telephone answering

[Monkey123dance]

hi we are currently with regus for our telephone answering paying 30pcm+vat for unlimited calls and answering. We just need the main line answered and a message taken. not happy with the customer service so am looking to switch but cant find anything priced.

Any ideas?

 

[Jason L]

I used to use Kendlebell ages ago and they were really good - but it's a franchise business so I guess it just depends which team you get allocated.

I couldn't tell you if they are competitive with your 30pcm - that seems pretty cheap to me compared to what I used to pay - but maybe things are more competitive now and the price has come down.

 

[sjbeale]

Try The Office Genie based in Northampton.

 

[S Isaac]

There are loads of companies out there. And unfortunately, most are not that great from my experience.

I suppose it depends on the level of detail you need captured, or what they need to say when they answer. I found most were quick to say how mazing they were, but then the staff answering the calls didn't really understand our business and it most definitely cost us business.

First impressions count, make sure whoever you use you don't tie yourself into a long contract and test their service, call up pretending to be a customer and see just how well they deal with it.

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

We used to offer this years ago when we first started out however we soon dropped this service.

The hard part is that your callers expect the person answering can do more than just take a message. They want to know this, that and the other and they want to know straight away. Think about why you need this service. If it is because you want calls answered when you are in a meeting, driving, etc, then fine, and you can take the rest of the calls. But if it's full time, think again. Think about using a Virtual Assistant instead - someone who takes your calls and gets to know your business and can maybe do your admin, etc. much like a secretary. This way there is consistency and, continuity and they are more likely to learn and know the answers to the most common questions from callers. Call answering is meant to be just that - take a message - and for typically the small amount you pay for such a service, you can't expect more than that. It also doesn't help if clients don't ring the caller back soon enough, or there are 10 different people answering the phone (call centre effect), or that the person taking the call doesn't have basic information to hand when they just want to know how much, when will you be back in, etc. Sometimes it is just a case of the service not being suited to everyone.

 

[S Isaac]

Well said.

At first we did expect too much from our first service provider. However, we did move up the scale and paid more & more each time with the promise of a more personalised service. It just never materialised.

Maybe we didn't ever pay enough, but with the lost business in the process we just took it back over and if we missed a call, called back ASAP, this seemed to work better.

Also, make sure you don't pay for cold calls, we used to get plenty of them, some charge you to deal with them, some don't.

 

[AlanGuidry]

but then the staff answering the calls didn't really understand our business and it most definitely cost us business.
.

Any decent provider will refund you any charges they make for cold calls or advertising calls you receive. Fair enough, why the heck would you want to pay for those kind of calls to be taken. A basic message taking service is fine but don't expect them to understand your business or provide indepth responses to customers - at the end of the day, they're not an extension of your staff! However stats do show that most people still don't like leaving voicemail messages so missed calls can mean missed business.

Why did the answering service lose you business?

 

[S Isaac]

Why did the answering service lose you business?

Because when a customer asked if we provided free quotes, they didn't have a clue what to say. In all honestly, call answering is good for just that ANSWERING.

Once the customer starts to ask any questions, you can hear the uncertainty/hesitation in their reply so it's pointless.

My advice would be, just get them to say "the person you need to speak to is out of the office, if I can take some details I'll get them to call you back".

I appreciate that there may be better services out there, but I wasn't going to carry on wasting time & money while losing customers to find them.

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

You are far better off offering a mobile phone number and telling them if you're out the office to try the mobile number and have your mobile message saying "cant get to the phone right now i'm either driving or in a meeting, as soon as i'm free I will ring you straight back" - all people really want to do is get to speak to you, so allow them to get as near to that as possible.

Message taking feels a million miles away from leaving a voicemail on your mobile. And people aren't daft - they know after a few calls that it's a call answering service so if you are a sole trader or similar small business, keep it in house. People understand you might be tied up but if they think you will hear the message within 2 hours ish and ring back, they'll be much happier than leaving a message with a stranger who has no idea when you will call back.

 

[VirtualVIP]

Hi Monkey123dance,

£30 per month for unlimited call answering is an amazing price. We offer call answering using a dedicated PA model. The idea is for your callers to never guess they are speaking with a call answering service. http://www.virtualvip.co.uk/friendly-service-works/

We are not as cheap as Regus but do place a huge focus on a quality service.

Feel free to drop me a DM or have a chat with a member of the team on our site.

Thanks

Steven

 

[AlanGuidry]

My advice would be, just get them to say "the person you need to speak to is out of the office, if I can take some details I'll get them to call you back".

Agreed! Their service should be one of customer capture and that's it. They should take the customer details and forward to you so you can call back. If you want them to be able to answer specific questions authoritively, the level of training and therfore the cost you'll pay will be incrementally higher.

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

Only problem there is that customer's don't want to hear that response, especially regulars that call and get the same response because the business owner is never going to answer the phone nor have the call transferred to them there and then, so they'll soon come to realise it's a waste of time calling to keep leaving the same old message and getting the same old reply, made especially worse if you do not ring them back within an hour or so. They then ring back and complain that nobody has yet called them back or they get peed off and don't bother. Therefore your £1 a call from an impatient customer or persistent sales person soon starts to mount up.

 

[AlanGuidry]

Only problem there is that customer's don't want to hear that response, especially regulars that call and get the same response because the business owner is never going to answer the phone ..

I think it depends on the type of business you operate. If I phoned Barclays and asked to speak to the Customer Services Manager for Business Banking, I doubt they would put me straight through. More likely I would be told he's in a meeting and they would take my details and have him return my call. I wouldn't get annoyed with that. If however I was calling John the local sole trader plumber from down the road, and always got this 'answering' response each time then yes agreed, this would seem annoying. You have to set up a service appropriate to the type of business and size of enterprise you're running - with consideration for whether your callers are mainly going to be initial enquiries or going to be existing repeat customers.

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

But in relation to the OP's question, who isn't a big company, it's likely to be the case.

 

[S Isaac]

We only used it for new enquiries. Once I'd called them back, they'd have my mobile number, so in future they could call me directly. And if I couldn't take the call, they (having spoken to me at least once already) were a lot more likely to leave a message on my answer phone or were okay with me calling back due to the missed call when I could.

The biggest issue was the loss of potential business because of the bad first response the customer had.

 

[Simon.P]

Interesting thread. I always thought the idea of getting a human to answer was more likely to capture potential customer details (opposed to a voice mail where a lot of people hang up), although its a good point about people asking lots of questions and expecting the answers

 

[AlanGuidry]

But in relation to the OP's question, who isn't a big company, it's likely to be the case.

I don't think the OP stated how big their business was - just that they were currently considering switching away from Regus.

..The biggest issue was the loss of potential business because of the bad first response the customer had.

I suppose each business needs to evaluate the option of having 1) call answered by a real person and message taken (but no real dialogue) versus 2) having the call routed to a landline/mobile number and being presented with a "please leave a message" option. For first-time callers I think they are more liklely to leave a message with a real person than voicemail.

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

@ alanguidry - I looked at their other posts and summized they are a sole trader or partnership.

£30 a month pus vat for unlimited calls sounds cheap, especially for Regus. Most call answering companies charge around £1 per call so i'd be inclined to get onto Regus and get them to improve their service rather than feel you have to move away and possibly pay more.

 

[HazelC]

I would highly recommend Louise of Indigo11 - although based in Peterborough she is superb and can work for clients all over the UK.

 

[lsmithTCSG]

We use Message Direct. They are based in Dorset but I believe they have national coverage. Cost-wise they will be more expensive than the arrangement you currently have as they charge a monthly base fee then charge per call taken. The difference being that their call centre staff are all trained in how to answer calls from your current and potential clients without giving the game away that they have actually come through to a messaging service. They can even give prices, discuss your services and even arrange appointments. Messages are relayed to you via email or text message (we have the latter for urgent calls).

 

[Amy Willis]

It's far better to use a company who doesn't have dozens (or more) operators, while they are likely to be professional, it's more important for your callers to feel like they're talking to a real secretary, almost like they are inhouse. I can tell when my calls are being answered by a large phone answering company, and while I appreciate that the company have tried their best to ensure that their calls are answered, I don't feel that my needs as a customer are being valued, it would be much better if they used someone who is self employed / freelance who the caller can recognise on the 2nd, 3rd etc. call and build a rapport with.