In our post “ When Growth Via Acquisition Makes Sense” we looked at the six reasons to make an acquisition to grow your telephone answering service. While sales and marketing initiatives provide consistent, controlled growth month after month, growth via acquisition also has several key benefits that shouldn’t be overlooked. Pump up Financials Fast: An acquisition produces a major bump to your top line sales. And in a properly run answering service, this will trickle down to bottom line profits in a big way. You will see results immediately in the next month’s financials. Though the full impact won’t be felt until after a full month of serving the acquired accounts, expect the initial results fast, soon after you send your first billing. Even greater financial results come from optimizing your acquisition in the months that follow. Don’t skip this step, as it could generate significant top line and bottom line results. Too many answering services, in a rush to move on to the next purchase, shortchange themselves by failing to fully optimize the properties they acquire. Rally Around a Major Project: Sometimes a staff gets stuck in a rut of the day-to-day routine that does little to invigorate them. An acquisition may just be the prescription to such a malady. Nothing pulls a staff together like working toward a major common goal with a tangible end. They will work hard and achieve results fast. Your key employees will rise to the occasion. They may enjoy the process so much, they’ll ask you to buy another answering service—and then another. Tap Available Infrastructure: Perhaps you have a half-used facility. You have room for growth, so why not take advantage of it? Even though you only use part of your operations room, you’re paying for the whole thing, so put it to good use. The same might be said about your equipment or telephony capacity. And if you’re flush with staff, put them to work on an acquisition instead of cutting hours. If you have unused space or scope, don’t let it sit idle, use it. An acquisition accomplishes this fast. Realize a Greater Economy of Scale: In general, two answering services will function more efficiently together than they will apart. The combined result may see a significant labor reduction when compared to their individual parts. In fact, sometimes a larger answering service can absorb a smaller one with a negligible increase in labor. Regardless, this labor savings—the greatest expense for any answering service—will boost the bottom line significantly. Though this economy-of-scale outcome can produce challenges or even negative results for operations numbering in the hundreds of seats, for most answering services, this proven economy of scale offers a can’t-miss benefit. Acquiring an answering service provides many benefits, with a nice financial boost being but one advantage. Though an acquisition can push those not inclined to embrace the challenge more than they would like, it can also take an answering service to another level. Be sure not to miss that. Janet Livingston is the president of Call Center Sales Pro, a premier sales and marketing service provider and consultancy for the call center and telephone answering service industry. Contact Janet at contactus@callcenter-salespro.com or 800-901-7706 to arrange a private consultation about buying or selling an answering service.Peter Lyle DeHaan is a freelance writer from Southwest Michigan.