6 Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring a Telephone Answering Service
When your business grows to the point you no longer have sufficient staffing to answer the telephones or you need someone to take calls outside normal business hours, you could benefit from the services available from a 24/7 phone answering service.
Finding the right telephone answer service is vital to ensure the continued success of your business. To help you find the best answering service, we encourage you to review these common mistakes many business owners have made so you can avoid them yourself.
1. Not knowing what types of services you require.
You need to know what types of answering services you require before you start calling service providers. The best way to decide what you want is to think about what you expect the answering service to do when they answer your calls.
Do you just want them to take a simple message? Should they collect more information? Will they need to schedule an appointment or provide some type of specialized support? If you don’t know what you want, you could end up with services you do not need or require.
2. Lack of experience in your industry.
It can hurt your business when the answering service does not have expertise in your industry. It can make your business look unprofessional. Calls may not get fully resolved and may leave your customers dissatisfied with the results. You want to find a service that is familiar with your industry for exceptional customer experiences.
3. Limited operating hours with no 24/7 coverage offered.
The point of having an answering service is so that there is someone available to assist your customers 24/7, including nights, weekends, and holidays. Everyone has different schedules. Limiting what hours customers can get help gives a negative impression of your business. Choose a service that offers 24/7 coverage.
4. Hidden fees and hidden costs that are not explained upfront.
Some services only tell you the base charges upfront. When you are billed, there are additional fees and costs you were not aware of because they were never discussed. Always request a detailed breakdown of costs before signing any contract or agreement, including any additional fees and costs. And be sure to choose an answering service that does full monthly billing rather than 28-day cycles.
5. Limited scope of answering services without any customizations or scalability.
Some phone answering services may not be able to meet your list of requirements, because they only offer basic or limited services. Others may not provide any customizations or not allow you to scale your services as your business grows or demand changes. Look for a service that can scale up and down with a full suite of affordable service offerings that will help you solve any business communication challenge.
6. Does not offer access to bilingual speaking telephone agents.
While providing access to English-speaking telephone agents is very desirable to many people, you still don’t want to alienate Spanish-speaking customers. Spanish is the second-most spoken language in the United States. You want a bilingual telephone answering service that has teams of agents who are fluent in both English and Spanish.
By avoiding these mistakes when hiring an answering service, and by asking the right questions, you can find the best service to fit your business. To learn more about our U.S.-based bilingual phone answering service and how we can help your business, or to request a FREE 7-day trial, contact AnswerMTI at 844-798-1027 today!
