This is 2011, we have all this technology at our fingertips, why would you need an answering service? And who still uses them anyway?
I am going to answer the second question first, just to be contrary. Who uses our services? You might be surprised. The first group of people most of you think of in conjunction with an answering service are Attorneys and Doctors. But who else? We have Plumbers, and trucking companies. We have casket companies and gift basket companies, we offer pre-employment screening for companies that use large numbers of laborers, or have a high rate of turnover.
Central Communication and South Coast Answering answer phones for Personal Trainers, as well as Seminar Reservations. We are the point of contact for small hotels and bed and breakfasts. We can help anyone who has phones that ring and doesn’t want to hire a large bank of operators to handle the calls. Remember, a lost call is lost business, and not everyone wants to simply leave a message !!
Why would you need an answering service or call center. I can tell you a story about one of our customers and why he started using us. This particular gentleman is a busy Personal Trainer. This gentleman is busy everyday, moving from location to location, appointment to appointment. He has an online booking system that we update for him on a regular basis. Before he hired us to help, he was interrupted constantly to check his messages and make sure he didn’t miss an important call, but he did NOT want to interrupt his training sessions. Far too many of his callers were people soliciting his business.
What did we do to help him? We answer his line, and ask a short series of questions that he specified to qualify his calls. Is this someone looking to sell him something? Is the call from an existing client who needs to move his appointment, or is the call from a new prospect who could become a client.
The way we set up his account, all sales calls are screened according to his instructions, he is notified immediately via text message if an appointment must be moved, and he has given us a list of questions and answers for those calls from potential new clients.
So did we answer your questions about who uses an answering service like Central Communications or South Coast Answering?
Pearl Answers