A Better Answer Blog

There’s a difference between cost and value. Cost is the actual price for something. Value is how much it’s worth to you. If you’re a business owner considering a call center, this is an important thing to keep in mind. Just because one call center may offer the cheapest price, it doesn’t necessarily mean they provide the best value for your business.

Making the Value Decision

Businesses are often approached by any number of competing answering service bureaus or call centers that are trying to win their business. Usually, these competitors offer a cheaper rate that’s initially attractive reason to change. So what happens? They usually choose the call center with the cheapest rate. The better decision, the value decision, would be to incorporate these factors:

• Call handling accuracy
• Call handling response time
• Customer care and courtesy
• Latest answering service technology

A call center may not always be the lowest bidder, but if they have a history of satisfied customers and a commitment to quality service, it will provide value in the long run. If their Telephone Service Representatives (TSR’s) are some of the best in the business, their services come at a premium.

What Sets Us Apart

At A Better Answer, our staff regularly attends webinars, seminars, and in-house training in order to keep their skills honed at the highest level. All TSRs are trained on all accounts before they actually handle any messaging live. TSRs are monitored daily to be sure all messages are top notch. ABA is also enrolled in quality assurance testing. We invite you to come to one of our offices, observe our call handlers in action and take a look at our office walls, which are covered with quality call handling awards – some of the highest in the industry.

It is not unusual, should we have lost a client to another service, to have them return back to us. They say, “Leaving ABA was the biggest mistake we have ever made.” Additionally, they will add, “I am so sorry we left you. We even lost some clients because they loved your telephone staff so much.” It’s always a joy to welcome any customer back with open arms. A company that uses a second-rate call center will eventually experience “business laryngitis”… the loss of their professional “voice”.

In the end, it’s answering service quality, not low pricing, that wins the day and makes happy customers. A call center that provides that is a commodity.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in November 2011 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.