Once you realize you don’t have—or can’t find—the staff you need to respond to your customers’ incoming calls, it’s time to take action. Answering Services and Call Center Services come in all shapes, sizes, pricing and levels of experience, and understanding which one you need and why is an important step in this process. These nine questions should help you determine whether you should be choosing a call center or answering service to manage and grow your business.

1. Do you need Answering Services or Call Center Services?

Contrary to what some people think, answering services and call center services are not synonymous. While they are similar, there are differences that may make a difference in which one is the best fit for your business. For example, answering services can take messages and make appointments when your onsite staff can’t. Call center services provide agents who have a wider breadth of knowledge about your brand and mimic your internal staff. Which one do you need?

2. What is your call volume?

You may feel like replying, “too many to keep up” or “I have no idea.” And that’s ok. Reputable firms will adjust your plan as you go along. If you know the number of calls you answer but are unsure how many you missed, consider “businesses miss about 22% of the calls they receive” (Matt Rayner of Liquid 11).

3. When do you plan on forwarding your calls?

Are you looking for service after business hours, weekends, and holidays? Don’t forget that you can also outsource the handling of call overflow during office hours, while your staff is swamped. Will your customers call after 10:00 pm or before 5:00 am?

 

after hours call answering in different timezones

4. How do you want calls handled?

It all starts with transferring calls professionally and expeditiously. You may have heard the terms “warm transfer”, “cold transfer” and “blind transfer”. What are the differences between them and which one is best for you? The most basic of services involves simply taking a message and/or making an appointment. The level of services offered go up from there.

When cold transferring (sometimes called a blind transfer) a call, the agent finds out which person or department callers are looking for and transfers them to the right place, without announcing the call.

When warm transferring a call, an agent will announce the call after getting the caller’s name, company, and phone number. Then, if one of your team members doesn’t pick up the call, the agent will take a message.

5. How and when do you want calls reported back to you and your team?

Email and text are common options, or even fax if that suits your team’s preferences and work style. But the options don’t stop here; entering the data directly into your CRM or uploading a CSV file are other options that may be the best yet for your organization. Also, think about the interval of the delivery. How often do you want to review the reports? Real-time might sound like the best, but may not be the most practical for all types of calls. You can even combine these methods for the most optimal results.

6. How do you want your brand to be seen…or in this case, “heard”?

Would you like a pre-recorded personalized greeting played for every caller before they reach a live answering agent? If so, would you like the firm you’re using to record the greeting or would you like to record your own? Think about what you’d like to say, but keep it short and sweet; around 75 characters or so. Of course, call transfer etiquette is essential and should be discussed with your call center representative before your service goes live.

If you are expecting a large influx of calls, perhaps you need a service that allows callers to keep their place in line and get a call back when it’s their turn. Today’s call centers and telephone answering services provide some high-tech options that give your customers the flexibility they need. Think about the best possible experience for your customers.

7. What information would you like the agent to gather from your callers?

What actionable information can the agent request for callers that would help you respond appropriately? Consider if you need to know both their first and last name, phone number, and email address. Additionally, would you like the caller to know whether the call is being recorded for training purposes? And is there a specific way you’d like the agent to close the call?

8. How would you like urgent messages to be handled?

How should calls be routed? It’s pointless to hire an answering service or call center if your calls or messages don’t get to the right person, at the right time.

Also make sure to consider what the criteria are for a call to reach “urgent” or “emergency” status. Would you like a copy of the urgent message sent to you after it has been delivered to the appropriate person? Is it the same procedure for every day of the week and every hour or do you want a different protocol for nights vs. weekends vs. weekdays?

9. Who, other than you, will have the authority to make changes to delivery options, messaging, etc.?

Would you like access to call data and delivery options to be password protected? Will you be accessing remotely? If you’re unavailable, make sure you have a plan in place for someone else to have the access they need to keep your outsourced answering service or call center running smoothly.

 

At first, the process may all seem a little overwhelming. But experienced answering services and call centers will be willing to do as much handholding as you need. After all, it’s their job.

If you are in the process of choosing a call center or answering service for your business and have questions for our team, reach out today. And, if you’re not quite ready to connect, we recommend reading “Answering Services for Small Businesses: Expectations vs. Reality” or “The Challenges and Opportunities of Missed Calls.”