Common Questions About Answering Services Answered

9 February 2015
 Categories: Business, Blog

Share

For most businesses, there is nothing more important than ensuring that your customers feel like they can reach your business when they need to speak to someone. While it is usually not possible for small companies to have employees answering the phones every hour of the day, it is still possible to have a live person answer the phones when a customer calls. However, if your company does not currently have this type of answering service, there may be some questions that you need answered.

How Do These Services Charge You?

Some people make the mistake of assuming that it is extremely expensive to retain telephone answering service. Luckily, this is not the case, and there are usually a couple of flexible billing options available to clients of these services. Some plans will charge customers according to the actual number of calls received by the center. Conversely, others will only charge you for the minutes used.

Regardless of the type of billing plan you want, you will need to verify that the service provider offers it. Many times, these services will only accept one or the other type of billing.

Can These Services Forward Calls From Specific Individuals?

There may be times when it is vital for your client to get in contact with someone with your company. This is particularly true for businesses that work with large contracts. Luckily, when you hire these services, it is often possible to provide an emergency forwarding number.

To limit the clients that are able to utilize this line, it is often necessary to provide the call center with a list of authorized individuals for the forwarding number. Be sure to keep this list updated to ensure that your most important clients can always reach you when they are experiencing an emergency.

Are Recordings Of The Calls Kept?

As a standard policy, these companies will usually keep a record of any calls that are received for your business. However, there may be some enterprises that routinely handled sensitive information, and they may not want these records kept. Fortunately, most phone answering services can accommodate these individuals by configuring the call routing software to not record calls on your company's line.

Ensuring that your clients are able to reach a human being regardless of the time of day can significantly improve their opinion of your company. By understanding the answers to these three common around the clock answering service questions, you may decide this is the perfect solution for your company.