A Better Answer Blog

When it comes to choosing the right answering service for your company, you might think price is the most important factor, right? Putting the cliché “You get what you pay for” aside for a moment, there are actually several elements that go into creating the best customer service experience for your customers. From the availability and friendliness of telephone representatives to the availability and capabilities of the company, do some research and you’ll find that not all answering services are created equal.

To help you find the right answering service for your business, here are some comparisons to look for:

Comparison #1: Price

While price isn’t everything, it is important. Some companies may wow you with fancy websites, big-budget advertising and professionally produced videos, but are those costs passed on to you as the customer? For example, Ruby Receptionists is a well-known answering service with a beautiful brand and charming message. But if you look at their pricing page, their most popular plan option is $489 per month. Here’s another example: VoiceNation, one of the biggest answering services in the nation, charges $149 per month… but it’s limited to 125 minutes per month.

Compare those to A Better Answer’s Answer Plus tier — which starts as low as $99 per month for unlimited services included in the tier — and you’ll see why price is definitely something to take into consideration when searching for the right answering service.

Comparison #2: Availability

One of the biggest advantages of hiring an answering service is that they’ll be there to answer calls for your customers when you aren’t available. That means 24/7 service with after-hours support and disaster relief. Some of the bigger companies like Ruby Receptionists only answers calls during business hours, severely hampering your ability to answer every customer call. A Better Answer, on the other hand, provides answering services at all hours of the day and night, regardless of the weather or if the power is down.

Comparison #3: Bilingual Capabilities

The United States is the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, so it’s almost essential to have someone answering your phones who is bilingual. A Better Answer employs experienced bilingual operators who exceed expectations for the Hispanic and Latino portion of your client community. Many top answering services — MoneyPenny, LiveAnswer, Ruby Receptionists, etc. — don’t have bilingual capabilities at all.

Comparison #4: Order Processing

If you’re in retail, restaurants or another industry that takes orders, you might want your answering service to process them. While A Better Answer provides this and more specialty services, not all answering services do. Be sure to watch out for companies like MoneyPenney, LiveAnswer and Specialty Answering Service that don’t provide order processing.

Comparison #5: Friendliness

Finally, a company can check all the boxes above — a good price, 24/7 availability, bilingual capabilities, order processing, etc. — but if the representatives aren’t friendly, it can still hurt your business’ reputation and bottom line. At A Better Answer, we only hire the most positive, professional people we can find, which translates to exceptional customer service for your customers. (Check out our Call Handling Heroes® page to see examples of our representatives going above and beyond for callers.)

In the end, you need to do your research to find the right answering service for your company. Finding the right one — with a balance of redeeming qualities — will set your business up for success.