Phone answering services

[PCX]

PCX, after you hire someone PT to even help, you will grow. Trust me on that....my sales last week hit $10,000 for the first time ever and it was because I had someone working the phones, upselling, and booking appts while the techs worked. It's wonderful.

I already have hired someone and he makes me tons of money, but I just am not quite ready to hire another person. So I know the concept. The other problem is I am very picky and I am looking for someone who cannot only work on computers but can also be a face for the business. Plus, I am looking for someone who is already a TV tech who is also willing to cross train on computer repair. So my options are getting slimmer and slimmer.

 

[callthatgirl]

the guy I hired is the asst manager, so he is a tech and face of the business (of sorts), does the phones, intake, etc.

 

[PBComputer]

I imagine that one of the hardest things will be finding a company that does not sub out their calling service to India or some other country that does not speak proper English. Do you find that your customers are comfortable with talking with someone else other than you or someone that works at the shop? Do you know if its affected your business?

The firm is 100% Uk based so all calls are answered via English Speakers, customers really like it and it helps to get a near 99.9% sale from each call. I do checks on the firm every now and again and get a few friends to make calls just to test them. - i'm currently paying £1.00per call.

 

[PCX]

The firm is 100% Uk based so all calls are answered via English Speakers, customers really like it and it helps to get a near 99.9% sale from each call. I do checks on the firm every now and again and get a few friends to make calls just to test them. - i'm currently paying £1.00per call.

I bet that gets expensive really quick. I will most definitely have to look into it. Anyone in the US using these types of services, please post who you are using, how much it costs and if they sub out their calls to centers in India or other countries that are non English speaking.

 

[nightkingdoms]

I use Answer America, flat rate of $1/call. My business number is Google Voice. They call that number and it rings the entire pool of numbers on the list at once. My cell, my subcontractors and my answering service are on the list.

The subcontractor and I usually answer, followed by the answering service, followed by voicemail. Subcontractor and I enter info into a new support ticket, answering service email forwards to support system creating a new ticket and voicemail gets transcribed and forwarded by email to create a support ticket.

All new support tickets notify subcontractor and I instantly by email and/or text.

Currently working on a custom mobile repair/shop repair/customer/invoice and payment hybrid management system to manage everything that I will probably want to integrate this all into at some point, too.

 

[callthatgirl]

I use voicenation, about a $1 a call I'd guess. This bill was $270.

 

[layoric]

PCX, after you hire someone PT to even help, you will grow. Trust me on that....my sales last week hit $10,000 for the first time ever and it was because I had someone working the phones, upselling, and booking appts while the techs worked. It's wonderful.

Wow... If my sales were 10k in a week I don't think I'd complain about a $300 / mo phone bill!

Seriously, I UNDERSTAND your other issues with it, but the ratio just doesn't seem an issue.

 

[PCX]

So, if the call gets passed on to a call rep only if you do not answer the phone yourself, then that would be great. In fact, it would be much cheaper than hiring someone full time to do it for you. Right now, I get way too many calls per day not to consider doing this. That said, after you hit a certain amount of calls per day, those dollars really start to add up and it might be more beneficial to hire another tech.

 

[lsi]

I guess I'm not clear on what type of calls these are and why you would not want it to go directly to a tech. Are these sales calls and not support calls? what does the service actually get you that someone in your store is too busy to do?

 

[Cornerstone Technologies]

I guess I'm not clear on what type of calls these are and why you would not want it to go directly to a tech. Are these sales calls and not support calls? what does the service actually get you that someone in your store is too busy to do?

Im wondering if you read the entire thread. Sometimes it just isn't possible to answer the phone 24/7. For instance, this past Friday, I was in a Federal building, and wasn't able to take phone calls. Normally, I would have my wife take the calls, but she was with me. That presented a problem, so an answering service was the answer. In our experience, it is always better if someone is answering the phone and making that human contact. People typically do not leave messages, which means that that opportunity is just lost. The human contact helps show professionalism to those that value such things. Sales call or tech call, it all works out.

And I think you miss the fact that not every member on this board has someone on payroll to just sit around answering the phone. I know we don't.

 

[PCX]

For us, its a matter of having too much going on and not enough man power . . . we have people who walk into the shop to make a purchase, while others are right behind them for repairs. Some times we are both up front, sometimes one is in the front and one in the back, but either way, we are not always available to take every call, especially lately. If someone were to answer simple questions and fill out service tickets for us, that would be enough to alleviate some of the burden. We do not need someone full time doing this, we just need it for whenever one of us can't get to the phone.

 

[callthatgirl]

The big sale week is not every week, that was just a big a## week. I wish I had that much every week, and that's a goal of course in time, but not this month lol.


I see the added expense as a necessary need for a few reasons, but like everything we have to watch is budgets. I pay almost 50 bills a month now for this business and some are static...I have no choice, there is no way to cut a cost. With some others, I can figure out ways to cut costs, I want to make a profit. I'm lost in my own thread now, but I guess overall, no...I can't complain. I love the service in the 3rd month and I really do enjoy getting instant emails (since I travel) and the lack of the extra time my techs spend checking voicemails and stuff.

@cornerstone...even with people on payroll answering phones, we miss approx 6 a day or so, maybe more. Some calls come in at night and I get those instantly, the techs call in the am.

 

[Cornerstone Technologies]

@cornerstone...even with people on payroll answering phones, we miss approx 6 a day or so, maybe more. Some calls come in at night and I get those instantly, the techs call in the am.

I just find this statement amazing, given the amount of volume you are doing and your success. Ive been with companies that have had less, and I cannot remember ever just missing a call. However, I agree with using an answering service if needed, just wondering about overall efficiency.

 

[cmonova]

I just find this statement amazing, given the amount of volume you are doing and your success. Ive been with companies that have had less, and I cannot remember ever just missing a call. However, I agree with using an answering service if needed, just wondering about overall efficiency.

I agree there is no way I would lose 6 calls a day. Out of that number they might not all be customers. At 5 days a week that comes to over 120 ballpark calls a month missing.

That could be a possible 5k-10K per month that is being left on the table. Impossible to let that happen.

 

[lsi]

those numbers are kind of an eye-opener for me but it's just a difference in demographics I guess. Being more of an onsite service and only servicing business clients means that if I miss a call, they always leave me a voicemail and don't even think about calling someone else. It's just a matter of how fast they can get support from me or from one of my other techs instead. I suppose it's been possible that I have missed a sales call here and there but they have already vetted me either through a referral or some marketing material I've distributed and they also leave a voicemail. Probably the main difference here is residential vs. business clients. I have a friend who does residential support and he has 6000 clients on the books. I imagine it could be disastrous for him to miss 6 phone calls a week. I have about 200 clients on the books and most of them we service every single week. I'm not going to lose any business by missing that many phone calls on their first attempt.

 

[callthatgirl]

We don't miss them now (and before we did have voicemail set up), the service now grabs them for us. That's why I had to get a service, we had tons of voicemails in the past. The business model I set up is working, but we have a lot of stuff to work out still. Growing too fast has it's downsides. I'm learning lessons daily.

Many of our calls are client call backs, techs calling for each other, the contract techs calling in and sales/marketing inbound stuff we don't want. The service has helped with those calls, but our Mpls phone still takes the first round and it's a lot.

A VOIP system has been purchased and is set to be configured for the phones in late July. It will be nice to have it done.

 

[MakoLogics]

We use.

We use Office at hand...

http://www.wireless.att.com/busines...rams/small/solutions/office-at-hand/index.jsp

Cheap and it works great, it built on ringcentral but much cheaper.

 

[donte10]

A VOIP system has been purchased and is set to be configured for the phones in late July. It will be nice to have it done.

What VoIP system did you decide to go with and how's it working out for you. Has it helped you become more efficient? How's the quality of the VoIP service?

 

[Digital Sage]

I'm in Melbourne, Australia and have a 1300 number that hits the office phone, then mobile, then goes to an answering machine that emails me their reply which i can instantly listen to on my iPhone.

My problem is by the time i've rung them back (be it 30 minutes, 1 hour or more), they've found someone else. THere's so much competition around here - be it expensive, cheap, experienced or otherwise...

I'm still starting up - still work casually for a unrelated business to bring in enough money. Not sure what to do - can't afford to hire anyone, can't always answer the phone, and missing jobs that come thou.

Calls are sometimes 3 a day, sometimes 1 a week. It's difficult at this early stage to juggle everything! Not enough business to make it full time yet!

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

I've never found an answering service that offers the phone answering quality that Maria or I do. It is not the direct cost of answering services that troubles me it is the invisible costs...