Geography is an important factor to think about when outsourcing services for your business. For example, if your business is in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex or surrounding area and you’re considering hiring an answering service, the company’s location may help determine if they’re the best fit. High touch is still highly valued, after all.

In the world of customer service and call centers, every single phone call is different. The person answering the phone must be prepared for a variety of personalities, challenges and temperaments when the call begins. An emergency call can be especially challenging if the call agent is not prepared. For medical practices and hospitals with regular emergency calls, having a medical answering service gracefully handling the situation is especially important. 

They say that 10 percent of conflict is due to a difference in opinion; the other 90 percent is due to the wrong tone of voice. When it comes to your customers, this is definitely something to keep in mind, as your voice can determine the outcome of any call. Just as you can give a caller a high level of comfort, you can give a caller a high level of anxiety — all with just your voice.

Sometimes, people and companies use the terms "answering service" and "call center" interchangeably. In reality, they are very different. In order to help you decide which service is right for you, allow us to expand upon the differences between an answering service and a call center.

It’s a common question many business owners ask themselves: “Doesn’t getting the cheapest price give the best value to my business?” While we all want to save as much as we can, lower price doesn’t necessarily translate to more value in the answering service/call center industry. A successful businessman put it this way: 

This month’s hero maintained his composure and provided excellent customer service while dealing with a particularly difficult caller.

There are many reasons a company would hire an answering service. One of those reasons is efficiency. You want to be able to focus on your primary business and trust someone else to handle the customer service or after-hours calls. You also want to build a business and save money. If you’re thinking of hiring a cheap answering service, however, it may end up costing more than you think. Here are a few reasons why you often get what you pay for when it comes to hiring a cheap answering service:

As a physician, you do your best to build trust with your patients. Wouldn't you want an answering service to continue to build and reinforce what you've already started? 

Did you know that the United States is the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world? According to a recent report from Spanish nonprofit, Instituto Cervantes, the US has more than 41 million Spanish speakers and another 11.6 million people who are bilingual among people ages 5 and older. Furthermore, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Spanish speakers is projected to rise 132.8 million by the year 2050.

As a manager or business owner, taking some time to look at what your competitors are doing can teach you how to win more customers. To begin with, an increasing number of organizations focus on customer service more than ever before. Why? According to several case studies, offering customers excellent service is the only way a company can thrive, regardless of its industry sector.