We have developed a guide to provide you with insight to make an informed decision when choosing your Telephone Answering Service. Find out how to really compare: Billing Methods - and which ones will save you $$$ Services - and how they should work for you Companies - and what to really look for
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1. 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. 2013
Dexcomm All Rights Reserved
2. Telephone Answering Service Considerations Jamey Hopper
President 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. 518 Patin Rd.
Carencro, LA 70520 (337) 236-8300 dexcomm.com
3. Telephone Answering Service Considerations Billing Methods
Flat Rate | Message Count | Service Units | Dedicated Operator |
Time Usage | Other ANSWERING COMMUNICATION SERVICES Flat Rate
Message Count Service Units Pro Pro Pro Allows for budgeting as the
Ideal for business who may only A client with limited people on
amount of the monthly bill is need someone to collect a call and
every message sent to known in advance. name and number and no
other their smartphone would be ide- information. ally suited for
this system. Con Usually a higher rate per billing Con Con cycle as
this method carries Most of these services count Generally each
point of contact more risk for the TAS. every call as a message,
includ- is a unit. That is, each call, ing hang ups, wrong numbers,
page, fax or email, text mes- Brief etc. The customer service rep-
sage, each customer check-in, This method is usually associ-
resentatives will simply make a etc. ated with small or poor
service message ticket for lady hung TAS offices. Flat rates
generally up or man will call back as Brief do not allow the TAS to
cover the complete message. This style of billing is ideally suit-
their variable expenses, which ed for simple service accounts. are
primarily operator related, Brief so customers may unexpectedly Was
used throughout the indus- find their account in the hands try in
the days of handwritten of an unfamiliar provider as the messages.
flat rate TAS either goes out of business or is bought by a larger
Used much less now with the service. The rate must be ad-
availability of sophisticated justed periodically as call traffic
scripted messaging software. changes. 518 Patin Rd. Carencro, LA
70520 (337) 236-8300 dexcomm.com
4. Telephone Answering Service Considerations Billing Methods
Flat Rate | Message Count | Service Units | Dedicated Operator |
Time Usage | Other Dedicated Operator Time Usage Other Charges
Hourly Pro Pro Brief Dedicated operators usually The training
focuses on thor- Many TAS offices will include ad- become more
skilled when han- oughness in message taking, ditional fees. Some
examples dling only one type of call. rather than brevity. This can
include: lead to more complete mes- Holiday surcharges, email Con
sages, and also to higher billing delivery, fax delivery, message
Difficulty in matching call traffic due to longer time of operator
storage, caller ID, monthly to number of operators staffed.
involvement on a call. reports, email response, voice Can become
expensive for the client as occupancy rate of mail, yearly line
charge, pag- dedicated operators is lower Con ing or alpha
dispatch, SMS text than pooled operators: however, Generally the
billing clock is on delivery, web access, monthly when there are
too few dedicat- when an agent is actively work- maintenance, etc.
ed operators their occupancy rate can become so high as to ing on a
call. lead to errors and burnout. Brief Brief Used by the vast
majority of TAS Operators are dedicated to one offices, especially
in the pre- client only. mium service level group. 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). 518 Patin Rd. Carencro, LA 70520 (337)
236-8300 dexcomm.com
5. Telephone Answering Service Considerations Service
Considerations Staffing | Occupancy | Distribution | QA | Dispatch
| Training | HIPAA | Systems 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.
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 account 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. 518 Patin Rd. Carencro, LA 70520 (337)
236-8300 dexcomm.com
6. Telephone Answering Service Considerations Service
Considerations Staffing | Occupancy | Distribution | QA | Dispatch
| Training | HIPAA | Systems 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 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. 518
Patin Rd. Carencro, LA 70520 (337) 236-8300 dexcomm.com
7. Telephone Answering Service Considerations Associations
Awards Certifications Award of Excellence Joining and actively
participat- ATSI & CAM-X offer Award of ATSI and CAM-X offer
various ing in the various associations Excellence programs. These
levels of certification. generally results in TAS com- are
essentially mystery shopper panies with better systems and programs
where a shopper will Site Certification is designed to procedures.
Most of the as- call a TAS and grade the opera- insure 99.9% up
time of the TAS. sociations focus on educational tor on up to 28
different criteria Site Certification also examines: programs for
their members, for each call. A TAS averaging compliance with labor
laws, including the topics mentioned over 80% on the ten calls
grad- EEOC guidelines, policy manu- in the section above. ed during
a six month period will als, insurance coverage, etc. win the Award
of Excellence. 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 518 Patin Rd. Carencro, LA 70520 (337) 236-8300
dexcomm.com
8. Telephone Answering Service Considerations Company
ConsiderationsAssociations | Awards | Certifications | Preparedness
| IT Management Staffing | Ownership Preparedness IT Management
Ownership In addition to Site Certification Some TAS offices have
full time Some TAS companies are owner some companies have taken in
house IT staff while others operated, some are owned by large steps
to insure continu- engage outside contractors for IT large
companies. ing operation in the event of a support disaster. Some
of the large companies hire professional managers Some TAS
companies have to run an office; some of the detailed Disaster
Plans and ex- owners of small services are at- tensive backup
systems, includ- tentive but untrained in many as- ing redundant
switches, servers, pects of business management. telephony and
Internet providers, etc. No model would appear to be perfect in all
circumstances, but it is something that should be examined
carefully. 518 Patin Rd. Carencro, LA 70520 (337) 236-8300
dexcomm.com
9. Telephone Answering Service Considerations Billing
Compairsons Flat Rate | Message Count | Service Units | Dedicated
Operator | Time Usage Billing TAS #2 TAS #3 TAS #4 Consideration
Flat Rate Not available at this time Message Count n/a Service
Units n/a Dedicated n/a Operator Pricing structure is based Time
Usage on the time used on your account. Optional customer selected
Other Charges features Billing Cycle MonthlyHoliday Surcharge No
holiday surcharge 518 Patin Rd. Carencro, LA 70520 (337) 236-8300
dexcomm.com
10. Telephone Answering Service Considerations Service
Compairsons Staffing | Occupancy | Distribution | QA | Dispatch |
Training | HIPAA | Systems Service TAS #2 TAS #3 TAS #4
Consideration Staffing Ratios Monitored weekly Occupancy Monitored
hourly Rates Distribution and More than 10 levels of Routing
operator distribution Our QA department reviews thousands of calls
every Quality month scoring each call on Assurance (QA) more than
30 criteria which Systems are regualry reviewed with staff and
management Take and Yes Dispatch System Once hired, new employees
participate in extensive class- room based training under the
Training Program supervision of a dedicated and experienced
training department HIPAA Protocols Yes System and Monitored on
site by our Software dedicated IT team Capabilities 518 Patin Rd.
Carencro, LA 70520 (337) 236-8300 dexcomm.com
11. Telephone Answering Service Considerations Company
Compairsons Associations | Awards | Certifications | Preparedness |
IT System Mgmt | Ownership Company TAS #2 TAS #3 TAS #4
Consideration ATSI, CAM-X, NAEO, Southern Teleservices Association,
National Federation of Inde- pendent Business, BBB (Baton Rouge, LA
and Lafayette, LA), Associations Louisiana Association of Busi-
ness and Industry, Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Partners1
Trade Organization, Trust Acadiana, Crescent City ATSI Award of
Excellence 2004-2012, CAM-X Award of Awards Excellence 2008-2012,
LSU Top 100 Fastest Growing Tiger Businesses 2011-2012 ATSI 24/7
Gold Site Certifica- Certifications tion, ATSI Customer Service
Representative Certification Equipped with a super fuel tank,
generators, and dedicated on-site server Preparedness rooms and on
and complete fully-redundant, real-time on- and off-site backup
systems Three full-time employees that IT System include a Systems
Engineer, Management Systems Developer and an Ap- plication Analyst
Ownership Owner operated 518 Patin Rd. Carencro, LA 70520 (337)
236-8300 dexcomm.com
12. 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, dont 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 SALES wWw 518 Patin Rd 877.339.2666 dexcomm.com
Carencro, LA 70520 337.296.0254 @dexcomm 337.236.8300