Answer Center America Blog

Inbound and outbound contact centers handling healthcare related information must approach these calls with a high level of care and accuracy. Any medical professional, faces critical decisions when choosing the right call center for their patients. After all, the information being handled is affecting the lives and health of individuals. To sum it up, there is no room for error.

Live agents are a must. Put yourself in the patient’s shoes. You’re feeling sick, or have a loved one who is sick. You call your doctor looking for help and you are greeted with a prerecorded message. Not exactly a concerned response. Addressing patients with helpful and dedicated agents is the right direction for any medical professional.

In addition to knowledge; compassion and professionalism go hand-in-hand. ACA shares a few issues to consider before determining which call center is the right choice.

• Price – Keep in mind, cheaper isn’t always better. Many healthcare professionals choose the least expensive answering service in an effort to save money. Often times, these centers lack the quality of service offered by more competitive centers. This can result in unhappy or even lost patients.

• Capabilities –It’s best to purchase a provider with full-service capabilities (web chat, scheduling software, reporting capabilities, etc.) In today’s technology driven word, convenience is imperative when choosing a healthcare provider. Find one that gives patients access to your services with as much convenience as possible.

• HIPAA Compliancy – This is a must for any medical answering service. Make sure the center has the necessary HIPAA policies and procedures set in place to safeguard your patient’s rights.

• 24/7 Availability – As a medical provider, your business is never closed. Patients need you around the clock. For this reason, choosing a 24/7 provider is not only a priority, but a required law.

• Experience and History – Is the company familiar with medical answering procedures and what level of experience do they have in this industry? Find out what their agent turnover rate is and ask for previous client testimonials.

Above all, professional and friendly agents are the central focus of a successful answering service. An effective medical answering service will embody all of the factors listed above, as well as the ability to customize services to fit your needs. In addition, they will follow your exact protocol for alerting you when emergency calls come in after hours.

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On January 12^th, 2010, Haiti experienced their strongest earthquake since 1770, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.  The quake was recorded at a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale, leaving 3 million inhabitants of Haiti’s Porte-au-Prince area in desperate need of emergency aid, food, shelter, and care.  Haiti’s earthquake was especially severe due to the fact it occurred in a heavily populated area and the nearby buildings and structures were especially vulnerable and not well constructed.  Haiti has suffered numerous problems due to the fact construction standards are not regulated, and schools, homes, and buildings have been demolished as a result.  Since Tuesday’s quake, survivors are in still in need of support.  Although the U.S. and other countries embarked upon a large rescue and aid effort, they have struggled to rescue survivors and provide necessary supplies.  As a result many Haitians are still in desperate need of food and water.

 How are Call Centers making a difference? 

With many earthquake survivors still waiting for food, water, and medicine, call centers are key in helping direct resources and aid to Haiti and surrounding areas in need.  Call centers can provide 24-hour service when it comes to fielding all incoming calls.  They are also capable of receiving donations and answering the public’s questions.  The Red Cross is one such example; they’ve recently set up 22 call volunteer call centers around the United States to receive incoming calls of those who wish to donate, provide assistance, and help for the survivors of Haiti’s disaster. 

Call centers make it possible for people to donate money for relief efforts, allowing them to provide care at a critical time.  Though the majority of incoming calls fielded by call centers have been related to donations, others concern the whereabouts of relatives.  Individuals with relatives in Haiti have called in hoping to locate their loved ones who were living or visiting Haiti at the time of the quake.  The Red Cross has provided a website that can help connect you with your loved ones: http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/.  At this time, it can still be difficult to get in touch, but help is still on the way—debris and wreckage must be moved before further relief efforts commence.

 Call centers all over the U.S. and the world are making a difference in regards to Haiti relief efforts.  $37 million dollars have already been raised and donated to Haiti through these means, and call centers are still making it possible for people to donate and reach out to individuals in need.  Donations can also be made by text—$8 million dollars have been generated so far by text donations. 

Text “HAITI” to 90999 and a $10 donation will be added to your cell phone bill.

 Bio:  Erica Ronchetti is a freelance writer for Answer Center America, an industry-leading provider of Call Center Services.  To find out more about our services: Answering Services, Inbound Call Services, and Outbound Call Services, visit our website today.

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We’ve kicked off 2010 with a bang. The ACA team is continuing to grow with each passing week.  In response to the fact ACA has more than doubled this past year, we’re focused on sustaining the culture of a small business.  We’re a company that rewards results and innovation; not the number of hours spent at your desk.

Fortunately, we haven’t experienced the harmful effects of the recession in ways other companies have.  By providing customers with cost-saving solutions to help maximize their bottom line, ACA has thrived in a downward economy. We’re able to track ROI for our clients to show them exactly how we save them money. To stay ahead of technology trends, we’ve introduced new software solutions (web chat, click-to-call, ATLANTIS, etc.) throughout the past year to help companies reach customers through multiple lines of communication.

If you’re interested in seeing how ACA can help improve your customer service experience in 2010, let’s talk.

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A 24/7 Answering service is pretty self-explanatory.  When a business or individual is on-call all hours of the day every day of the year, it is sometimes necessary to outsource this answering service to a provider who has the staff to supply a human response.  What is not really obvious about this service is that it can really save a business or government agency a lot of money.

 In October of 2009, Juan Gonzalez reported for the NY Daily News about NYC’s mismanaged plan to upgrade emergency system 2 years late, $700M over budget and perhaps after cutting through all the red tape, they could have saved money by outsourcing the project to a professional 24/7 answering service and call center, set up to handle emergency dispatching.

As demonstrated in this article, it is very expensive to set your organization up and organize your business procedures to become a 24/7 answering service.   Obviously this is extremely important for emergency response teams, but also important for any business that misses a call because someone is not around to receive the call.

For this reason there are many business owners who use an answering service, and regard the expense as a cost savings!

Another advantage to a 24/7 answering service is that it operates out of another location than your business. This is great because scheduling, and messages will not distract your receptionist as she handles your patients or visitors. Answering services pick up your phone calls via call forwarding and can answer your calls as if they were one of your employees, take a message, and notifying you immediately if the message is urgent or forward that message on to you if it is not.

Recently there have been many cutbacks in city and state funding effecting emergency services, and municipal services.  An example is in an opinion article in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel about public cut backs where the author states that “Public safety should not be excused from taking a hard look at spending; taxpayers should get the best service at a reasonable cost.”  Perhaps by outsourcing answering services we could manage to afford police, emergency personnel, trash pickup and street repair?  Perhaps looking at areas of cost savings doesn’t mean cutting personnel in key positions…perhaps it can mean outsourcing functions that can probably better be handled by experts like 24/7 answering services.

Lots of other types of businesses can also benefit from a 24/7 answering service.  Take for instance medical professionals who have to not only schedule regular visits but also have to handle emergencies.  Their patients health could weigh in the balance of a missed call. Attorneys, home health care providers and insurance agents can also benefit from a 24/7 answering service. Employing the answering service is a quick and easy way to increase profits and customer satisfaction during this economically challenging time.

 Bio: Sue McCrossin is a free-lance writer working for ACA on the subject of 24/7 Answering Service.  She feels that what some may consider a luxury for their businesses is actually an aggressive cost savings measure. 

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Customer service can be a real problem for companies in off hours.  Take the example of a water main break.  A problem that occurs more than we would hope. And, when it happened in Lincoln County last Saturday, the Daily Leader covered it with a story about how an answering service dealt with the myriad of calls that flooded the water company there. 

It was a beautiful Saturday evening at 7 pm when all of the sudden the calls about water pressure and lack of water started pouring in.  The answering service quickly fielded the calls, contacted the Lincoln Rural Water Association officials and set everyone’s minds at ease until the valve was reset.  This is a classic example of an answering service boosting customer service in the off hours, and alerting officials of problems so that they could deal with them in a timely manner.

While not every business has to worry about a water main break, there is probably some aspect of customer service that every business could benefit from by using a 24/7 answering service. Answering services simulate your company’s best employee and can answer redundant questions that typically clog your phones, freeing you to perform more cost effective activities.  It doesn’t stop there either; an answer service can also escalate support calls to a higher level, passing on all key information already gathered.

 Some examples of organizations and companies that could easily benefit from an efficient answering service are:

• Emergency response teams
• Municipalities
• Electric, plumbing, mechanical and construction service providers
• IT companies
• Healthcare organizations
• Attorneys

These are the types of companies where customer service can make or break their reputation, and a friendly voice on the line can set customer’s anxieties aside because they know that a real person is assuring them that help is on the way. Answering Services can include:

• Overflow Receptionist Services
• Customized Answering/Scripting
• Wake-up calls
• Employee Log-In Service
• Call Screening
• Dispatch Services
• Virtual Switchboard Services
• HIPAA Certified Agents
• Appointment Taking

Before your next “water main” break, consider the cost savings of an answering service that can not only handle the crisis, but streamline your day-to-day business.

 Bio: Sue McCrossin is a free-lance writer working on promoting ACA’s Answering Service because she believes that cost saving measures for small businesses and organizations can be the make-or-break solution in a recessive economy.

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Keith Wisniewski was recently recognized as ACA’s  2009 ‘Salesman of the Year’. In addition to this achievement, Keith was our highest selling sales consultant for the third and fourth quarter of 2009. We all want to congratulate Keith for his numerous achievements this past year.  In recognition of his success, he received the ACA ‘Salesman of the Year’ plaque and an end-of-the year bonus.

Keith joined ACA a little more than a year ago and jumped right into his roles as a sales consultant. He has repeatedly met and exceeded his sales goals at ACA. Way to go Keith. ACA is so happy to have you as part of this team. 

Fun facts about Keith:

• Before working at ACA, Keith was a flight instructor for a local Chicago airport. He later went on to become a pilot of regional airlines for Northwest
• One certain days, you can catch Keith wearing slippers at his desk   
• His nickname is “Tiny Keith”
• Keith recently turned 27, but has been know to forget his age
• If Keith were a sitcom, it would be called, “Slippers and Slacks” or “The Whale Hunter”
• Keith owns a gazelle bike which he often rides to work in the summer

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Centralizing your contact centers is an effective method to minimize costs and increase efficiency of your customer service agents. As companies head into the New Year, focus has shifted to providing the ultimate customer service experience in order to stand above competition.   Multi-location companies are choosing to consolidate their call centers to one location to increase efficiency and provide a consistent customer service experience across the board.

Here are the benefits of centralizing your call centers:

• Increase Consistency - Streamline your call center process and create professional scripts and agents that maintain consistency on every call.
• Reduce Cost with one centralized site for training and set-up. One time fees for training and set-up versus paying duplicate costs can significantly reduce costs and simplify the training process.
• Improve Analytics - Multiple contact centers result in use of various reporting software. This can cause miscommunication between centers and limited ability to forecast future trends.
• Forecast and Reduce Error – With the ability to monitor call statistic and data in real-time with ONE location, companies can resolve problems quickly, forecast future problems and implement efforts promptly to increase efficiency.
• Enhanced Communication - Improve communication and relationship with your call center provider by utilizing a single point of contact.

Answer Center America is an experienced call center that provides companies with customized solutions for their customer service needs. With highly trained customer service representatives (CSRs), ACA has a proven track record of helping centralize their call centers. Regional, national and global companies depend on ACA for success in the centralization of their contact centers.  For more information, call       1-800-270-7030 or visit www.goacanow.com.

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In addition to unsurpassed comfort, American Mattress is now offering multiple lines of customer support to ease concerns, assist with order taking, and lead to a better night’s sleep. 

Chicago, Ill. – American Mattress, Chicago’s leading mattress retailer, recently announced their decision to partner with Answer Center America (ACA) for inbound call center support. Increasing sales and product orders prompted American Mattress to increase customer service capabilities.  Answer Center America, a Chicago-based boutique call center, will now manage calls involving order taking and product concerns.   

ACA agents will be trained to manage customer concerns and handle order taking via phone and web chat. In addition to agent support, ACA will integrate Web chat and click-to-call software capabilities through American Mattress’ Web site, www.americanmattress.com.  The Web site offers interactive features including an online shopping cart, store locater, weekly coupons, deal saver calculator and ongoing contests to win a FREE mattress.

“Answer Center America was our number one choice for call center solutions in the Chicago metropolitan area,” says Robert Taglianetti, director of marketing for American Mattress.  “We’re pleased to work with a Chicago call center and give back to local Chicago business.”

In partnership with ACA, American Mattress will offer after hours support to customers, in addition to bilingual support to Spanish speaking individuals. To provide a consistent message, ACA will work with American Mattress to create scripts and training procedures customized for their customer’s individual needs. As with all clients, ACA provides real-time call data and call recordings through their proprietary software, ATLANTIS.

“Answer Center America has given us a cost-saving solution to accommodate the increase in phone and web orders, without reducing the quality and level of attention we strive for,” says Robert Taglianetti. “We now offer a no hassle purchase process and the ultimate customer convenience experience.”

Answer Center America and American Mattress look forward to their new partnership and the opportunity to provide customers with multiple lines of customer support. As two family-owned and operated companies in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, ACA and American Mattress understand the importance of first-rate customer service on every call, every time.

About Answer Center America Inc.

Based in Chicago, Ill., Answer Center America, Inc. is an experienced partner in providing seamless call center and answering solutions. Founded in 1995 by Janet Livingston, ACA has proven itself as an industry leader through cutting-edge technology, unwavering customer service, and customized services. For additional information, please visit www.goacanow.com. 

About American Mattress

American Mattress is a family-owned and operated provider of mattresses, headboards/footboards, bedroom furniture, bedding, linens and futons.  Their stores are located throughout Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. They are known to beat any competitor’s price and guarantee 30-day comfort. For more information, visit www.americanmattress.com.

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With each New Year comes a fresh set of goals.  2010 is right around the corner, so it’s a good time to revisit your goals for the year ahead.  As holiday shopping wraps up, the hustle and bustle of the holiday season often results in second-rate customer service and frustrated customers.  With the economy still in a fragile state, competition is high and companies cannot afford to lose business due to inconsistent customer service.

In order to redirect your customer experience down the path to success, here are the top 10 questions to ask yourself:

1. How long do your phones go unanswered?
2. Are customers being put on hold?
3. Are your phones being answered in a professional manner?
4. Does your company offer online support?
5. How knowledgeable are the individuals who handle customer concerns?
6. Are you providing a uniform message on every call?
7. Are all calls being delivered and retuned in a timely manner?
8. Are you tracking what is being said about your company online?
9. Are you monitoring phone calls with your customers?
10. Do you always take the extra step to help customers and resolve concerns?

If your answers aren’t on par with your standards, perhaps it’s time to reexamine your customer service experience for the year ahead.  Trends for 2010 are proving that customer service is making a comeback.  With the increase in competition, companies are making customer service a top priority.  Here are a few ways customer service has changed in the past year:

1. Technology - Technology is changing the way customers interact with businesses.  According to Jupiter Research, companies using proactive chat experience a 30% lift in average order value, and proactive click to call and chat interactions have increased conversion rates by as much as 20%. With an increase in online shopping this holiday season, companies must realize that online support plays a large role in your bottom line. Companies need to move with the culture to keep customers happy. 
2.  Social media – With the increase in popularity among social media, every company’s reputation hangs by a thread.  Web sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Digg, etc. give customers total power to influence the way others view your product or service.  Three in four US online adults now use social tools to connect with each other compared with just 56 percent in 2007.  As a result, companies need to be even more careful with how their company interacts with current and perspective customers. 

Remember, your customers are your best asset.  For a practical and cost-efficient way to achieve your goals for 2010, give one of our sales consultants a call at 1-800-270-7030 or visit www.goacanow.com.  We can proudly say our main goal remains the same today, as when our company was started back in 1994. We’re dedicated to providing the highest level of customer support, every time. For more information, click here.

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