companies want to be able to deal with the needs of their customers 24 hours a day. In order to be sure that calls are properly handled by professionals you need to carefully select the appropriate 24 hour telephone answering service to suit your personal requirements.

When you contact a company you need to find out who will be answering the phones. You want people who are reasonably confident and able to deal with any questions a customer could potentially have. Given that people can be working odd hours they need to be able to pay attention.

This means more than simply learning a script. The best centres will offer a regular training program in order to keep people aware of what they need to and able to adapt. As well as national level training programs there are also regional equivalents.

However in some cases there may be issues that are particular to a local area. For example some products may be more popular in certain areas. Therefore there may be special offers that you may be able to promote to customers who may not necessarily be aware of those special offers.

You need to be sure that the company is aware of local rules and regulations that affect their business. They should be able to prove that they are properly accredited. In some cases they may even have special awards and certificates in order to prove that people appreciate their work and that they go a bit further in order to benefit you and your customers.

It is also important to be sure that they have the right level of staff. The problem is if they do not have enough staff to deal with demand there is the danger that people could spend a long time waiting on the phone. This can be very frustrating so you need to work with the centre to be sure they have enough people to cope with demand. It is also important to find out how much notice you have to give if you need to tell them about any upcoming events or offers.

You also need to find out what they would do in the event of an emergency. Ideally they will have some kind of back up power to deal with any loss of power. Equally they should have some kind of disaster recovery plan if the centre is flooded or any other equivalent disaster.

There are a number of 24 hour telephone answering service companies available. It is recommended that you compare at least three companies. It gives you the opportunity to compare both the cost of the service and the level of experience. It is also recommended that you look up customer feedback and reviews as this will make it easier for you to find the appropriate company to suit your needs.




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