The Impact of Poor Communication without an Answering Service

Recently my father had a total knee replacement.  I wanted to share my personal experience when his doctor’s office didn’t have an answering service and the impact of not having an answering service had on my father and my family.

My father who is 76 years old and an avid walker decided to go ahead with a total knee replacement.  Since my father was in great shape for his age, the doctor thought it would also be a great idea.  The main concern I had was the few medical issues he had such as C.O.P.D. and P.T.S.D.  and the medications he took to treat those issues.  Since the doctor was aware of those medications and I hated seeing my father in pain during his walks I was 100% behind the decision.

After surgery my father spent a week in the hospital and was released on a Friday to go home.  He was prescribed a narcotic and Tylenol for pain and settled in at home with my mom.  My mom who is 74 years old had no medial experience.  After my father’s release, the doctor gave my mom instructions of what my father needed to avoid and a printed schedule of when to take his medications.  Everything seemed to be going well and we all anticipated his healing to progress smoothly, until Saturday morning.  Saturday morning my father woke up very confused and had slurred speech.  He almost sounded drunk when I spoke with him on the phone.  I then spoke with my mom to find out what medication he had taken.  My mom said he was sleeping most of the night and he didn’t take any other medication than what was listed on the schedule that was sent home from the doctor.  I asked if she could please call the doctor’s office and speak with them about his symptoms.  She agreed to call.  I waited 20 minutes and since I didn’t hear back from my mom, I decided to call to see what the doctor’s office said.  To my surprise she said that she left a message on a recording.  I asked her if she was sure she called the right number and she said she did.  I asked her if I could have the number so I could try to call and she gave me the number.  I hung up the phone with my mom and immediately called the number she had.  I also received a recorded message and it was in fact the doctor’s office.  I tried to hit zero but it didn’t go anywhere.  Since I am in the answering service business and we answer for many doctor’s offices, hospice companies and home care companies, I couldn’t believe I was getting a recorded message with such a serious procedure.  I immediately called my mom back and asked if my dad’s symptoms improved.  She said no.  In fact, she said he is more confused.  I was a former E.M.T. and Nursing student so I knew the symptoms of stroke and when medication interaction problems occur.  I asked if my mom if she could please call 911.  She said that they are way in the country and it will take the ambulance 30 minutes to get there.  Maybe she should wait for the doctor’s office to return her call.  She didn’t want to be a bother on a Saturday to the volunteer E.M.S. that supports her area.  I was extremely frustrated and worried by the lack of communication.  I thought we needed answers quickly.  I decided to hop in my car and make the hour long drive to their home, hoping that someone would return the call to my mom.  After a half an hour went by I called my mom again and asked if the doctor’s office had called back and she said no.  She even left another message.  I pleaded with her at this point to call 911 and she finally agreed.  As I was pulling in their driveway, they were loading my father up in the ambulance.  I then took my mom in my car and we followed the ambulance, which was an hour away.  We rushed into the emergency room and asked how my father was doing.  We were led to his bed and my father was sleeping.  We wondered what was going on.  The nurse came over to his room and explained they believe my father had a drug interaction.  I asked if his doctor was contacted and she said no, they have the on call doctor taking care of him now.  The on call doctor came over to us and said my dad would be fine but he believes his P.T.S.D medication and the narcotics were interacting with each other.  He wanted to know the schedule of when he took the medications and my mom told the doctor.  The doctor discovered that my mom read the instructions incorrectly and gave my father a double dose of his narcotic instead of giving him the medication twice a day.  My father ended up recovering that day and was back to normal, except for the pain from his knee surgery.  My mom never did hear back that weekend from the doctor’s office.  I was extremely upset by the lack of available communication with his doctor.  I thought, all the doctor had to have in place was an answering service.  Sure, I would have liked it to be All City Communications, but on a personal level I didn’t care who would answer the phone, as long as it was answered.  My mom agreed that she wished she would have been able to speak to someone from the doctor’s office to discuss what medication she gave my father over the phone without having to have my father brought to the emergency room.  A simple phone call would have been so much better.

This situation happened to us personally and we became extremely frustrated and upset as a family because communication wasn’t available to us.  Also, more importantly the level of care for my father suffered because of the inability to contact the doctor’s office.  My mom said she would not recommend the doctor to anybody because of the inability to speak to someone.  She said it seems that the doctor didn’t want to be bothered with my father on a weekend.

The cost of having an answering service greatly outweighs the impact of not having the proper communication for your patient, client, or customer.  Poor communication, as shown in this example, could have been avoided by simply having an answering service.  Every time my brother, my mom, or I spoke to somebody about my dad’s condition from the surgery we always mentioned the trip to the hospital because of not being able to speak to the doctor.  Avoid the negative impact of poor communication and invest in an answering service.  

The Impact of Live Answering on Customer Service

I was recently at my parent’s house discussing how they believe modern technology has taken the customer out of customer service with all the automated phone systems and voice recordings they have to deal with on a daily basis.  My dad, who is in his 70’s, explained that his recent encounter with his satellite television provider was a prime example of how the customer is not the priority anymore.  My dad explained, “Last week our television kept losing its signal so I decided to call our satellite provider.  I dialed the toll free number and immediately I was connected to an automated system.”  He said, “I tried listening to what the computer voice said and it told me to enter my telephone number or account number on the system.  I proceeded to enter my telephone number using the keypad on the phone and then the automated system wanted me to say what issue I am currently experiencing.”  I said, “No signal.”  There was a pause and the automated system said, “What issue are you currently experiencing?”  I again said, “No signal.” Again, there was a pause and the system said, “New Service.”  I said, “No new service, no signal.”  The system responded, “You are already a customer, main menu.”  My dad continued, “I tried hitting zero and hoped to speak to a person to explain my issue but then the automated system said , “Invalid entry, main menu”  My dad said, “I hung up.  I couldn’t handle this anymore.  I decided at that point I am cancelling my service.  I have had them as a satellite provider for over 12 years but I felt I wasn’t valued.”  “I found the mailing address of my satellite provider, and I sat down and wrote a letter.   Indicating that I no longer want their service.”  “After I completed my letter I called a cable provider in my area and to my surprise a welcoming person answered the phone and discussed my needs.  I was impressed.  My dad then went on to tell me, “Get rid of your satellite provider because they don’t value me as a customer. “  I didn’t change but the situation my dad experienced will not be forgotten. 

My father, like many people today, get frustrated with the inability to speak to someone immediately regarding their concern.  Also, many people like my father, make their buying decisions based on the level of service they receive.  Live communication is essential to satisfying the needs of your customers.  A recorded phone system or voice mail not only provides poor service to your customer but it will frustrate and irritate your customer as well.  The impact of the customer not buying from you because there is not a person answering and listening to your customer’s concerns is huge, but the impact of that same customer telling their friends and neighbors, via social network and word of mouth, can be even larger.

When you start thinking of customer service, think of the customer first.  What needs does the customer have?  Will the customer be more or less satisfied having their concerns addressed immediately?  Obviously, we all would be more satisfied if our concerns are addressed immediately.  Live answering on every call doesn’t require a large investment in labor as many would expect.  The solution is much less expensive, an answering service.  An answering service, like All City Communications has a large number of highly experienced, professional customer service associates ready to answer your calls live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  The customer service associates are highly trained in many different industries, and they can begin answering for your customers or prospective customers immediately.  Think of your customer first and utilize an answering service.  Stop frustrating your customers and start valuing them. 

An Evolving History of an Answering Service

In the late 1970’s as communications grew, so did the need for a live answering service.  The need and demand of an answering service to support businesses coincided with the reduced cost of telecommunications and increased costs with labor.    The operators for the answering service would act as a receptionist for the business and dispatch the messages to extensions within the company.  All City Communications provided this service for many companies.   The message center had a revolving wheel above the operators where messages were stored after being written down.  This wheel would be accessed by spinning it to retrieve the message when the person who had a message called in for it. 

In the late 1980’s wireless communication began the next phase of communication with the pager.  Pagers were given their own telephone number where the caller could dial in and send a numeric message like a telephone number.  The next technological advance of the pager was the ability to alphanumeric page.  Alphanumeric allowed operators to type in a message and send to the pager utilizing radio towers.  All City Communications helped many businesses with their paging needs.  All City Communications would handle incoming calls and dispatch via pager as well as repair paging devices.

Voicemail became popular in the 1980’s as a way for businesses to stay in touch with customers; however it lessened the personal contact needed for businesses.  Voice mail displeasure began to increase the need for businesses to have a person answering the calls instead of a machine or voice mail  system.  Businesses discovered their competitor had a competitive advantage with a live answering service and began to reduce the use of an answering machine in lieu of an answering service.  Businesses realized the small cost of an answering service outweighed the cost of fewer customers.

In the 1990’s computer and cell phone use increased and so did the variety of ways communication was achieved.  Email and text messaging was introduced.  The operator behaves as a bridge for the message to be dispatched utilizing these new technologies.  Character limits were increased on cell phones versus alphanumeric pagers resulting in more complete messages and email began the replacement of the traditional mail service.  Communications became faster and more accessible no matter where the recipient of the message was.  All City Communications was at the beginning of the emailing and texting evolution.  All City Communications began emailing and texting messages to multiple businesses making communications available in multiple ways.

Today an answering service can utilize an API (application programming interface) that allows call center functionality to be integrated with cloud-based customer relationship management, leads management, and other applications.  An answering service such as All City Communication can function as an employee sitting in the building of their customer.  Seamless integration is achieved for the answering service allowing the business to keep the largest cost of business, labor to be lessened while increasing the availability of the service or product.    

An Answering Service is a must for any Service Company!

I was recently reading an article by the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration news regarding how a call answering service is still relevant.  Of course being in the answering service industry I completely agree with the article but I wanted to share some points from the article. 

According to Mike Agugliaro, owner of a HVAC company in New Jersey, he was able to generate an additional 5.4 million in revenue from using an answering service.  Mike began using an answering service 3 years ago not only to help with after-hour and emergency calls, but to answer over flow calls during business hours.  Overflow calls are handled when a call can’t be answered during the day due to either nobody in the office or if their phone is busy.  The call after a certain amount of rings will forward to the answering service.  Mike stated, “Nobody’s calling a plumber, HVAC company, or an electrician solely to chat about their weekend,”, “Something bad is really happening. When you’re in the middle of something really bad, the worst thing is to call and get an answering machine.  We recognize when people are in a time of need, they need a human being to talk it through, calm them down, and help them through the situation.”

Mike also saw a huge impact to his business when hurricane Sandy hit and their phone lines were down but the answering service was still answering his phones.  “If we didn’t have this backup system in place, we would have lost millions of dollars,” Agugliaro said. “But since we did, when our phone system dropped out, the call center was picking up, and we were able to survive.” 

An answering service can help your business in many ways and these two examples show how invaluable the answering service is to this heating and cooling company.  Once you understand the reason why an answering service is invaluable to your company you must determine which answering service fits your business needs.  Just like the HVAC industry, no two answering service are alike. 

Some of the criteria you should use when searching for an answering service includes; does the answering service you are looking at answer every call live?  This is important because some answering services claim to answer the calls in 2 rings, however they don’t claim to answer the calls live within 2 rings.  If an operator doesn’t answer every call live, some services use a recorded greeting to answer the calls within 2 rings only to tell your caller to stay on the line for the next available operator.  This is a tremendous difference.  Does the answering service you are looking at meet the needs of your employees with how they like to receive a call?  Make sure the answering service can dispatch the way you and your employees like to be dispatched.  Texting, emailing and calling should be able to be done for every individual that may take a call.  One employee may prefer a text after hours while another employee doesn’t like texting, but rather receive a call.  Make sure the answering service meets the needs of your business.  Does the answering service have people answering the phones that sound professional and empathetic to the needs of your customers and treat your customers like you would expect your own employees to treat them?  Ask for references from the prospective answering service and call their references.  Ask the reference about the people answering the phones.  Does the person answering the phones exceed your expectations in terms of tone and professionalism?  Ask the answering service if they record their calls and then ask for a sample recording of their operators handling an emergency no heat call.  The person answering the phone is the face of your business.  Make sure the impression that is left with your callers is positive.

One answering service that should be considered for your call handling needs is All City Communications.  All City Communications exceeds the expectations of their customers’ needs in terms of ring count, dispatch customization, and operator quality and has done so since 1979.  Don’t lose revenue by not being available to answer your phones or by settling for an average answering service.  Exceed your competition and your customers’ expectations by utilizing the perfect answering service, All City Communications.   

Being Eco-Friendly as a Funeral Industry Supplier

We recently exhibited at the ICCFA conference in San Antonio and had a wonderful time meeting our current customers and introducing our answering service to other funeral directors.  As I was looking around the convention I kept seeing the words eco-friendly and green with many exhibitors.  I began to speak to companies within the funeral industry about what those words mean to their product or service.  I found that there is a movement within the industry to go green.  Some of the products I learned about included; eco-friendly caskets made from 97% recycled materials, eco-friendly urns that are water biodegradable and even natural/green embalming chemicals.  This made me examine how an answering service can be eco-friendly as a supplier to the funeral industry.

There is many simple strategies a funeral industry supplier can do to be more eco-friendly.  Most eco-friendly strategies take little effort that any office can adopt.  Some of the changes we have adopted to make us more eco-friendly includes;

11) Become more digital oriented.  We have focused on becoming a paperless environment.  Contracts are emailed over to our potential customers.  We do not need to print out a contract or price list to get it to our potential customers.  We can email over the digital copies.  Sure you can purchase greener, recycled paper which I encourage everybody to do, however there is nothing greener than no paper at all. The more you do online, the less need there is for paper.

     

22) A simple change during lunch can go a long way to reduce waste.  Bring your lunch in a reusable container instead of purchasing a new container from a restaurant.  A statistic to put it in perspective is “Once: the number of times that most of the more than 25 billion cartons manufactured in the U.S. are used.“  

33)  Reduce power consumption.  In our office the computer is used regularly for call handling.  A positive change for a computer is to utilize a green hard drive.  A green hard drive will have a spindle speed that is slower but will perform the same as a higher speed non green hard drive.  Another eco-friendly computer change is to use an eco-friendly power supply.  Some eco-friendly power supply providers can reduce power consumption by 33%!  Also, you can shut down lights that are not in use to reduce power consumption.  If office workers forget to turn off the lights, put a little reminder on the door so they see it on the way out.  Finally, replace your bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs qualified with the energy star.  These bulbs use 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs.   

44)  Recycle.  Start a recycle station at your work.  Make sure there are recycle bins for copy paper, newspapers and envelopes.  You should also make sure you have bins for cans, soda bottles and sandwich bags. 

These are just a few simple steps that we use at our answering service that any office can utilize.  After all, greener workplaces are not only efficient; they send a message of resilience, diligence and care to everyone at your business and to every customer you provide a service or product to.  

The Value of an Answering Service to a Funeral Director’s Life

An answering service is essential to a funeral home in guaranteeing that every call will be answered at any time and on any day.  Most funeral directors have nightmares of missing a call from a family they have developed a relationship with and promised to be there when their family’s loved one has passed.  A good answering service, such as All City Communications will answer all your calls live, without a recorded greeting allowing us to immediately listen to, empathize with, and comfort a family member calling in with a death call or a concern relating to a loved one. 

The benefits of an answering service that’s available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to the families of a funeral home are easy to understand, however the benefits of an answering service to the individual funeral director or owner of the funeral home may not be as obvious.  The work schedule of a funeral director is very fluid.  Anticipated time with the family of a funeral director can change at a moment’s notice.  Time for a funeral director for sleep or to spend time with their family or to simply enjoy a movie is as scarce as getting a hole in one in some cases.  Not only does a funeral director have to be available for death calls but also they have to be available to answer questions such as; service information, obituaries, florists, directions and billing questions. 

The solution for a funeral director to help with time is an answering service such as All City Communications.   All City Communications will answer every call live with a compassionate, empathetic voice and only dispatch calls such as a death call or a family that really needs to speak to the funeral director.  We can handle all other calls such as service times, obituaries, florists, directions and billing calls.  There is no need for a funeral director to be available for every call, 24 hours a day.  An answering service is a needed resource that a funeral director must utilize to free up time for their family and for themselves in order to provide a little normalcy to the hectic and unpredictable nature of their lives.         

Answering Service Cost: It's More than Price

There is nothing more expensive than a cheap answering service.

Many times throughout a day, the first words out of a prospective customer looking for an answering service is how much do we charge and how do we provide accurate billing?  It seems like the quality of our service is secondary than the pricing.  I am more than happy to share our pricing with anybody; however it is important for the caller to understand the differences in the quality of service versus the price.

Price is a one-time purchase; Quality is a life time purchase

Answering services are not built alike.  A good analogy is when you shop for a vehicle.  We all can head to a car lot and ask the car salesman, “What is the cheapest car in the lot?”  Most of us and I would assume all of us don’t ask that as the first question.  The reason we don’t ask that question as the first question is because we want to get the highest quality at the most reasonable price.  Not the cheapest without considering the quality.  We want a vehicle that is reliable that doesn’t have you in the garage monthly for an issue.  We want a vehicle that has the highest rated crash test rating to protect your family.  We want a vehicle that has the best gas mileage.  There truly is value we want that goes beyond price when buying a vehicle.  There should be no difference in how you look at an answering service.  Just like a vehicle that has many different amenities you can purchase, an answering service has many value added services that benefit your business versus just looking at price. 

All City Communications Value Added Services

All City Communications will answer all your calls live.  Your customers will have their needs immediately addressed.  There is an increased value to addressing your customers’ needs immediately versus an answering machine, voice mail or an answering service that tells your caller to remain on the line for the next available operator.  All City Communications employs the most skilled, professional customer service associates to handle your calls in the industry.  The person who answers your call is the face of your business and the ability of our operators to consistently and effectively communicate with your callers is essential in growing and maintaining your business.  Anybody can answer the phone; it takes a professional, experienced customer service associate to communicate effectively with your callers.  Our people will do just that.  All City Communications will ensure you actually receive all your messages accurately with correct spellings and with detailed messages.  There is no reason, no matter how cheap an answering service is that you should be with an answering service that doesn’t take detailed, accurate messages.  How much money will you lose if you don’t receive detailed messages from current customers and potential customers? 

Contact All City Communications