There are two ways to grow your telephone answering service. One is through a strategic sales and marketing initiative, and the other is through acquisitions. Both have their advantages. Some answering services prefer the controlled month-after-month growth achieved through a deliberate sales and ma…
Like any service business, a telephone answering service strives to provide quality service to its clients. While performing outstanding work stands as a key answering service goal, a critical support component is billing for all the work done. A failure to bill for all services rendered—along with …
We’ve looked at benefits of pursuing a strategy of answering service growth through acquisition along with the possible risks. Armed with this knowledge, we’ll now consider the steps to follow once you’ve signed the deal. Assure Staff: Regardless of how you’ll structure your acquisition, you will…
The concept of telecommuting, that is working from home, has gained traction in recent years. Home-based employees offer many benefits to both the employer and employee, that makes them a compelling consideration. But can this employment option work effectively in today’s corporate call center? Thou…
We’ve talked about the benefits of pursuing a strategy of answering service growth through acquisition, but to be fair we need to look at the downside as well. While the benefits of answering service growth via acquisition abound, the risks warrant careful consideration: Overwhelm Existing Staff: …
Sales success at telephone answering services starts with a sales funnel. Picture a funnel. Pour leads into the top, and sales flow out the bottom. This assumes you have an effective sales team in place to work the leads. Alternately, an empty sales funnel will produce no sales, regardless of how go…
Toward the end of last year, Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews firm, surveyed 300 US-based companies that used answering services. The items on their list of top ten answering service essentials is not surprising, however, their order of importance is, with some running counter to commonly held ans…
As an independent insurance agent, Jack Kippling had been in the industry most of his career. To grow his clientele he would buy mailing lists of new area residences and send them a series of marketing letters spread over two years. This resulted in steady growth year after year. For two decades thi…
The beauty of using online marketing to promote your telephone answering service is the ready availability of performance data to analyze a marketing campaign’s effectiveness. Don’t overlook this. Too many people do. A common online marketing opportunity is paid ads, such as Google AdWords or social…
There are many advantages in outsourcing healthcare call center work. Consider these five benefits before you categorically dismiss the idea of outsourcing. You’ll be glad you did.1) Increase Quality: When you select the right call center outsourcing partner, you can expect an overall increase in se…
Michael and Susan Carbine had spent the last six months doing a meticulous remodel of their beloved home. Their kitchen was last, and they pulled out all the stops: top-of-the line stainless steel appliances, exquisite quartz countertops, deluxe cabinets, and rich hardwood flooring. With the remodel…
Most everyone who owns or runs a telephone answering service dreams of growing it bigger. This allows you to service more clients, provide jobs to more people, and generate increased revenue. Of course the side effect of all this is increased compensation for you as the owner or manager. With this i…
Most people know that telephone answering services can take messages, but answering services also excel at giving out information. In either instance, the goal is the same: to delight callers, save you time, and minimize interruptions. As a starting point, think of what you include in an FAQ …
Using a call center broker to help you find an outsource call center to process your calls offers many benefits. A call center broker can save you time by speeding your campaign to a successful launch. A broker can also find a service provider that meets your specific needs and expectations. Another…
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 th…
The concept of the sales funnel is straightforward. Pour leads into the top of the funnel and sales drip out the bottom. The more leads you start with, the more sales you’ll get. The fewer leads, the fewer sales. But the reality is you’ll never get more sales then you have leads. This applies to eve…
Gerard Hoover sighed. His new security guard monitoring system wasn’t working as well as he hoped. With his staff of guards scattered around the city and working alone, he wanted to make sure they were doing their job, as well as ensure their safety – especially at night. Each checkpoint at each fac…
As the owner or manager of an answering service you have many areas to address. Each one demands focus and requires attention. These include operations, customer service, sales and marketing, technical, accounting, and administration. Few people can master all six, so the wise leader builds up key s…
Efficiency emerges as the vanguard in most all businesses. Even in healthcare, where quality interactions and successful outcomes, demand primary attention, efficacy remains as a key tool to achieve these desired results. Perhaps nowhere is this more critical than in healthcare call centers, where e…
You’re putting together the biggest marketing campaign of your career. And you’re pleased with how nicely it’s coming together. Your company has committed a lot of money to your plan, and their future is riding on the results you promised to provide. Quite literally your job is on the line. You have…