Per Call Billing versus per Minute Billing

When deciding which answering service to start an account with, you will no doubt encounter two different billing methods, per call and per minute. Although each has its own drawbacks and benefits, you should consider your budget, you company's needs, and specifically how you would use the service. What might work great for one company could be needlessly costly for another. As a result, it is best to first look at your own company before considering which company to hire to take your calls. Some questions you might want to ask yourself are whether you will require call patching, if you are interested in order taking or appointment setting service, or if you need any other specific specialty features.

One of the best parts about per call billing over per minute is if you need call patching. Many companies use their answering service as a receptionist to direct calls to the appropriate department or staff member. Where per call billing excels here is that most companies that bill per minute will continue to bill you on a per minute basis even after transferring the call out to somewhere else. For companies who frequently use the phone or find themselves on long calls, this can push your answering service expenses through the roof. With per call billing, it doesn't matter how long a caller spends with an operator nor does it matter how long they spend talking to someone in your office. Per call billing frequently helps businesses project their costs better than per minute.

One area where per minute is needed instead of per call is when bilingual service is required. Many companies have increased their business by including Spanish speaking people in their target market. Quite often, the only thing holding a company back from gaining non-English speakers as customers is the language barrier. When setting up an answering service, standard service billed per call usually does not support bilingual service. Many per minute services allow bilingual service to be added at a later date or can support it for a bit extra. Either way, it is worth considering especially if you do business in an area that has an especially prominent Hispanic population or you provide services needed by certain demographics such as immigration legal services.

Per call billing is sometimes helpful in assessing performance over the course of a month. More calls usually mean more interest and more customers. When a company using an answering service billed per call sees a sudden drop off in volume, they might try and ascertain the reason. Sometimes business is slow during certain months, usually for seasonal businesses. Other times a company will look at their monthly call volume along with other factors and decide to change their operations slightly or take on a new advertising or promotional campaign. It is worth considering, however, that per minute records might give insight as well. Many short calls might signal something as opposed to fewer calls longer in length, depending on your particular line of work.

This all might seem confusing, especially if you are new to using an answering service and you don't know where to start. One of the best things you could do in this situation is contact a reliable answering service and consult with a sales representative who has experience in these areas. Any service worth doing business with would be more than willing to take the time to speak with you about your needs and plans for the future in order to come up with an effective and affordable solution for your specific needs. The most important thing to remember is that answering services aren't "one size fits all".