Quality of Customer Service: The Heart of Interaction
Whether you’re ready to hire an answering service for the first time or you’ve used one for years and are looking for your next—and last—provider, there are three essential answering service qualifications to seek. These will help make the difference between a successful answering service collaboration and one that ends quickly.
Here are the top three answering service qualifications that will produce successful outcomes.
A History of Success
The first telephone answering service quality to look at is their tenure in the industry. Though many services brag about the year they started, don’t put too much stock in this until you dig deeper.
Over time, answering services are sold, moved, and merged with other companies. Each transition interrupts their timeline, and they effectively start again to establish a stable foundation. This is because each change in the business produces altered paradigms, different strategies, and new business goals, which often run contrary to the prior regime.
When looking at an answering service, start by finding out how long they’ve been in business, but don’t stop there. Ask how long they’ve had the same ownership and management. This is key to finding a stable and reliable answering service.
Having a proven, successful record in the industry is the first of three answering service qualifications that you should consider.
Owner Involvement
Related to having a stable ownership over the long haul for a telephone answering service is direct owner involvement. You want to hire an answering service where the owner takes a hands-on approach to managing and running the business.
Quality of Customer Service: The Heart of Interaction
When evaluating an answering service provider, the quality of customer service they provide should be at the forefront of your considerations. Explore how well-trained their agents are, how effectively they can manage difficult or complex situations, and whether they can tailor their interactions according to your business needs. A high-quality service provider will make your customers feel valued and respected.
Technological Capabilities: More than Just Picking Up the Phone
An advanced answering service provider goes beyond simply answering phone calls. They should offer integration with your existing systems like CRM software, have call recording features, and be capable of handling different forms of customer interactions, such as chat or email support. Evaluate the provider’s technological stack to ensure that they meet your current and future needs.
Flexibility and Scalability: Growing with Your Business
As your business grows, your customer service needs will too. You’ll need an answering service provider that can easily scale with you. Look for flexible pricing plans and options to add or reduce services as needed. Check whether the provider has experience in serving businesses of your size and type, and if they can adapt to your changing requirements.
Remember, the ideal answering service provider will not just meet your current needs but will also be a partner in your business growth.
Some answering services have an absentee owner, but this seldom produces quality results. The person who cares most about an answering service’s success is the owner who has invested their money and their life into the operation. Expect them to be there running the business each day if you expect to receive the quality outcomes you desire.
A huge industry trend is answering service consolidation. This also produces problems. Consolidations remove the personal touch of an engaged owner and replaces it with a sterile stamp of a cold, cashflow-focused corporation.
Finding an answering service with day-to-day owner involvement is the second of three answering service qualifications that you should seek.
Independent
We’ve already mentioned the trend toward industry consolidation. This may be beneficial if a company produces a product or seeks large-scale automation to maximize profits, but this doesn’t work well at a personal answering service when you want them to treat your callers with the respect and attention they deserve.
The best way to avoid the downfall of consolidation is to seek an independent answering service, one not part of a corporate conglomerate or beholden to the distant determinations of an ivory-tower executive from far away.
Finding a truly independent answering service is the third of three answering service qualifications that will provide the path to success.
FAQs: Clearing Common Queries
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Answering Service Qualifications Conclusion
Choosing a telephone answering service takes time. Selecting the right answering service is a challenge, but it doesn’t need to be. Seek a provider that meets these top three answering service qualifications.
First, they have an unbroken history in the industry. Two, they enjoy day-to-day, hands-on owner involvement. Three, they are independent and best able to adjust to meet your specific needs.
Contact us to discover how we can meet these answering service qualifications and provide you with the telephone answering service you need.
