Editing How Telephone Answering Services Work

A telephone answering service is a business that takes phone calls for other businesses. Just like a call center, an answering service consists of operators at computer stations answering incoming telephone calls.   

One big difference between an answering service and a call center is that answering services typically serve a variety of different customers at once. For example, a call center for the cable company only takes calls associated to their cable services. An answering service, on the other hand, can take calls for HVAC companies, medical offices, attorneys, manufacturing companies, and hundreds of other businesses.  

Answering service operators are able to take calls for all these different companies thanks to training and technology. Training covers the basics of just how to handle the different call types they'll receive on a regular basis, just how the different computer software works, and what their responsibilities tend to be. The technology allows them to have different scripting as well as instructions for each call type, showing them exactly what they need to know whenever a new call comes in. The technology also handles the call routing and other behind the scenes work that happens to ensure the call reaches the answering service.  

There are a amount of different things that answering services are responsible for when taking calls for their clients. They may be asked to take messages, schedule visits, process orders, transfer calls, provide information, or perhaps function in a customer service ability.  

For example, let s examine just how answering services take calls for medical offices. These includes hospital networks and doctor's offices that need help taking calls after hours or when they're busy during the day (such as during their lunch break).  

Without the answering service, these offices would definitely need make sure that there had been always employees available to take calls. This can be expensive. Another alternative will be sending the calls to voicemail as well as following up whenever the office returns. The issue there is that important phone calls would be missed. Answering services allow the office to have every call answered reside without having the cost of paying employees.  

Whenever the medical practice wants their calls to go to the answering service, they enable call forwarding. Then each call created to their phone number will be forwarded to the answering service. There, the trained operators answer each call as if they were a receptionist working for the office. They have instructions on how to handle the different call types, so they can answer to emergencies quickly as well as save routine messages for the next business day.  

This really is simply one example of just how answering services work. Every business is different so answering services adjust to the needs of their clients. 

Melanie Cartwell writes about small business, customer service, and communications. To learn more about telephone answering services visit [http://www.continentalmessage.com/ www.continentalmessage.com].