Today, it is not easy to justify not getting back to your client promptly or returning their calls. Besides, you may lose prospective clients by missing calls, whether it was intentional or not. As such, a call answering service for your company comes in handy to ensure you are available on the phone 24/7 and you never have to miss any important calls or messages. It also provides you with the much-needed peace of mind to concentrate on the critical aspects of running your company. Below are some evaluations to make when choosing a call answering service for your company.

Experience in regards to your industry

It is best to choose a call answering service with experience in your industry. For instance, if you are looking for doctors answering service, you need a compassionate and understanding virtual receptionist able to respond to general medical questions and schedule medical appointments. In such a case, you won’t have to spend a significant amount of time bringing the receptionist to speed. A knowledgeable team might also give you tips based on their previous experience in the industry.

Do you need a 24/7 canna answering service?

You may need a 24/7 call answering service even if you are not always in the office for all that time. This is especially important for the service industry, such as medical practitioners, plumbers, locksmiths, etc. Clients need to reach help for emergency services. The right call answering service for your company can examine every call that comes in and handle it according to the urgency. Customers must have someone they can reach out to whenever they need help.

Consider your call volume.

Before choosing a call answering service, it is essential to evaluate your call volume on a typical day and your needs to find a suitable company to partner with. It also helps you to determine the costs for your call answering service. While some companies charge a monthly flat fee, others charge by the minute orb the call. All in all, ensure the service agreement has a protection policy in place to ensure your customers get quality service. They should also provide a way to audit and review the quality of service to know if you are getting your money’s worth.

The type of monthly reporting available

A good call answering service should provide monthly reports based on different factors such as:

• The number of received calls.
• Types of received calls, e.g., inquiry, appointment booking, etc.
• Times each call comes in.

This report helps you to organize your service plan. For instance, if there are more callers in the morning, you may realize that you need a live receptionist for the morning hours then switch to the call answering service in the evening hours.

Emergency backup plan

Ensure the call answering service has an emergency backup plan in case of catastrophes like power outages. Some of the questions to ask are: do you have a reliable emergency backup plan? Can you reroute calls to different locations during emergencies?

The bottom line

Pick a call answering service that aligns with your company’s needs.