At Your Office & PA we’ve been answering calls for business across the UK for nearly 15 years.
Over the years the company has grown, and technology has changed. Email, webchat, social media, and WhatsApp have all become a common way to communicate, but despite this, when it comes to the most important communication tool for businesses, the telephone is still King.
And that’s where we can help. Our telephone answering service supports businesses to manage their calls in a convenient and cost-effective way. We’re an extra pair hands without the additional costs of an extra employee.
So, if you’re wondering whether an outsourced telephone answering service could be the right solution for your business, then here’s 5 key questions to ask before deciding which service is right for you.
1) What sectors do you have experience in?
It’s important that the company answering your calls has a good understanding of your industry. Whilst your callers won’t expect your receptionist to be able to immediately answer complex or technical queries, they will expect to be greeted professionally, by a receptionist who sounds helpful and confident.
A good way to check is to ask if they have any testimonials from businesses like yours. This is a great way to judge if they’ll do a good job for you.
2) How do you deliver messages to me?
You’ll simply divert your lines to our office when you need support (don’t worry this is easy to do). We’ll then answer all your calls within 15 seconds, in your company name. We’ll always know the call is for you.
Every time we answer a call your messages are relayed to you (or a colleague) immediately in the most convenient way for you.
You can choose to receive your messages by:
- SMS
- By logging onto your account on our secure client portal website
- Calls being patched (transferred) directly to you
- A combination of above
You can update how you receive your messages daily (with no charges). For example, if you know you’re in an all day meeting and can’t be disturbed, then you may choose to have all messages sent by email for you to pick up at the end of the day. The next day you may be out and about between a few appointments and would prefer to receive messages by SMS so you can return calls throughout the day or have new enquiries transferred through to your mobile.
The choice is yours and can be changed to suit your day. This also helps our receptionists to manage your callers’ expectations as to when they’ll receive a call back or response to their enquiry
3) Do I pay for cold calls or wrong numbers?
A good telephone answering service won’t charge you for wrong numbers, hang ups, silent calls and cold calls.
Our service will shield you and your team from the interruption of cold calls and wrong numbers. We filter these calls free of charge (up to 5% of your call volume) saving you the cost, time and hassle of dealing with them yourself.
4) Do you offer diary management?
If you’re an appointment-based business then you’ll benefit from the convenience of your telephone answering service also being able to book, cancel and rearrange your appointments, saving you the time and inconvenience of returning calls yourself.
At Your Office & PA we have years of experience of working with online diaries for physiotherapists, home services companies (plumbers, garden services etc), beauticians and other heath professionals (and many more).
We can deal with a caller’s appointment request straight away so you can get on with your appointments without worrying about missing calls.
5) Can I pay per call?
Another important question to ask is how you are charged for the service. And most importantly if you are charge per MINUTE or per CALL – this is a very important distinction.
You should look for a good range of flexible choices without complicated contracts and lengthy tie-ins, so the service can easily scaled up or down, in a cost-effective way, to meet your requirements.
Your Office & PA offer pay-per call (Pay-As-You-Go) options as well as monthly invoiced accounts based on a call volume package.
We operate on a simple set of terms and conditions and a 30-day rolling contract. Perfect for businesses seeking to decrease fixed or long-term overheads.
You can trial the service completely free of charge for 14 days, so you can test and decide which is the best option for your telephone answering requirements.
Ready to find out more? Get started with a 14 day FREE Trial
The best way to decide how outsourcing telephone calls will work for you, is to test the service with our FREE 14 day, no obligation trial.
Setting up the free trial is quick and easy to do. You can choose if we answer all your calls or offer overflow/ back up service to you and your team, only answering calls you would otherwise have missed. You’re in complete control of the divert and can switch the service on and off as required.
Simply get in touch by clicking the link below, or by calling me on 01928 508800