The Home Services Guide to Outsourced Call Centers 

Introduction

Exceptional customer service is the lifeblood of any successful home services business. However, delivering responsive 24/7 support with limited internal resources can be extremely challenging. Should callers wait on hold for the next available representative in your in-house call center? Do customers simply leave a message to be returned the following day? What happens when call volumes spike during peak seasons? How can you successfully capture marketing leads without exhausting your in-house customer service representatives or wasting your marketing budget?

For home service companies, outsourcing their call center to an experienced partner offers a strategic solution. Specialized outsourced call centers provide the combination of expertise, technology, and flexibility required to handle overflow call support, after-hours coverage, and fluctuations caused by seasonality and growth. This prevents customers from being ignored while enabling internal teams to focus on the work they do best.

But integrating an outsourced call center into your operations requires careful evaluation and planning. Business owners must identify partners that truly understand the home services industry, align with their company core values, and can scale with the right proportion of value to cost. The transition process also warrants attention to change management and processes so that nothing falls through the cracks.

This comprehensive guide provides home service companies with an in-depth playbook for successfully leveraging outsourced call center partnerships. We’ll explore:

      • - The array of benefits outsourcing offers specifically to home service businesses.
    • - How to assess potential call center partners across key criteria.
    • - Pricing models and cost considerations when budgeting.
    • - Best practices for transitioning operations and workflows.
    • - Keys for managing the ongoing relationship and adjusting your changing goals and call traffic.
    •  
    • Whether you are looking to provide after-hours coverage, scale for growth, or effectively handle overflow calls, this guide will equip you with insights and strategies for integrating outsourced call centers into your home services business.
    • Let’s get started!

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Choosing & Analyzing Your Answering Service Ebook Cover

Chapter 1

The Benefits of Outsourcing for Home Services Call Centers

Outsourcing some, or all, of your call center operations provides significant advantages tailored to home services businesses. The incremental benefits beyond relying solely on limited in-house staff include:

-24/7 availability

-Increased capacity

-Improved customer service

-Optimized costs

-Latest technology

-Specialized expertise

24/7 Availability 

Outsourced partners can cover:
    • -After-hours
    • -Overflow during hours
    • -Overnights
    • -Weekends
    • -Holidays
    • -Scheduled Staff Training
    • -Marketing campaigns
    Round-the-clock availability ensures customers can reach agents whenever issues occur rather than waiting on hold, leaving messages, or contacting your competitors.

Increased Capacity

Outsourced centers maintain large, specialized teams. This provides economies-of-scale that home services companies can leverage to:
    • -Reduce wait times
    • -Reduce abandoned calls
    • -Increase customer satisfaction and customer lifetime value
    • -Handle seasonal/unexpected spikes in demand
    • -Process high inbound demand work request volumes
    • -Balance occupancy levels for in-house staff to increase morale
    • -Incorporate planned training time into in-house staff schedules to increase quality

Improved Customer Service

  • Outsourced teams, like Dexcomm, maintain average customer tenure of over 10 years by focusing exclusively on service delivery versus other duties.
  • Lower hold times, quicker response, and higher job booking rates mean customers receive service sooner and with more satisfaction. Customer lifetime value increases and so does your revenue.

Optimized Costs

  • -Reduce labor costs by leveraging economies of scale and specialized skills to deliver services at a lower total labor cost.
  • -Avoid overhead expenses like facilities, equipment, IT infrastructure that come with in-house staff.
  • -Gain variable pricing. (Outsourced pricing models like per transaction or volume-based allow costs to scale directly with usage rather than fixed in-house costs.)
  • -Access the latest technology with up-to-date tools and infrastructure as part of service, avoiding obsolescence risk and capital costs.
  • -Reduce training and turnover costs when your partner hires and trains their own specialized staff, reducing recruiting and knowledge transfer costs.
  • -Shift your in-house call center operations from fixed to variable cost based on usage.
  • -Improve cost forecasting with variable outsourced pricing and more predictable cost modeling compared to fluctuating in-house costs.
  • -Focus your in-house team’s time on higher value services rather than call center management.
  • -Provides labor cost optimization.

Staying on the cutting edge of technology can be an expensive endeavor for any company. Rather than investing heavily in the latest computer systems and software licensure costs to handle administrative tasks in-house, outsourcing these functions allows you to avoid the costs associated with constant upgrades and obsolescence. Outsourced partners maintain these systems without you needing to do so. This ensures your administrative needs are met with up-to-date solutions without capital investment. Customers care that the job gets done efficiently, not whether the work is handled in-house or by a partner. By leveraging outsourcing for administrative needs, companies can present a polished, professional image right from the start, without bearing the financial burden of managing these systems internally. The strategic use of outsourcing grants established-business capabilities without established-business costs.

Latest Technology

Specialized outsourced centers invest heavily in state-of-the-art technology stacks, including:
    • -IVR systems
    • -Advanced call routing algorithms
    • -Powerful, customized scripting workflows to match your processes
    • -Cloud infrastructure
    • -Predictive analytics
    • -Quality control analysis
    • -Custom reporting dashboards
    • -Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) which input call data directly into your field service management software
    • [We seamlessly interface with Service Titan system. Ask us to see it in action!]

Specialized Expertise

  • -While in-house agents juggle multiple responsibilities, outsourced agents focus on delivering exceptional customer service as their core function.
  • -Partners like Dexcomm use robust onboarding, personalized agent coaching, and skills certification courses to develop specialized expertise suited for home services intake, scheduling, and support.
  • -Laser focus on service quality without distraction of other duties facilitates better performance.
  • -Skill-based routing

By leveraging outsourced call centers, home service companies can ensure customers reach responsive agents 24/7 while optimizing in-house resources. Industry expertise, scalability, and latest technology provide a strategic advantage difficult for solo call centers to match.

Chapter 2

Evaluating Potential Call Center Partners

Once the benefits of outsourcing are clear, the next step is vetting partners to identify the optimal fit. Key criteria to evaluate prospective call centers on include:

  • -Industry experience
  • -Scalability and flexibility
  • -Quality and security
  • -Cultural fit

Industry Experience

Prioritize partners with extensive experience specifically within home services. Domain expertise should include:
    • -Intake protocols for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, appliance repair, etc.
    • -Diagnosing and dispatching for technical service needs
    • -Scheduling and reminder protocols
    • -Customer service etiquette for in-home services

Ask for portfolio of existing home services clients as proof points.

Scalability and Flexibility

Review technical and staffing capacity to support scalability for:
    • -Sudden call surges
    • -Seasonal fluctuations
    • -Long-term business growth

Ask about our experience assisting clients through rapid periods of expansion.

Quality and Security

Ensure rigorous protocols for:
    • -Agent hiring and screening
    • -Ongoing training and skills development

When it comes to call monitoring and scoring:

    • -Review quality management methods and performance metrics.
    • -Vet data security and compliance measures thoroughly.

Expert Insight: Most outsourced call centers train their agents for a few days and then turn them loose to answer calls. That is not how it works at Dexcomm. We train our agents with an intentional, structured training process that lasts for an average of 9 months. Initial classroom training lasts four weeks, and then we teach highly tailored courses for each skill-group that an agent will answer. Only after mastering these succeeding levels of skill groups are they ready to answer your calls.

We partner with CallSource to boost our number of calls graded, and leverage their data, analysis, and insights for how we can improve on both an agent and customer level. This maximizes the one-to-one follow up time we have to ensure we are meeting your expectations.

Cultural Fit

  • -Alignment on core values, goals, and long term service vision ensures smooth collaboration.
  • -Tour the call center office and listen to interactions to assess firsthand.
  • -Optimize integration by selecting partner with complementary (not identical) company culture.

By thoroughly vetting partners, home services companies can identify qualified outsourcing providers to deliver maximum value on these key dimensions. You will also have a partnership you can trust that is in it for the long term.

Chapter 3

The Outsourcing Pricing Model Landscape

When evaluating outsourcing, an important step is understanding the pricing models and clearly defining associated costs. There are many different items to consider:

  • -Per minute vs per user
  • -Tiered vs flat pricing
  • -Hidden costs to watch out for
  • -Volume discounts and terms

Major pricing models include:

Per Minute Pricing

  • -Simple and straightforward model - charged per minute of work time
  • -Rates around $1.25 - $2.25 per minute typically, based on program scale and features
  • -Could also be in the form of base minutes and overage minutes.
  • -Per-minute pricing advantages:
    • -Precisely aligns cost to call volumes
    • -Only pay for what you use
    • -Fluctuating call volume doesn't impact minimum commitments

Per User Pricing

  • -Charged monthly per call center user/agent assigned
  • -Average around $3,500 - $7,000 per agent per month depending on experience, on-shore, near-shore or U.S. -based
  • -Benefits include:
    • -Fixed monthly costs for budgeting
    • -Dedicated agents ensure familiarity working with you
    • -Agents well-utilized regardless of fluctuations in monthly call volume
    • -Ensure minimum hour commitments don't overstaff during slower periods

Tiered Pricing

  • -Blended approach with per minute base rate + per user fees
  • -Minimum monthly commitment for number of users/hours
  • -Tiered usage charges apply as call volumes scale up from baseline
  • -Provides elements of both minute and user-based models
  • -Tiers accommodate growth while minimums keep costs controlled

Flat Monthly Fees

  • -Single flat rate per month regardless of usage
  • -Applicable for very predictable recurring call volumes
  • -Usually includes cap on minutes/hours of usage before overage charges

When selecting pricing models, carefully project expected call traffic patterns and growth curves. Weigh the benefits of flexibility vs. predictable costs for your needs.

Hidden Costs to Watch For

  • -Charges for IVR changes and new number provisioning
  • -Added fees for reporting, integrations, QA listening
  • -Fees per phone line or toll-free number fees
  • -Holiday, after hours, or weekend fees
  • -Per call charges in addition to per minute fees
  • -System time charges that are not agent work time

Clearly identify all applicable fees in your outsourcing agreement before signing to avoid surprise costs. The optimal model aligns with your growth projections and business needs.

Chapter 4

Transitioning to an Outsourced Call Center

  • -Building an implementation plan
  • -Data and integration considerations
  • -Training and onboarding
  • -Setting up QA and governance

Once an outsourcing partner is selected, constructing a thorough implementation plan is crucial for a smooth transition. Key steps include:

Building an Implementation Plan

  • -Document all processes and workflows between companies to address
  • -Conduct implementation kickoff call to align all stakeholders
  • -Create detailed call handling plan and how long those calls should take
  • -Assign team members to oversee specific areas like training, QA, reporting
  • -Hold regular status calls to monitor progress and issues
  • -Keep leadership updated and engaged throughout transition

Data and Integration

  • -Audit all data inputs required (Field Service Management credentials, CRM, dispatch systems, forms, etc)
  • -Assess and select best APIs for required integrations
  • -Map data flow end-to-end between companies
  • -Develop processes for data transfers, syncing, and security
  • -Test integrations thoroughly before launch

Training and Onboarding

  • -Provide extensive training materials and resources on products, services, systems
  • -Conduct onboarding over minimum 2 week overlap training period
  • -Shadow call monitoring and side-by-side mentor programs
  • -Schedule additional retraining sessions once live if needed

QA and Governance

  • -Co-develop Quality expectations in the form of a scorecard for monitoring calls and performance
  • -Implement system for tracking issues and improvement plans
  • -Establish regular cadence for performance reviews
  • -Create protocols for monitoring and optimizing over time
  • -Be prepared to refine processes as needed in first 90 days post-launch

Expert Insight: Account Management

A dedicated account manager is a critical component for overseeing the transition and ongoing partnership. The account manager essentially serves as an extension of your internal team.

Dexcomm utilizes highly trained account managers who have been promoted to their roles from the front lines of answering calls just like yours. They are then trained to understand your industry and are experts in coordinating your expectations with our performance. Careful orchestration of the onboarding process helps set the engagement up for long-term success. Invest time upfront for a smooth implementation. This is time well-spent.

During implementation, the account manager quarterbacks all key elements including:

  • -Expectation setting and handoff from the sales team
  • -Coordinating planning and status calls
  • -Ensuring milestones are met
  • -Identifying and resolving any roadblocks
  • -Managing communication across both teams

This centralized oversight keeps the complex transition on track and aligned. Having guidance from an experienced account manager eliminates much of the project management burden during this challenging phase.

Ongoing, the account manager maintains continuity for the relationship by:

  • -Conducting performance reviews
  • -Gathering regular feedback
  • -Driving optimization initiatives
  • -Connecting appropriate internal resources

This provides a reliable, knowledgeable single point of contact for addressing needs proactively before any issues grow.

Seek out call center partners who invest in account management. Investment in a dedicated account manager by your call center partner enables much tighter collaboration and transparency between your business and the outsourcing provider. This is an expensive investment for Dexcomm but a worthwhile one for our long-term partners. Your expectations are kept front-of-mind and are given the attention they deserve. Our account managers’ broad expertise and visibility into operations gives them a unique perspective for enhancing your partnership with us over time.

Chapter 5

Managing an Outsourced Call Center Ongoing

  • -Day-to-day processes
  • -Performance monitoring
  • -Optimizing over time
  • -Maintaining alignment on goals

Launching an outsourced partnership is just the beginning. Disciplined management and governance post-transition ensures maximum value is continually derived. Without feedback, the relationship cannot grow and thrive. Best practices include:

Day-to-Day Processes

  • -Document detailed protocols for handoffs, issue escalation, reporting
  • -Streamline touchpoints between in-house and outsourced teams
  • -Schedule recurring syncs to review open service tickets, roadblocks
  • -Automate transfers of call reporting and data where possible

Performance Monitoring

  • -Track KPIs like abandons, wait times, service levels, and job booking percentages
  • -Listen to call sample recordings to audit quality
  • -Analyze trends to identify improvement opportunities
  • -Leverage outsourced partner's analytics platforms for visibility
  • -Establish process for reviewing metrics in monthly business reviews
  • -Send feedback to your account manager to both highlight what is going well and correct what needs improvement.

Optimizing Over Time

  • -Use performance insights to refine processes, training, staffing
  • -Review contract terms based on call volume data and growth
  • -Evaluate new technologies like chatbots or APIs for further integration
  • -Meet quarterly to discuss expansion of services and capabilities
  • -Maintain agility to adapt partnership model to evolving business goals and needs

Maintaining Alignment

  • -Keep outsourced agents engaged with company news, employee contacts, events, values, and growth opportunities
  • -Make them feel part of the team through recognition, inclusive language
  • -Solicit feedback on their experience and pain points
  • -Clearly communicate objectives and how their work ladders up to success

Disciplined, metrics-driven management of the outsourced engagement ensures maximum strategic value over the long-term.

Chapter 6

Conclusion and Summary

Delivering responsive, 24/7 customer service has become a fundamental and essential requirement for any modern home services business to succeed. But relying solely on limited in-house resources to manage call centers around the clock is fraught with challenges from long wait times to poor scalability. As this guide has shown, outsourcing all or part of your call center to specialized partners offers transformative advantages.

The benefits range from reduced costs thanks to converting fixed overheads to flexible usage-based models all the way to improved customer satisfaction through expanded service hours and faster response and resolution. By leveraging outsourced call centers, home services leaders can optimize in-house staffing for higher-value field work rather than call handling duties.

Yet realizing these benefits requires due diligence upfront in choosing the right partner, planning the transition, and implementing effective ongoing governance. Aligning with providers experienced in the home services industry specifically has proven critical. Taking time to integrate operations through training, data sharing, and process coordination sets the stage for maximum impact.

As the leading outsourced call center with focused expertise in the home services sector, Dexcomm is ready to partner with like-minded, forward-thinking industry leaders. Our proven framework encompasses:

  • -After Hours Support - Capturing calls seamlessly when your office is closed
  • -Overflow Call Handling - Scaling to meet seasonal or unexpected spikes in demand
  • -Appointment Scheduling - Booking customers based on your calendar and preferences
  • -Answering Service Routing - Directing callers to the right department or resource
  • -Intake Processing – Professionally capturing and efficiently dispatching service needs
  • -Customer Service - Delivering compassionate service 24/7

    If you are ready to take your home services business to the next level, contact us today for a free consultation. Our experts are ready to explore how an optimized outsourced call center solution can help you improve customer satisfaction while reducing costs and driving higher productivity. Let's discuss how we can craft a model tailored for your specific business needs and resources.

Chapter 7

Evaluating Accuracy & Reliability in Your Answering Service

Benefits aside, not every answering service is equally effective—and in order to reap the rewards, it’s essential you find a way to measure your answering service's performance to make sure it’s yielding the results you’re looking for. 

The decision to use an answering service is a strategic choice for how your business captures jobs and revenue, the efficiency of your operations, and the management of your human capital. Whether you are evaluating your current answering service or call center, looking for a better answering service, or considering using an answering service or call center for the first time, there are three large-scale criteria to consider: Accuracy, Reliability, and Value.

Because an answering service or call center is an investment in how your business communicates with its callers and customers that impacts your reputation, making these evaluations correctly is very important. Let’s dive into the accuracy and reliability of your answering service.

Evaluating the Accuracy of Your Answering Service

There are a few ways to think about accuracy. You can mean “closeness”, as in how precise something is. Like shooting an arrow and hitting the bullseye. You can also think of accuracy as synonymous with reliability. We are going to treat reliability as a distinct topic because we feel it is so important.

For our purposes, accuracy means meeting expectations that you have communicated to your answering service or call center. It can also mean following the script and knowing when to deviate. It can also mean consistency in gathering the correct information over time. This is where all good customer service begins and ends.

To ensure accurate answering service, it is critical to get off to a good start with your answering service or call center.

Simple Ways to Ensure Call Center Accuracy

If your answering service has a partnership mindset, this is an early indicator that they will provide you with accurate services.

1. Establish rapport with your account manager

Great partnerships begin with a great foundation, so you will need to be on the same page with your account manager when defining expectations for your answering service. This rapport will ensure that you have a direct line of contact with whom you are comfortable being open and direct with. This will allow for improved communications and accuracy throughout your partnership.

2. Introduce Your Staff & Core Values

Any partnership is built on trust. This trust is made up of shared information and vulnerability. Putting names with faces and hearing about the experience the team assigned to your account has accumulated can inspire confidence and begin to build trust between your business and your answering service.

Your core values, what your company stands for and believes in above all else, tells your partner your boundaries. Hopefully, you will find an answering service provider with shared values, which can ignite the passion behind your respective companies and help you to work for a higher purpose.

Getting on the same page about goals and what is most important for your company in working with an answering service or call center helps to keep priorities front of mind. By communicating what is most important you are more likely to achieve it.

3. Complete the Start Sheet Together

It is very common for clients of call centers or answering services to receive the starting information sheets from the sales representative or business development representative (or worse, get sent an impersonal form or email after you requested a quote) only to be left to complete the form on their own.

As the saying goes- garbage in, garbage out. Don’t fall victim to neglecting to put a meeting on your calendar and having a discussion about the information needed to begin services. Set time aside to spend time with your account manager to make the most of your communications investment.

4. Compare Expectations      

Accuracy is critical whether you are using an outsourced answering service or call center or your own in-house center.

Make sure your expectations are clear and realize that while an answering service provider will not be a carbon copy of your in-house staff, your provider should collect accurate information and always provide outstanding customer service to your callers. 

5. Listen to Calls and Give Feedback

With most answering services, you will have access to call audio through a web portal or third-party service like Call Rail. Use these calls as an opportunity to share positive feedback to reinforce what is working for your answering service and what is not.

Determining the Reliability of Your Answering Service

Anytime you outsource certain functions of your business, there will be inherent risk involved. When outsourcing your call center, you run the risk of trusting your callers to a provider who may not have the same levels of customer service or customer privacy as you do.

Determining the reliability of your answering service or call center can help you to have peace of mind knowing that you are making the right choice and that your calls are being answered correctly.

Reliability is the degree to which your answering service or call center can be depended upon to be accurate. Put another way, it is how consistently well they perform; ultimately leading to their level of trustworthiness. Performance that is consistent (a provider who is able to handle your day-to-day communication needs) is a result of staffing, availability, and capability.

Is Your Answering Service Staffed to Serve You?

Unless you are interested in a dedicated operator model of answering service, there will be multiple agents handling your phone calls. The reason this is done in the answering service and call center industry is what is known as the pooling effect. A consolidated pool of operators will have a greater call answering efficiency than a fractured pool. The bottom line is that having the correct number of trained people at the right time to handle your calls is vital to you having a good experience with your answering service.

Staffing for answering service operations is largely about culture and predicting call traffic as accurately as possible. Remember telling your account manager about your company’s core values? Now is a great time to find out about the answering service or call center you are partnering with. What are their core values? What is their turn over rate for agents and managers? How long have they been in business? Learn about who is answering your calls and how they are prepared for doing that. Visit the answering service in person if possible, or virtually.

Note: Generally, answering services and call centers have high turnover rates for their staff. Are they outsourcing their own answering? This is an important question to consider since you are investing in these customer service representatives.

Is Your Answering Service Available When You Need Them Most?

Having the correct staffing to answer fluctuating call volumes in a timely manner will not mean much if the calls cannot get through, your information cannot get relayed properly, or there are disruptions to service caused by power outages.

Being available to communicate with your potential customers, current customers, and employees is dependent on your provider's uptime. Uptime is the availability of an answering service's telephony, data, and power systems to keep the lights, data processing, and communications received and sent correctly.

A simple place to begin evaluating the availability of your answering service is their power plan. Good answering services have one level of redundancy so that there is no single point of failure to shut them down. A common example is an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). These are essentially large batteries that provide temporary power to servers, computers, or other hardware when utility power is not available. They also “clean” power and surge protection to ensure that your electronic devices run well for a longer amount of time.

Great answering services know that one level of redundancy is not enough, and will invest in multiple redundancies. UPS systems typically provide minutes of power, depending on what it is trying to power. This means that when the battery runs out and your answering service does not have a plan B they could stop receiving your calls. Additional redundancies cost money and time to purchase, manage, and maintain properly. If your answering service or call center is not willing to make that investment in your success, you should keep looking for one who will.

The next consideration for the availability of your answering service includes the security of their data storage and their data retrieval processes. You have information about your customers, callers, and companies existing on data servers that your answering service is in charge of protecting. If you are a medical client, there are solutions for secure texting available to protect your clients’ personal health information.

Additionally, it is wise to discuss how your answering service has set up its telephony. Most answering services and call centers are using voice over internet protocol (VOIP), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking, soft switches, and many other systems that you neither need to dig into nor understand in order to know if their telephony systems ensure their availability to serve you. Ask about redundancies, if single points of failure exist, and listen to how your questions are being answered.

Understanding the Capability of Your Answering Service

The final aspect for determining if your answering service is reliable is understanding their capabilities.

Is your answering service experienced with handling calls in your industry? You can understand this capability by determining how many clients are being served by this provider that are similar to your business.

Another way to determine an answering service's capabilities is to ask for referrals from a cross-section of customers. Talking with a larger sample of customers than only those that are similar to you can give you a broader picture of your answering service’s capabilities. This includes accounts that are not in your industry, use different services, those who have recently joined, and those who have been customers for an extended period of time.

Do their training and quality programs instill confidence that they will handle your calls well? After discussing the processes and team that train, audit, and coach the agents answering your calls, you will come away with confidence in their abilities or doubt about their capabilities. No answering service or call center will be perfect. Without a strong QA and training team, you will not see the growth necessary to achieve a premium, quality of service.

The last thing you should consider when reviewing an answering service's capabilities is whether or not the provider can scale and support your future needs. Your business has plans, goals, or outcomes you need to achieve in the future. Does your answering service have the capability to grow with you and support those dreams?

Chapter 8

Customer Service & Integration Abilities

High-quality customer service from all your vendors is important, but it’s crucial with your call center vendor. The cost of poor quality directly affects your bottom line in unhappy customers, lost opportunities, and the reputation of your business in your industry.

As an office manager, it can be difficult to measure the quality of service that certain vendors provide. This is especially true for call centers and answering services that you have been working with for an extended period of time. You may be unsatisfied with the customer service that your local answering service is offering but aren't sure of what a new vendor could offer.

Inertia tends to lead people to just become accustomed to whatever they get, but when it comes to the level of service that their call center provides, a business should never take such a hands-off approach.

As your vendor, your current outsourced call center has two customers that they must serve: you and your customers. We want to help you assess both functions of their customer service. In this chapter, we will help you assess the level of care your answering service brings to your callers and then consider the way that they provide service to you, their customer.


Successful businesses invest in marketing to get the phone to ring and drive new revenue. These business leaders also recognize the value of returning customers and understand that the impression made over the phone is critical to bringing customers back to them for more. How do you know that your call center provider is doing a good job representing your business?


Different Types of Incoming Calls & How To Handle Them


It’s critical to the mutual success of your organization and your third party call center that you’re intentional about your goals for each type of call you send to them. Have you thought about all the calls that they handle, and do you know what you want that experience to be like? Once you have a good answer to those questions you can start looking at those interactions to determine if they meet your expectations.


You also need to assess the quality of the information that they gather and deliver it back to you. Is it professional and accurate? Receiving the wrong information at best is a simple pain in the neck to get cleared up, but at worst can cost you business if you are unable to successfully reach the customer or successfully handle their request in a timely manner. Poor accuracy or unprofessional communication from your call center to your team is usually a sign of unprofessional call center agents who may be leaving a bad impression on your valued customers.

Next, you must know how they sound. You’ll never be able to fully assess your call center if you don’t invest time in listening to some of their calls. Does your answering service make it easy for you to listen to their calls? Or do they provide any kind of recordings of their interactions with your customers? When you listen to these calls, do the agents sound annoyed, or do they sound grateful? The tone of voice that a call agent adopts will have a major impact on a call. Professional agents should speak clearly, cheerfully, and should represent your business in ways that make you feel good. If that’s not the case, it’s time to start checking out other providers.

 

"A 2018 report found that poor customer service was costing businesses more than $75 billion a year."

- Forbes

Important Measurements For Your Call Center


After you’ve determined that you have a provider who’s meeting your needs for professionalism, please make sure your answering service is also maintaining high standards for timely answering and call completion during times of high call volume.


A long-standing goal in the answering service industry is to have a live agent answer all calls by the third ring.


This is not possible 100 percent of the time, so traditional answering services have usually held to a standard between 75-85% with something closer to 99% answered live within 36 seconds (or 6 rings). Answer times that approach those standards will help to ensure your callers don’t hang up and that they have a quality experience.


Other metrics that an inbound call center should measure include:


-Hold Times
-Percentage of Calls Unanswered
-Percentage of Callers Who Are Asked To Be Put on Hold

Your call center provider should be able to find this information quickly and share it with you and your team. Office managers should have goals for these measurements, and they should ensure that their outsourced call center or answering service is meeting them.

So, when evaluating the success of your call center’s success in providing high-quality customer service to your valued customers remember the following factors:
-Do they handle your calls as you expect them to (eg. route them to the proper people, set the right expectation, handle customer complaints appropriately, etc.)
-Is the information they provide you with professional and accurate?
-Are they representing you on the phone in a professional manner that reflects your business in a way you are happy with?
-Do they have metrics that can show your calls are answered in a timely manner and that your customers are not waiting lengthy periods for help?

If your call center is meeting high marks in all the above areas, there’s a good chance they’ve also established a quality partnership with you. However, it’s important to remember that they owe you specifically a level of attention that meets your needs. We’d like to help you evaluate that relationship as well.

Customers need to be able to offer feedback. Does your call center make it easy for you to let them know how they’re doing? Do they ever even bother to ask you? A call center should regularly seek out feedback about their quality of service to you and provide you with ways to let them know, whether it be through direct outreach from a representative, formal surveys, or easy access to a dedicated manager who is there to understand and meet your needs.

Your answering service provider should be able to customize solutions to your needs. Your business is unique and requires unique service. How hard is it for you to make changes to processes with your answering service provider? Changes to who get reached for certain types of calls or business needs ought to be updated quickly when you make them, and shouldn’t require being transferred around to many people to solve. If this is happening beware that you have a provider who provides “cookie-cutter” solutions that don’t reflect the needs of your business.

An organization you invest as much in as you do a call center should also dedicate help to you. Do you have someone you know who is responsible for your satisfaction at your answering service? You should be able to get help for your problems resolved quickly. This person should understand your values and be your advocate at your call center.

Lastly, how does your relationship with your current vendor make you feel? Are you happy? Confident? Neutral? Or are you uneasy or upset? Sometimes just reflecting on the way you feel about a relationship like this can help you make decisions. If your answer to the last question was neutral, uneasy, or upset, it’s probably time to start doing a more serious evaluation of your call center.

The level of service you receive from your call center can make or break your business. Assessing this quality objectively and independently will be critical to your success.

Chapter 9

Making a Test Call

After reading reviews, speaking with referrals, and analyzing the sales process, it is best to test an answering service before you make your final business decision.

Why Should I Make a Test Call?

After considering a few providers, you have determined that one answering service provider is best for your business. Before moving forward with your new provider, it is a best practice to make a test call to the answering service. 

This is very important because while you may have had many good phone conversations with the salesperson, the sales team won't be answering your calls, their operators will. A test call will allow you to see exactly how the operators will sound and how they will treat your customers. 

Not sure how to make a test call? Ask the salesperson who has been helping you throughout the buying process. There are certain ways that an answering service can offer you a "test" scenario. These include providing you with a simulated number or giving you the names of a few clients so that you can call yourself and see how the call operators do in a live environment. 

If you are already partnered with an answering service and are analyzing your current provider, making a test call is still a good practice. You will be able to hear how your answering service provider's call operators sound and determine if they are the best people to represent your business to customers.

You never know when new agents may begin working with your answering service provider, so it is a good idea to make routine test calls to guarantee that your customer service levels remain high and continue to meet your expectations.

"While you may have had many good phone conversations with the salesperson, the sales team won't be answering your calls, their operators will."

making a test call to your call center

What to Look For During A Test Call

When making your test call to an answering service, there are three major questions you should consider:

-How Long Does the Phone Ring?

-Is the Staff Professional and Courteous?

-Do the Call Operators Confirm Information?

1. How Long Does the Phone Ring?

The number of rings that your callers hear will have a huge impact on the outcome of their call. 

The standard in the telephone answering industry is to answer a call after three rings. Three rings equates to about 18 seconds of wait time for a caller. After 18 seconds, callers tend to become restless and impatient. 

If an operator does answer, say on the sixth or seventh ring, the caller will have been waiting for forty seconds. While some callers won't have an issue with this, it could be a problem for others. These callers may begin their call irritated, and have a harder time finding a solution to their issue that prompted the call.

With a long ring time, some callers will hang up before the operator is even able to answer. Because these callers have lost their patience with your company, they have moved on to your competition. If you are in an industry where your callers are potential customers, you understand the importance of customer service and how this can be very damaging to your business.

2. Is the Staff Professional and Courteous?

The staff of an answering service will often be the very first impression that your callers will have of your company. With this in mind, you want to be sure that the operators interacting with your customers are able to represent you in a courteous and professional way that aligns with your company's values.

In certain industries, compassion is a key trait that you should look for in your operators as well.

A compassionate operator will:

  1. HVAC/Plumbing/Electrical Industry: Make the customer feel heard. Callers trying to reach a plumber or contractor may be calling due to an emergency in their home. They are most likely stressed, and worrisome. A compassionate operator will hear their emotion and handle the call with the care that you would yourself. If your operator was not compassionate, your caller could feel as though their issue didn't matter, and they may hang up to find a more personable company.
  2. Medical Industry: Listen to the caller. Callers trying to reach their doctor's office are most likely calling for an issue related to their health. Whether it be concerning an upcoming surgery, or scheduling an appointment, your caller's issue requires attention and compassion. A compassionate operator will respect your caller in the same manner that you or your in-house staff would. 
  3. Funeral Home Industry: Care for the caller. Callers trying to reach your funeral home are most likely calling after handling the passing of a loved one. These callers are grieving and must have an operator that is calm, respectful, and compassionate. These callers do not need to be rushed off the phone or given an unprofessional experience.

Note: Many answering service companies will not have compassionate operators. Compassionate operators are more likely to be employed by a premium answering service like Dexcomm over a commodity one. 

3. Do They Confirm Information To Guarantee Accuracy?

Accuracy from a call operator is essential. For many industries, callers are leads or potential customers. A person calling may be scheduling a consultation, booking an appointment, or scheduling a service.

If an operator is inaccurate in their message taking, you could lose a customer. A misspelled name, wrong address, or incorrect phone number could prevent your company from reaching out to the caller. It could also harm your professional reputation.

When testing your answering service, be sure to check and see if the operator confirms the information that your share with them, the success of your business depends on it!


Steps to Make A Mystery Call

1. Have your criteria for excellent service ready.

You may have already discussed these with your account manager. If not, now is a good time to reflect on your expectations for what good service looks like. As an example, the as:

“Excellence requires a level of service that considers the caller first in every aspect of the call. Excellence makes a caller believe they are the most important person (or their problem is the most important consideration) to your call agent / CSR. How the agent handles every call, from beginning to end determines the success of your client relationship and the level of repeat business. No matter what is happening at your office on any given day, the caller should never believe your agent is too busy to give them the best service.” - Association of TeleServices International

2. Script a handful of scenarios that you would like to have your answering service handle.

These could be common call types that you know are being or will be handled. You could also prioritize emergency or VIP client call types so that you know they are handled correctly.

3. Act like a caller.

Go through the call as if you are an actual caller. Take notes as needed, focusing on the side of active listening rather than writing every word down.

4. Ask for Follow-Up

At the end of the call, inform the agent that you are with the company and testing the quality of service. Ask for the recording to be sent to you, for the time to be credited from your bill, and for a follow-up call with your account manager.

5. Repeat.

Repeat this process for the scenarios that you would like covered and keep your notes together to discuss this with your account manager.

6. Check for Accuracy.

The most basic form of accuracy is name, number, message. Is the name spelled correctly? Is the phone number correct? Is the message about what the call is regarding accurate? Did the information push to your software integration correctly? The next level of accuracy is meeting your expectations.

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