Answering Services Basics

How and why business answering services may work to your advantage

Answering services save the day when your clients, customers or patients need some sort of attention 24/7 but you don't want to staff the office around the clock. While there are a number of different options and plans to choose from when you select an answering service, the general principle is the same: They take client calls when you can't, distribute general information and log messages for the later attention of your staff.

When you're sorting through the numerous answering services, some of the answering services basics you should keep in mind include:

1. Basic answering service features are common across the board.

2. One of the biggest benefits from using answering services is that your customers receive attention around the clock.

3. There are many different ways of retrieving logged messages from a call answering service.

Familiarize yourself with the features typically offered by answering service providers

Live answering services all function more or less the same: They field calls when you or your staff are not available, log messages for your later review, and sometimes distribute basic information, such as directions or hours of operation, to customers.

Find out why telephone answering services for business clients could help your company grow

Show customers that you care by having a live person always available at the other end of the line. Answering services may also benefit your business by ensuring that someone quickly refers urgent concerns to the proper person's attention. Industry-specific answering services, such as medical answering services, may also help to enhance the level of care for patients by ensuring that patients in need of urgent care or attention speak with the proper on-call physician.

Learn how to retrieve messages from a call answering service

Most answering services you select will use answering service software to route messages logged through your fax, e-mail or cell phone at varying intervals. Some of the higher end services even make messages available to you on their website in real time. Because options vary from company to company, you should verify how workers log and deliver messages before signing up with an answering service.

• It's in your best interest to snag every single incoming call, no matter what the hour. That's why having an 800 answering service may actually save you more money than it costs, in the end.
• Be careful with the idea of a "virtual answering service" - often that's just a fancy name for high-end voice mail.

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