Telephone Answering Service Considerations

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

TAS

Considerations

Our goal of this document is to provide you with insight that we hope will allow you to make an informed decision when choosing your Telephone Answering Service (TAS). A discussion of the various billing methods used by TAS companies is covered first. Then, other service and company considerations are discussed. We have included a TAS consideration comparison worksheets that we hope you find useful in your research.

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

Because service considerations and billing methods are closely related, a discussion of various billing methods used by TAS companies is covered first. Other service and company considerations are then covered.

There are many variations within each of the individual categories. Two companies quoting the exact same price and the same pricing structure may end up billing the customer vastly different amounts for the same time period and traffic usage. This is due to different TAS equipment tracking minutes or calls in different fashions or even different TAS offices with the same equipment using different methods to calculate minutes. For example, one office with a very low per minute rate includes ring time and non-working hold time in its time calculation. Another issue is that some TAS companies bill on a 28 day cycle resulting in 13 invoices a year, while some bill monthly resulting in 12 invoices per year.

The most significant issue with the different methods from a TAS perspective is the training that is given to the operators. With a flat rate, message count or service unit billing method it is to the TAS advantage to have the call end quickly. The incentive is to take a limited amount of information and terminate the call. With time-billing the incentive is to be thorough with the information taken from the caller. Clearly either system can be taken to extremes by the individual TAS. The largest component of TAS expenses is employee salary and benefits. There is an incentive for the TAS to reduce the amount of time an operator spends on a call. Some of the billing methods encourage a setup where the customer would realize a reduction in TAS billing by automating systems or by the customer taking on certain service steps such inputting on call information rather than having the TAS perform this function. Voice mail on the front end of any variable rate system (that is, all except flat rate) will also generally reduce customer billing.

Jamey Hopper

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

518 Patin Rd. • Carencro, LA 70520 • (337) 236-8300

Flat Rate

Pro

Allows for budgeting as the amount of the monthly bill is known in advance.

Con

Usually a higher rate per billing cycle as this method carries more risk for the TAS.

Brief

This method is usually associ-ated with small or poor service TAS offices. Flat rates generally do not allow the TAS to cover their variable expenses, which are primarily operator related, so customers may unexpectedly find their account in the hands of an unfamiliar provider as the flat rate TAS either goes out of business or is bought by a larger service. The rate must be ad-justed periodically as call traffic changes.

Message Count

Pro

Ideal for business who may only need someone to collect a name and number and no other information.

Con

Most of these services count every call as a message, includ-ing hang ups, wrong numbers, etc. The customer service rep-resentatives will simply make a message ticket for “lady hung up” or “man will call back” as the complete message.

Brief

Was used throughout the indus-try in the days of handwritten messages.

Used much less now with the availability of sophisticated scripted messaging software.

Service Units

Pro

A client with limited people on call and every message sent to their smartphone would be ide-ally suited for this system.

Con

Generally each point of contact is a “unit”. That is, each call, page, fax or email, text mes-sage, each customer check-in, etc.

Brief

This style of billing is ideally suit-ed for simple service accounts.

Billing Methods

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

Dedicated Operator

Hourly

Pro

Dedicated operators usually become more skilled when han-dling only one type of call.

Con

Difficulty in matching call traffic to number of operators staffed. Can become expensive for the client as occupancy rate of dedicated operators is lower than pooled operators: however, when there are too few dedicat-ed operators their occupancy rate can become so high as to lead to errors and burnout.

Brief

Operators are dedicated to one client only.

Frequently requires a hybrid system with some dedicated operators and some overflow to a general operator pool (for example for overnight and mid-day call traffic).

Time Usage

Pro

The training focuses on thor-oughness in message taking, rather than brevity. This can lead to more complete mes-sages, and also to higher billing due to longer time of operator involvement on a call.

Con

Generally the “billing clock” is on when an agent is actively work-ing on a call.

Brief

Used by the vast majority of TAS offices, especially in the pre-mium service level group.

Other Charges

Brief

Many TAS offices will include ad-ditional fees. Some examples include:

Holiday surcharges, email delivery, fax delivery, message storage, caller ID, monthly reports, email response, voice mail, yearly line charge, pag-ing or alpha dispatch, SMS text delivery, web access, monthly maintenance, etc.

Billing Methods

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

Service Considerations

Distribution and Routing

• Some use a general distribution system in which any call can be routed to any operator.

• Some services use sophisticated call routing systems. A sophisticated skills based routing system will direct calls for a particular customer to an operator, or a group of operators, trained in handling that specific ac-count or acac-count type.

Quality Assurance (QA) Systems

• Most TAS companies grade calls regularly.

• Some offices have sophisticated QA systems, insuring consistent grading and statistically significant results.

• Many TAS offices have extensive call logging systems and store the text and voice recorded messages for various periods of time.

Staffing Ratios

• Staffing too low will lead to long ring times and poor service levels.

• Staffing too high can lead to poor service due to operator boredom as well as high prices.

Occupancy Rates

• The ideal occupancy rate for our industry is between 55% and 65%; higher than that level will lead to mistakes and burnout.

• Extremely high occupancy rates do not allow time for coaching, training, quality & performance reviews.

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

Service Considerations

HIPAA Protocols

• Many TAS offices are hiring consultants and enacting extensive HIPAA provisions.

• Some TAS offices are less aggressive, while some are doing nothing at all.

System and Software Capabilities

• Some TAS vendors provide complex scripting software allowing for exten-sive customized messaging for individual offices.

• Other systems provide alternative messaging systems such as inbound and outbound faxing, voice mail, email & SMS text message, linkage with database applications (for example the ability to provide clock in and clock out services with a voice mail system) and allow real time backup capability.

Take and Dispatch System

• Some TAS companies have the operator taking the call also dispatch the call. This has the advantage of having the operator able to answer a question should there be information requested that might be difficult to include in a message (like the demeanor of the caller).

• A take and dispatch system has the advantage of a single operator gaining experience with message delivery, knowing where the different company employees are at each time, knowing how they like to be reached and being able to review the message and correct any mis-takes or unclear aspects of the message itself.

Training Program

• All TAS offices have some form of training.

• Some companies train on the operations floor, some train in a remote training office.

• Some companies have ongoing training, specific customer training, customer type training.examples: training for home health customers, funeral home customers, physicians or any other industry type

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

Awards

Award of Excellence

ATSI & CAM-X offer Award of Excellence programs. These are essentially mystery shopper programs where a “shopper” will call a TAS and grade the opera-tor on up to 28 different criteria for each call. A TAS averaging over 80% on the ten calls grad-ed during a six month period will win the Award of Excellence.

Certifications

ATSI and CAM-X offer various levels of certification.

Site Certification is designed to insure 99.9% up time of the TAS. Site Certification also examines: compliance with labor laws, EEOC guidelines, policy manu-als, insurance coverage, etc.

Industry

Association of Teleservices International (ATSI)

Canadian Call Management Association (CAM-X) Regional Southern Telemessaging Western States Great Lakes Others Groups

National Amtelco Equipment Owners (NAEO)

Startel National Users Group (SNUG)

Others

Associations

Joining and actively participat-ing in the various associations generally results in TAS com-panies with better systems and procedures. Most of the as-sociations focus on educational programs for their members, including the topics mentioned in the section above.

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

Company Considerations

IT Management

Some TAS offices have full time in house IT staff while others engage outside contractors for IT support

Ownership

Some TAS companies are owner operated, some are owned by large companies.

Some of the large companies hire professional managers to run an office; some of the owners of small services are at-tentive but untrained in many as-pects of business management. No model would appear to be perfect in all circumstances, but it is something that should be examined carefully.

Preparedness

In addition to Site Certification some companies have taken large steps to insure continu-ing operation in the event of a disaster.

Some TAS companies have detailed Disaster Plans and ex-tensive backup systems, includ-ing redundant switches, servers, telephony and Internet providers, etc.

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

Billing

Consideration

TAS #2

TAS #3

TAS #4

Flat Rate

Not available at this time

Message Count

n/a

Service Units

n/a

Dedicated

Operator

n/a

Time Usage

Pricing structure is based on the time used on your account.

Other Charges

Optional customer selected _features

Billing Cycle

Monthly

Holiday Surcharge

No holiday surcharge

Billing Compairsons

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

Service

Consideration

TAS #2

TAS #3

TAS #4

Staffing Ratios

Monitored weekly

Occupancy

Rates

Monitored hourly

Distribution and

Routing

More than 10 levels of operator distribution

Quality

Assurance (QA)

Systems

Our QA department reviews thousands of calls every month scoring each call on more than 30 criteria which are regualry reviewed with staff and management

Take and

Dispatch System

Yes

Training Program

Once hired, new employees participate in extensive class-room based training under the supervision of a dedicated and experienced training department

HIPAA Protocols

Yes

System and

Software

Capabilities

Monitored on site by our dedicated IT team

Service Compairsons

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

Company

Consideration

TAS #2

TAS #3

TAS #4

Associations

ATSI, CAM-X, NAEO, Southern Teleservices Association, National Federation of Inde-pendent Business, BBB (Baton Rouge, LA and Lafayette, LA), Louisiana Association of Busi-ness and Industry, Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Partners1 Trade Organization, Trust Acadiana, Crescent City

Awards

ATSI Award of Excellence 2004-2012, CAM-X Award of Excellence 2008-2012, LSU Top 100 Fastest Growing Tiger Businesses 2011-2012

Certifications

ATSI 24/7 Gold Site Certifica-tion, ATSI Customer Service Representative Certification

Preparedness

Equipped with a super fuel tank, generators, and dedicated on-site server rooms and on and complete fully-redundant, real-time on- and off-site backup systems

IT System

Management

Three full-time employees that include a Systems Engineer, Systems Developer and an Ap-plication Analyst

Ownership

Owner operated

Company Compairsons

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Telephone Answering Service

Considerations

The first step in developing an effective business relationship is to understand your needs,

goals and strategies. An answering service is an extension of your business, don’t allow just

anyone to represent Your Voice. When you are ready to form a winning partnership, our

staff is ready to answer any questions about our services and pricing.

CORPORATE 518 Patin Rd Carencro, LA 70520 337.236.8300 SALES 877.339.2666 337.296.0254 wWw dexcomm.com @dexcomm