I’m thinking of using one to handle answering my business phone so my customers always get a live person. If you are using one, mind posting your experience here?
No way. I do my estimates over the phone and usually close the deal right then and there. I don’t want some random being the voice of my business.
Steve, I havent, but have thought really hard about doing it that way. I checked in with a professional service once and they charge a high price per call or I think it was per minute. I have thought about having someone do it from their home that was disabled or retired. Just forward them the calls from 9 to five and they could email at the end of the day, a list of people that wanted whatever done. You could then call them back in the evening. Sorry no experience but some ideas worth taking into consideration…
Steve
I get what your saying, but what is better, some random person or the customer getting voice mail? I have talked to several answering services and actually I am impressed with the technology they use and service they provide. The old days of a customer hearing “we’re just the answering service, we’ll give them your message” are over.
Now that is a brilliant idea!
That has always been my experience with companies that I worked for that used answering services. I call in for something and start explaining some situation and then they start telling me they are the answering service and that all they can do is take a message. Granted- these were big companies, but when they answer the phone with the company name, you just assume that you are talking to a company employee who is familiar with company business.
But like you said maybe things have changed- I just allways hated dealing with answering services.
ditto. if their just taking a message people dont like that they want to be able to set up appiontments. I personally hate the were just the answering service. All calls are forwarded to cell and they leave a message. My feeling is they think ok their busy or on the line with someone else and ill leave a message. Ive only had one person in 15 years leave a message saying" I dont talk to answering machines you just lost aa sale". I missed the call by a minute so I called right back explained that we were in the process of hiering someone to answer our calls and they said oh ok. And wanted to set up an appointment. I said great but I would be charging more for the window cleaning. Of course they ask why. I then told them I had to charge a higher price to cover the cost of hiering a new person to just answer phones and set appointments. They toldme they were going to call someone else and hung up. About 8 days latter they called back[B][U] LEFT A MESSAGE [/U][/B]said they were interested in getting their windows washed could I call them back. I called back set up the appointment. When we did the job she talked about how reasonable our prices were compared to the other 5 estimates they got. Playing off the whole situation I explained how we keep out prices low and mentioned we dont have an extra person answering the phone and setting appointments which help the bottom line. She went on to tell me what a great idea that was. I guess they didnt want to pay another company for having a receptionist either.
Steve,
I think that having a retired or disabled person could give you a better advantage over having an answering service that is straight forward “we will have the company return your call”.
The “work from home office person” could add a persoanl touchmuch better than a call center operator. You could have them say something like: "Steve handles the scheduling and he is currently away from his desk at the moment, can I have him give you a call a little later on today when he returns? The majority of my calls are basically for 3 things:
- to get a quote.
- Schedule a job
- have a question or an issue.
The scheduling one would be the toughest since you still have to return calls. The other two would be just fine with this system. If the “work from home office person” is a little tech savvy enough, they could even text you incoming leads as they get them. Especially if you have set a day aside to run quotes. I do this alot with my website request. I have blank quote packets already in my van for this type of situation. Web request show up on my Blackberry and I run them usuallly on the same day I get them. Sometimes potential customers get their quotes in less than an hour.
The number 1 thing is to have someone catching all of the calls. Most WC companies in my area have answering machines or cell phone voicemails. A live person with some basic WC knowledge and good phone skills could help land more jobs. Just some ideas.
Steve
My answering machine is me. My cell is in my pocket always, and the second that thing rings I’m all over it like flies on poop
Chris, I cant answer every call. I cant even get to half of my calls. I delegate that part of the business to the office girl. Either Im with a customer in their living room or I might be in the middle of presenting a quote. This has happened many many times and I have to hit the silence button on my phone and get back to it. My cell is ringing 3-10 times an hour with questions from my guys, the office girl, business friends of mine, customers I have given my cell# out to years ago (I stopped doing that BTW). If I were on the phone with incoming calls all day every day I wouldnt get anything done. I’ll take a wild guess and say that Steve Stevens put this thread up for that same exact reason.
Steve
I am the answering service!
I was hired to start just to answer calls and make the schedule, but now I do everything from answering the phone, giving rough quotes, payroll and doing the books. I think it really helps out. That way, while my boss is out doing quotes, meeting about commercial jobs etc., he is not being bothered with 10 calls an hour. I think if you take a few days and train someone right, not just telling them what prices would be, but actually taking them to a job site, showing them what you do, exactly how you do it etc., they have a better means of communicating with the customers. Nobody wants to call about a job and hear someone talk about things they don’t even know. If you have a question, it should be answered correctly, and not have to wait a day to hear back. Just how we do things here!
Exactly!
Steve
I want to set up my phone to ring 5 times, then if I don’t answer, it will forward to an answering service, is anyone else doing this successfully?
