Learn how to set up an answering service for your home office. This will save you time and money, and also give your home-based business a more professional appearance.
Before you go any further, you must determine exactly what you need from an answering service. Is a toll-free number necessary for your customers, or will a local number suffice? Do you want your business phone answered by a live operator around the clock, or just during office hours? Would potential customers benefit from a bilingual operator? Put yourself in your customers' shoes. What do they need when they call you? The answers to these questions reveal what you need from an answering service.
It is worth noting that answering service companies these days rarely just answer phone calls. They often offer a whole array of business-related services. For example, some companies can set up client appointments for you, take customer orders, and even process customer credit card information. Other companies can accept incoming packages and redirect outgoing mail in order to give your home-based business a more corporate-like address. Of course these extra services do not come free of charge; you should carefully consider how much you will gain by using them, and then decide whether or not they are worth the money.
After you've decided what you need from the answering service, it's time to shop around. Get out the Yellow Pages and call local services, or get online and widen your search to include national companies. Look for reputable companies that have been in business for several years and that have received good reviews (or "testimonials") from their existing clients. Make a short list of the companies that look the most promising, and then call those companies for pricing information. Ask specific questions, such as:
- Is there an account setup fee?
- Is a long-term contract required?
- Is there a cancellation fee or a contract termination fee?
- How many phone calls are allowed per billing cycle?
- What is the fee or penalty for each phone call beyond the maximum?
Remember: the more information you get up front, the less likely you are to be surprised by hidden fees or extra charges later on.
Once you've found an answering service that looks promising, there's nothing left to do but sign up. Depending on the individual company, you can sign up in person, over the phone, or online via a secure website. Activation of the service might take anywhere from two to forty-eight hours. After that, you can sit back and let someone else worry about the phones for a change!
