Choosing a Telephone Answering Service

1. Training and Education
When interested in a live-answer service, find out how much training operators undergo.

  • How many hours of training do operators receive?
  • How many shadowing sessions do operators complete?
  • How are operators trained? You want to make sure that operators have been taught to be consistent, courteous, and can use technology.

2. Variety of Services Offered
The best telephony companies offer both live and automated services—make sure the services offered can suit your profession. The best situation would be one in which the answering service could be modified to meet your changing business needs. A wide range of offered services reflect a company that is versatile and well-grounded.

3. Service Levels and Availability
Are live operators and customer service representatives available around-the-clock every day of the year, including holidays? Other key service points to consider:

  • Make sure that customer service representatives are familiar with technology—do they have the Internet at their disposal?
  • How will operators communicate with your clients—do they follow customized scripts?
  • Enquire about other services the company may offer—there may be some you weren’t even aware of but that you may want to have for your business, including ad-tracking, conference-calling, Internet faxing, order-taking, appointment booking, and more.
  • How long does it take for your call to be answered? What does the answering service do to ensure waiting time is kept to a minimum?

4. Stability
Are you dealing with an established organization?

  • How many years has the company been in business?
  • What awards and certification does the company hold?
  • Does the company have an emergency back-up/ disaster recovery plan?
  • Does the company have back-up power and redundancy of critical system components?

5. Demonstrations and Trials
The only way you will know for certain that a service suits your business is to actually try it out. Many telecommunications companies offer demonstrations and sometimes you can even sign up for free trials. Take advantage of these special offers to see if the services will suit your business.