Can Your Answering Service Do This? A Look at Advanced Call Centers

For years, one of the few things a call center could do was take messages. Then, slowly, they began to support more advanced features such as order taking and surveys. At present, advanced call centers can do any number of things from scheduling appointments to answering questions about a specific company's products or services. Amazingly, these centers are so dynamic and flexible they can go from handling appointment setting calls for one customer to taking orders for another. Impressively, they make this sort of transition time and time again and callers would be hard pressed to notice any lack in performance.

So many doctors and others in the health services industry utilize a medical answering service for calls that come in after their office is closed. Others may use their service for lunchtime calls or when things get particular busy. What many fail to consider is that a lot of answering services can manage their appointment books along with taking general messages for the staff. These appointments are maintained online in a secure place accessible by both the answering service and office staff. Patients can call in at time, day or night, to make or change their appointments. This is a major improvement over the old fashioned method of having patients leave voicemails and then calling them back with availability.

The real estate industry has always been highly competitive and fast paced. Real estate brokers and agents have made great use of advanced call centers by setting up operators as the first point of contact for potential clients wishing to sell their home or buy property. Unlike a typical answering service, advanced call center operators can ask questions pertaining to the property clients wish to sell such as number of bedrooms, address, approximate value of the home, whether there have been any recent improvements, etcetera. Real estate agents spend a great portion of their day outside the office and rely on support from services such as advanced call centers when out in the field.

Personal injury lawyers take advantage of the great functionality of advanced call centers by having operators take information from those injured in anything from car crashes to slip and fall accidents. Some common questions asked are whether or not the accident was sustained at work, if a police report was made, and if medical attention was required. Attorneys make great use of television, billboard, and other advertising. Because they are so effective, they experience a great influx of callers inquiring about their legal services. In the past, their offices were either overwhelmed by callers or they were forced to hire large staffs of temporary receptionists. A good advanced call center is able to provide the same help, but on an "as needed" basis and for a lot less money.

Construction supply companies use advanced call centers to handle orders and inquiries pertaining to material availability. A plumbing or HVAC supply warehouse might get hundreds of calls a month asking whether the company has a specific part or material needed for a job. In years past, warehouse staff would have to place the caller on hold and manually search for the needed piece. With advanced call centers, the customer can get an instant answer of product availability by having the operator access an online inventory management system connected to the warehouse's system. Furthermore, the operator can also order the part and handle payment over the phone for the customer.