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.

It’s a question any business with inbound calls must ask itself: live answer or interactive phone menus? While it’s true that businesses with interactive phone menus and automated systems can handle a higher volume of inbound calls, a recent report from the CFI Group — a company specializing in improving customer satisfaction — clearly shows that reaching a live representative instead of an automated phone menu makes a significant difference in customer satisfaction.

This month’s hero maintained a positive attitude and provided excellent customer service while escalating a particularly complicated call.

Many call centers and phone answering services offer a wide range of services. From basic call handling and after-hours support to web applications and order entry, there are a lot of options out there for businesses that receive inbound calls.

The only question is, which ones are most popular? Which ones do businesses request the most? To answer both of these, here is a list of the top five most popular services from an answering service (as well as the other names they go by).

Contrary to popular belief, answering services these days aren’t limited to just answering calls and taking messages. At A Better Answer, we take full advantage of the latest technology in telecommunications to offer innovative services that go beyond the basics of an answering service. These optional add-ons not only provide valuable convenience and organization, they give you peace of mind and let you get back to running your business.

This month’s hero truly exemplified a Good Samaritan, going out of her way to help a client with a unique situation.

At A Better Answer, we reward staff members who go above and beyond to provide great customer care and exhibit a commitment to community through giving of their time and talent. We call them Call Handling Heroes® and recognize them monthly for helping make us the best in the business.

Even with the proliferation of social media, the telephone remains one of the most important communication devices between businesses and customers. Social media doesn’t allow for inflection or any well trusted way to sense mood and rapport like hearing someone’s voice over a phone line. Because a phone conversation is limited, in comparison to meeting face-to-face, there are rules of business etiquette that should be followed.

Fierce competition in today’s economy means a small business owner must be a few steps ahead at all times. While your business may be offering the same products or services as another, you can still differentiate yourself.

As A Better Answer offers many types of services, we like to provide information on these services so that each client’s needs are being met effectively. We have tackled the difference between a call center and an answering service. We even offered clarity on our inbound, outbound and executive level telemessaging services. Now we’ll look deeper into the inbound call center and help explain more details.