Purchasing resources for Answering Services


Quickly find vendors of business answering services. Research providers offering an 800 answering service and online answering service for small businesses. Review sellers of business telephone answering services and answering service software.

Search Results

Sound Telecom - Business Answering Services & Call Center

Sound Telecom provides customized, cost-effective solutions that achieve your specific call center or answering service needs.

www.sound-tele.com
Answering Service - 24 Hour Call Centers

A Courteous Communications offers many answering services which include, telephone answering services, call centers, order taking and processing.

www.courteouscom.com
Spectrum Communication Services Inc.

Spectrum Communications is an award-winning Milwaukee-area answering service and call center operating 24/7/365. Celebrating 30 years in 2013.

http://www.spectrumcomm.com
Coastal Data Access, LLC: Auto Attendant

Provides an auto attendant phone device for alpha-numeric paging, voice mail, SMS text and call routing. Perfect for a medical office practice.

http://www.coastaldataaccess.com
InteliPhone

Lower your costs by using Live Operators only when you need them. Our blended approach brings you the best of Live and Automated Answering Features.

http://www.inteliphone.com
Specialty Answering Service

Offer inbound and outbound call center services including order processing, appointment scheduling, survey response, and customer service.

http://www.specialtyansweringservice.net
TelAssistant

Our live phone answering service provides telephone answering systems and virtual receptionists for small businesses.

http://www.telassistant.com
VoiceNation Live

A nationwide answering service with over 40000 customers. Why? Quality service. No contracts. Simple pricing with no hidden fees.

http://www.qualityansweringservice.com
Medical Answering Services

Providers of answering and messaging services for the medical industry.

www.business.com/sales-and-marketing/medical-answering-services/
Voice Mail

Quickly find vendors offering business voice mail services and voice messaging systems. Locate business voice mail service providers that offer voice mail systems, multiple voicemail mailboxes, mail forwarding, and other voicemail solutions.

www.business.com/telecommunications/voice-mail/
Using Answering Services

Source: /guides/using-answering-services-25060/

Deciding to use telephone answering services for business is the first step. Business answering services asset your company by providing prompt telephone answering and messaging options, scheduling, or your choice of other call handling features. Read More »

Answering Services Basics

Source: /guides/answering-services-basics-26815/

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. Read More »

Answering Services


Your small business is generating more phone calls from customers and potential ones – and that's good news except it's getting harder for you to make your products or give services. Consider outsourcing your incoming calls. The value of a human voice is huge – many callers will simply hang up rather than talk to a machine. But before you pick the cheapest answering service to handle your calls, remember this vendor may be a caller's first impression of your business and should be treated as a partner in branding your business. Three important things to know:
  1. Clarify what you need before you search. What type of calls will you need the answering service to handle – orders, information, technical support, e-mail and Web chat? What volume do you expect? Take into account seasonal spikes.
  2. Understand pricing and compare apples to apples. Quotes may be per-minute, per dedicated rep, per call.
  3. Evaluate answering services with surprise sample calls by getting phone numbers from the vendor's other clients. Listen to the type of live calls you plan to outsource. Are agents friendly, knowledgeable and skillful with irate callers?

Find the industry's best online

Choose a company that belongs to a professional trade association

Search the Web to compare prices

There are hundreds of answering services competing for your business - it's one of the easiest home-based businesses to start - so use the Web to research prices.

Find out how long operators typically work before quitting

The person who actually answers your phone is vital to your business. Is she enthusiastic and well-trained? If 35 to 50 percent of a vendor's staff has been around three years or more, that's a good sign.

Experience counts

You get what you pay for - the more established answering services will have higher prices - along with existing customers and a sterling reputation. Start-ups can be fine if management has experience in the field.

Pick a specialist

Whether you need bi-lingual services or an automatic rollover to a live operator when a natural disaster strikes, there are companies that specialize in niches.
  • Don't let the provider buy and set up a phone number for you. It's easier to own your own number if you switch providers.
  • Sign a non-disclosure agreement, ensuring the provider won't share information gleaned from your business with competitors.
  • Make sure the answering service has back-up power and redundant critical systems.