Outbound calls

Choosing a call answering service is a balancing act that requires you to consider a few of the finer points of B2B dealmaking. If it is your first time choosing a call answering service, here are some of the things to consider to help you make a good choice.

1. Pricing structure: Most call answering services follow one of the following pricing methods. In the first method, all features are available on all plans, with the cost increasing as you use more minutes over your billing cycle. In the second method, specific features are excluded from lower tier plans, and become gradually “unlocked” as your usage and monthly costs increase. Because of this, it is important to focus additionally on features, and not just price. Does the lowest tier plan actually contain the features you need? Every business using a call answering service experiences cost savings, and prices tend to move in lockstep amongst providers. The differentiating features that make price more of a factor are less about the total cost, and more about ensuring that even if you choose a lower tier plan to save money, you will still receive all the same features that you need.
2. Training and management: Nothing is worse than a poorly run call center. When you choose a call answering service do whatever you can to ensure that they have modern training and management practices in place. Training and management of a call answering service agent is essential, and for the most part, it shouldn’t be your responsibility. A call answering service is supposed to gather information from you at the beginning of your relationship, so that they can learn your business. The better they know your business, the better they can train your call answering team to speak directly to the needs of your customers. Ask your call answering service salesperson about how they train, how will they gather information from you to train on agent? What is their process for updating their files and training materials, and alerting agents if something changes with your business? Will they create any SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) to help their agents truly understand your business and customers needs? What processes do they have in place to ensure that your business has agent coverage at all times, regardless of illness or vacation. These are the key questions you need to be asking.
3. Metrics and data: Does your call answering provider provide metrics and updates? This will be more important to enterprise clients who have large communications budget, and need to demonstrate, at scale, that customers are being well served. This could include information such as average handle time, percentage of missed calls, average call length, and so on. If you are spending les than $10,000 a month on call answering services, you likely do not need to be concerned about this granular data. However, once your spend exceeds that amount, you’ll want to start to consider choosing a call answering provider that can cater to your need for performance data. It’s a bonus if your provider can supply you with this information in real time; large organizations often require it for accountability and decision making.