Hope everyones been safe.
We recently signed up for an answering service to help us with capturing leads/providing a little customer support. I see there are some old posts about it but does anyone have some recent experience?
we hired a VA. What are you thinking?
my daughter works as a VA. there are advantages to using a service for that and also for hiring direct. there are services that specialize now and give quotes etc
The answering service we hired is basically for capturing leads/letting us know an existing customer wants to book.
We set up a few basic questions for those who ask for a quote, that information gets sent over to us and we send them a quote through Customer Factor to their email.
I’m working on creating too 5 FAQ’s for the staff in case anyone asks something basic… otherwise they let the caller know someone will call them back.
I don’t have time to answer the phone, I’m hoping this service will help the callers feel a little more taken care of lol is the money spent worth it?
Do you have a question?
Yes. The question was does anyone have recent experience using a similar service? If so, what was your experience. It was in the original post so I’m not sure why that wasn’t clear…
I guess I’ll go ahead and clarify for you the second post also…In the second post I’m also asking if the service made a difference in your business. Hope that helps.
no harm in a new thread but there are many already so there is more info search: virtual assistant, office manager and whatever else you can think of
as mentioned i hired my daughter, she works from home and sometimes her car. we use quoteflare so she can figure most jobs the same way i would.
it was a comeplete game changer for me. i have been still on the truck but have been able to work full days on production and not have to spend the evening doing quotes.
i looked at a couple services but they were not right for my businesss at this time.
i may have to hire another this year.
you must have systems in place though so your staff can help you properly.
personally i do not see any advantage in an answering service, puts you in the same category as so many other poor quality service companies.
Thanks for commenting. Yeah hiring family isn’t an option for me unfortunately but glad its worked well for your business! I guess ill just have to try the service out and see where it goes …
the fact that she is family is not relevant. she was a mom whose kids did not need her as much as they got older and she needed a job. i have had other va in the past the first one was before the internet was a thing about 1982 i think. she worked from her own home, did cold calling, booked my sales calls etc.
there are lots of people looking for work especially safe flexible work.
Who did you use for an answering service? I’m looking into them right now and it would be good to get a recommendation.
AnswerConnect. So far it’s been alright, they gave us a promo for 290 min at 10$/month for 3 months and then it’s 400. Their cheapest plan is 200 and you can pause the service to 10$ a month if you’re not busy
Thanks for the info. Do you think they sound like they work for your company or is it clumsy like an answering service?
So far It depends on who answers but also how well you set up your account. I have 3 categories set up for if someone calls… they have a script for each. 1 for quotes, 1 for booking clients and 1 for ‘all else’ (if they have questions that they can’t answer and I’ll need to call back the person). I’m also working on a few FAQ.
They’re professional so I wouldn’t say it’s clumsy but of course it’s not as great as having someone actually for the company doing the phones. It will have to do for now. I wish they had a function to just transfer calls over to me
that is the advantage of hiring a va direct
I realize that but they also cost more. Some people just started their business a little while ago and can’t afford it yet. For sure it’s not a long term solution but probably better than having voicemail
Thanks for the info. I’m so on the fence about this. But when I’m in the field cleaning, I often don’t have cell service because we’re in the mountains. I know we’re losing customers when I can’t answer the phones, so this seems like the next best option.
