Find the Best Answering Service for Your Practice

Posted March 27, 2013 in 24 hour telephone answering services, reliable answering services by TechArk Support

If you manage a professional business or medical practice, quality customer service is usually high on your priority list. Your clients utilize your services because they like you; they trust you and they believe they are receiving quality services from you. However, there are likely several other providers in your general area that offer the same or similar services as you. If business is good right now, you may feel you have a unique edge in your marketplace, but your clients and future prospects DO NOT see it that way. Thanks to the Internet, even professional services are being commoditized as users know they are only a few clicks away from (what they may perceive as) a better provider of the services they seek.

Loyalty & One-Size-Fits-All, Two Business Concepts on Their Deathbeds

Never in our history as human beings have so many people had so much easy access to good quality information on all the products and services they may use, throughout their lives, in both their personal and professional existence. With a consumer that can quickly educate himself or herself on just about any buying decision (prior to engaging an actual human), the concept of brand and product loyalty is being replaced with a more pragmatic approach. The ‘one-size-fits-all’ concept is experiencing a similar fate. People know they no longer have to settle for ‘what everyone else uses’. They can now find and get only the products and services that fit their very specific personal or business needs.

Partnering for Success

What does this have to do with finding the best answering service? A good bit actually. There are literally hundreds of answering services out there, but probably only a few of them would be a great fit for the specific needs of your business practice. The key to finding the best answering service is to identify those who have solid experience within your industry and who are willing to ‘partner’ with you in regards to your communications needs. Obviously partnering is not a new concept, but it is one that is growing rapidly in most professions as the best way to build and strengthen relationships, especially in the face of decreasing business loyalty and the decline in effectiveness of one-size-fits-all solutions. By ‘partnering’ with the appropriate vendors, you are identifying and engaging those that have aligned, or are willing to align, their overall goals with your goals. In other words, your answering service should not be just a service to help answer your phones, but a partner that uses their expertise to help strengthen and optimize the communications experience of your clients, prospects and internal staff.

Selling Has Changed Too

As you have noticed over the last several years, the process of selling has changed dramatically in many industries as well. Instead of ‘selling’ their services, successful organizations have focused on providing the best and most direct path of educating and engaging their prospects on their primary offerings. This includes being found in the digital world and, where appropriate, sharing good quality, engaging content. As an answering service, we realize that by the time people pick up the phone to make a call, they have likely already researched the organization by some other digital means. This also suggests they are likely much closer to engaging the organization for services, so we work closely with our clients to build custom calling programs that ensure each phone call is a positive experience for their callers.

Looking Forward

For service oriented businesses, communications will always play a key role in the health and growth of the organization. The technologies that enable and support communications have expanded and continue to expand at a rapid pace. As you strive to do your best on a daily basis in support of your own clients, be sure to engage partners that share your passion for excellence and have a clear vision for their own futures. Finally, if you don’t think you have the best answering service for your practice, then find the one that is. You and your clients will be happy you did!

To learn more about Main Line TeleCommunications, please download our free guide:
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