What Is An Answering Service

An answering service is an outside company used by a business to take incoming telephone calls from their customers. This service is based on a call center which is a centralized office with operators answering for a variety of businesses. Although companies of every type and size have been known to utilize answering services, it is very common for small to medium sized businesses in certain industries such as real estate or law. When an organization decides to use an answering service, they specify how their calls will be answered. It is most common to have the service answer in the company's name in order to put forth a professional image. This also matches the sort of greeting callers would get if the company had a receptionist in their office.

The answering service would also have contact information for individuals in the particular organization it is answering for as well as protocol of how to disseminate the messages taken. Many companies have their account set up so that when a caller asks for an individual by name, the answering service will transfer their call to a specific number. Others have the service set up so that before transferring, the operator will call the contact and ask if they are available to take the call. If so, the call is automatically patched through. If the individual is not free to talk, the operator will inform the caller that the particular person is currently unavailable but will have them call back when they have an opportunity.

As far as methods of delivering messages, there are a number of options available to business owners. The most popular option of course is email delivery. With this, messages are typed out by the call center operator and sent to a particular or multiple addresses. Many companies have their after-hours calls taken by their answering service and specify that they would like a list of calls and their corresponding messages emailed to a general company inbox the next morning. This is quite efficient as it allows an office to start calling back customers that called after their closed the previous night. Instead of the messages being sent over the course of a night in multiple emails, they are all organized by time called and sent in a single message.

Of course, you can always opt to receive your messages as soon as the operator types them out. Many people want to be immediately notified of a call and its details and set up their account so it is sent to their inbox. It is hard enough monitoring your email inbox 24/7 without having to worry about missed calls, voicemails, handwritten messages, etc. Imagine having every single call that comes in while you were out neatly typed and sent to your inbox for your review when convenient. Not only is it cost-effective, but it is easy to set up and maintain. You even have the ability to set criteria as to which emails go to while recipients in your office. Perhaps billing questions need to be sent to one particular contact while technical questions need to go to another.

There was a time when a company would perform most of its functions in-house. Large companies with enormous call center departments are, in many ways, giving way to more streamlined and competitive business models. These organizations frequently make use of outsourced services while maintaining the same level of control, or better, of their day-to-day operations. And when outsourcing calls, you need not forward them to some obscure location overseas with unprofessional operators. Most quality call centers are located in the United States and have a decade or more of experience in the business.