Choose the Best 24 Hour Live Answering Service

You Have Options When Choosing a 24 Hour Live Answering Service, Make the Right Choice

northern california virtual receptionist answering service call centerOften times a 24 hour live answering service is the first point of contact your callers and potential clients engage with.  So make sure whichever service provider you partner with has a proven track record of quality and award winning answering services. Bottom line your answering service provider is an extension of your business and is representing your company to your callers. As you know, you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression so you have to get it right.

 

 

Here are three (3) reasons why using a quality answering service is important for your company image.

  1. Has the Prospective Answering Service Obtained Third Party Validation?24 Hour Live Answering Service Call Center
    Look for an answering service that has been recognized as best in class in the industry by an objective 3rd party, otherwise you really have no way to validate the quality of their service.
    There are two governing associations for the Answering Service and Call Center industry.  The first being the Association of Tele Services International (ATSI) www.atsi.org and second is the Canadian Call Management Association (CAM-X) www.camx.ca. These two organizations conduct mystery calls randomly throughout the year to ensure that quality live answering benchmarks are adhered to.   You will want to ask your prospective answering service provider if they are members of either one of these two organizations as this is important.
    Click here for a quick and handy checklist to properly qualify prospective answering services.
  2. Understand the Validation and Scoring Process.
    As stated above, both associations conduct mystery calls randomly throughout the year to evaluate very specific service standards.  Think of it like a secret shopper for a retail store but via the phone vs. a store visit.
    Once a mystery call has been conducted, the recorded call is forwarded to a professionally trained industry judge that evaluates the quality of the call against a 19-point checklist of expectations and standards to determine the Call Agents score.
    Once the scoring process has been completed, the judge then force ranks the top services from the highest to lowest scores. Only the highest scoring answering services are recognized annually with the industry’s premier award, the Award of Excellence.
  3. Once Isn’t Enough.
     It’s a big deal when an answering service wins the Award of Excellence but find out if your potential service provider has won it multiple times.  This is the truest validation of quality.

Here are six (6) key questions to ask when you are screening 24 hour answering service companies.

  1. Are you a member of the ATSI or CAM-X?
  2. Have you ever been awarded the ATSI or CAM-X Award of Excellence? How many times? If not, what awards has your company received?
  3. What are the details of your Business Continuity Plan?
  4. Are you available 24/7/365?
  5. Are your Call Agents 100% U.S. based?
  6. What criteria do you use for training your Call Agents?

Celebrating 16 Years of Recognition for Excellence in 24 Hour Call Center Services

Direct Line Tele Response is proud to have been the recipient of ATSI’s Award of Excellence for the past 16 consecutive years. Additionally, we’ve also earned the CAM-X Award of Excellence and have done so consecutively since 2006.

Call us today to learn more about our Award Winning 24 Hour Live Answering Service888-365-2424.

We are the perfect extension of your business.

Contact us today to learn more about our services, at 888-365-2424.