5 Important Items to Consider When Choosing an Answering Service

1. Can I provide a script, or information on how to handle calls for my company? – Scripting is an essential part of a quality answering service.  Scripting requires operators at an answering service ask every question you need and helps the operators determine the correct person to dispatch your call to.  If the answering service you are considering just offers to answer your calls without taking the time to script out the call taking process, pick another company.
2. Are you able to screen and to forward calls? – This is an important question for very small businesses. No one wants the business answering service to take calls blindly (particularly ones from those pesky telemarketers). However, we also don’t want the service giving the runaround to our best clients. So, finding a business answering service that will screen calls, while also forwarding the important ones to a cell phone will be incredibly helpful. Regarding the in between, the person originally taking the calls could answer questions or direct the caller to right place.
3. Are you folks able to handle orders and/or appointments? – Even with all the technology available to take orders online and to book online appointments, many people still like to do it on the phone. If this aspect is still an integral part of your business, then you need a business answering service who can do these things for you and forward you the information. This question also ties in with number one, as the service also needs to be able to see what’s already been ordered or booked. A business answering service will only hurt you if they continually double-book appointments or call customers back telling them what they want is out of stock.
4. How do you handle messages? – Most business answering service companies have messages set up in a number of ways. You can have them delivered via voice mail, text, email, or fax. It’s up to you to determine which is best for you, and which companies deliver in the way that’s best for you. It’s also important to figure out how the business answering service will take the message, as in what information they will, or ought, to take when taking a message.
5. Do you have a business answering service specific to my industry or service? – Those with a law firm or a medical practice might prefer a business answering service that’s experienced in those industries. Obviously, a law or medical practice will need someone who can handle their clientele well, and will be able to get the information they need from the callers. Most business answering service companies offer more than a general answering service, and have either special answering services or at least experience in working with attorneys, chiropractors, startups etc.

5 Characteristics of a Good Operator

Customer Service Experience- I think it's important for someone to have experience working with customers in a professional setting.  It helps them understand how to act in a professional setting.

Active Listening Skills/Deductive Reasoning- I think it's often important for an Operator to be able to listen to the caller carefully and determine what they are calling about in order to not only more efficiently take care of the caller, but also make sure that the caller does not get upset by repeating themselves.

Inflection in Voice (phone voice)- It's often hard to tell someone's tone/mood, etc over the phone.  Having someone that can create the right tone in their voice to the caller can often times help a difficult call be more easy, or comfort a caller that may be in distress.

Empathetic- Being able to relate to the caller and how they are feeling will allow them to open up and get the appropriate questions answered and the customer feel as though they are truly being taken care of by someone who cares.

Patience- Often times callers can be hard to understand, phone connections can be poor, or a caller could be extremely irate.  Having someone that can be patient with the caller and not get upset can be key in handling some of these situations.

A New Year is Upon Us; get an edge on your competition

As you are aware, home health is a very competitive market.  There are many options for families and their loved ones to choose from when looking for assistance.  There are many factors that influence a family’s decision to choose a specific company for the care of themselves or a loved one.  One very important one is the availability and response time of the needs of a loved one.   As an answering service, All City Communications can directly improve the chances of making sure the family looking for a home health service selects your company and additionally can make sure your current clients’ needs are responded to immediately which greatly improves the reputation of your company.

Availability and response time begins from an initial phone call when looking for services.  Did the phone get answered by a voice mail or machine or was there a friendly voice listening to the needs of the caller, no matter the time of day.  All City Communications is available to answer all your calls live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays.  We never close and we will always answer your calls as your business without the caller ever knowing that we are not in your office.  In the caller’s eyes, you will be available all the time and your response time will be excellent. 

I am sure there are many reasons a family should choose your service over any other services in your market, however, if you are not available or responsive to their initial inquiry, you will never have the chance to explain why your service should be the one selected.  If your competition is available and responsive to the caller, most likely they will start the selection process ahead of their fellow competing home health companies.

Be available and be responsive in the New Year.  Don’t let the competition in your area gain an upper hand in the selection process.  Even if your caregivers are much more empathetic and professional than your competition, if you are not available to speak to your potential clients or current customers, you will never have a chance to share the qualities of your home health service that makes a difference.          

People will always be the key to excellent customer service

There’s a story I read on the internet (so you know it has to be true!) awhile back about a major snowstorm in Pennsylvania that occurred near the holidays. As a result of the blizzard, an 89-year old man, living on his own, got snowed in at his apartment. His daughter was concerned that he would run out of food, so she called a number of stores to see if they’d deliver.

No luck… until she called Trader Joe’s. Now, Trader Joe’s doesn’t normally deliver, but after hearing this woman’s story, they agreed to do so. In addition to taking the woman’s order, the Trader Joe’s employee also suggested food items that would work for her father’s low-sodium diet. Half an hour after the call, Trader Joe’s had delivered about $50 worth of food to the man’s apartment.

And to top it all off, when the woman went to pay Trader Joe’s for the food and delivery, they told her not to worry about it and have a Merry Christmas.  Now, maybe this story has been “embellished” a bit for the internet. Maybe not. But the point I want to make is that the interaction centered on real communication between two people.

At a hotel where I once stayed, I heard about a guest who was working out in the hotel gym and pulled a muscle in his neck. A trainer at the gym recognized the injury and suggested a massage. The massage therapist knew about the guest’s problem even before meeting the guest because the trainer had already filled him in. Finally, when the guest got into bed at the end of a long day, he went to sleep on fresh, firm pillows. The hotel had switched out his old pillows, knowing the firmer ones would be kinder to his pulled muscle.

The open lines of communication facilitated by the hotel and executed by its staff created an amazing customer experience.  Both the overt and subtle forms of communication are always at work in the relationships you have with your customers. Displaying attentiveness and a positive attitude, for example, goes a long way toward creating the kinds of relationships we’re all after.

Technology will continue to advance and the possibilities of communication will continue to expand, however; the essence of customer satisfaction and success will always fall on the ability of a person to listen and communicate effectively with their customers.  Technology is helping to change the future of customer service for the better. But there will always be a place for people, especially good communicators.

The 6 P’s of a decision

I was recently sitting at a restaurant speaking to a few friends of mine about why and how people decide to buy a certain product or service and it made me think, “Why do people decide to buy?”  One of my friends claimed that he doesn’t make any decisions based on emotion but rather he avoids any wasteful spending choices by making all his decisions with logic.  His claim of having all decisions being made by logic made me remember a professor I once had and the 6 P’s involved in any decision.  Even though logic can be a part of a decision, it still boils down to these 6 P’s or needs being satisfied in the decision process. 

The 6 P’s are pleasure, peace of mind, profit, prestige, pain avoidance and power.  Every buying decision we make revolves around one of these P’s, or needs being met.  Think about the last buying decision you made and I can guarantee one of these needs is being met.  The advantage of knowing these needs in a person’s buying decision allows you as a business and as a sales person to find creative ways to address the needs of potential customers and encourage buying decisions.  These 6 intrinsic needs being met are the “So What’s in it for me” in the buying decision of the customer. 

I used these 6 P’s as a way to justify a question I had.  Recently  I was watching the Presidential debate.  I said to myself, “Who would want to be President at this point in history when the world seems to be a chaotic mess?”  Well, I decided to think about the 6 P’s and it became clear as to why someone would want to be President.  At the top of the list, the need of Power is being met.  After all, there is no more of a powerful person in the world once you become President.  The second P on the list that motivates someone to want to be President is Prestige.  The historical significance of becoming President of The United States is obvious.  You will be remembered in history until the end of days and the prestige or status associated with being President of the United States is unmatched.  Finally, there is a need that I wish wasn’t becoming so prevalent in the decision to become President, Profit.  According to a CNN analysis of 12 years of federal financial records, former President Bill Clinton had his most active and profitable year on the lecture circuit in 2012, delivering 73 speeches for $17 million from mid-January 2012 through mid-January 2013. That brought his total haul in speaking fees since leaving the White House to $106 million.  Bill Clinton is profiting from being President.

When you are selling your product or service to potential buyers, remember the 6 P’s and how those P’s impact why a customer buys.  If you can understand that, you will achieve all 6 P’s or needs being met for your business and for yourself.

Security with your texts and emails

All of us have the ability to communicate to anybody at any time utilizing many communication methods, including: texting, emailing, calling, tweeting and a variety of social network sites.  Communication is so easily done that we forget to remember about the hazards of utilizing so many communication methods.  The primary hazard is the lack of security in your communication.

Make sure your answering service protects your communication and your customer’s information by utilizing a cloud based app for texting and emailing communication.  This cloud based app stores all the information in email or text in the cloud, not on the phone which can be lost or on the computer that hackers can gain access.  Not only does our app protect you from possible liability but it can be an extra measure of protection to your customer’s privacy that surely will be appreciated.

The miSecure app that All City Communications utilizes will protect you and your clients while also providing an easy way to organize your communication in a mobile device environment.  The app will keep a history of all communication between our answering service and your on call staff in the password protected cloud, ensuring the privacy for all communications.

Since I am sure everybody that reads this blog locks their office and home when they leave for the evening, everybody should also secure their device and all the communications between you and your staff and your client.  Don’t leave it open to the public.  Do not wait until a security breach occurs and hurts your business.   

How to Maximize Your Marketing Dollars

Marketing campaigns such as: mailings, print advertising, social media, and radio commercials are a great way to generate new business.  Hopefully the marketing efforts cause a potential customer to move to action and contact your business for a product or service.  The marketing dollars spent to have the potential customer move to action is step 1 in the sales process but having a reliable answering service to ensure the benefit of the spent marketing dollars is essential to the growth of your business.

The only thing worse than spending marketing dollars and not generating any leads is spending marketing dollars and moving a customer to action and disappointing your potential customer by not being available to answer their call.  If the caller hears a voice mail or answering machine they immediately feel like their interest is trivial and not valued.  They get the impression that they are just a number and the company that they were interested in is too busy to help them with their product or service.  In that brief moment when they moved to action you need to be available. 

All City Communications allows you to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays.  We answer every call live, as your company, ensuring you will never miss a call from a prospective client.  Also, we can track where the potential customer heard about your service which will allow you to measure how effective your marketing efforts are so you can be more informed where to spend your marketing dollars.

All City Communications will allow you to be available to your current customers as well.  The ability of our operators to answer as for your company will greatly enhance the level of service you provide your customers and ensure that your customer needs will not be missed to a competitor that is available to answer their call.  If you are going to spend money on marketing efforts, ensure that you will never miss a call by having an answering service available.